them!” a farmer yelled, grabbing Wolf’s face with one hand.
“No!” Wolf barked.
Two men closest to him pulled off Wolf’s belt. Another behind him yanked down the hem of Wolf’s pants, freeing his tail.
A roar of triumph and anger went up from the men.
“Burn him! Burn the wolf! He’s killed our sheep and our cows! Put him out of his misery!”
At the mention of the cows, Wolf’s eyes went wide.
“No! No, I didn’t! It’s a lie!”
They half dragged, half carried him from the barn as he howled away. The man finally let me go, and I stared after them, racking my brain for an idea.
“Say miss, where are you from anyway?”
I didn’t answer. Instead I sprinted back to the village, outstripping the mob and almost crashing to the ground when my feet hit the worn smooth cobblestones. I found Alex sitting against a wall, toying with the crossbow the witch had given him. The building Marianne was in was still asleep, almost like it was waiting for something.
“Caroline, what is it?” Alex asked as I came to a stop near him.
For a moment I couldn’t speak, only able to suck in deep breaths of air after my hard run.
“Wolf,” I finally managed. “They took him. A bunch of farmers. Some of their livestock was killed last night. They think he did it. They’re going to burn him.”
Alex sprang to his feet. “Well, did he do it? He is a wolf, right?”
“Half wolf. And what the hell does it matter? They’re going to burn him alive.”
“Jesus.” Alex ran a hand over his forehead.
“They said sheep and cows were killed, but that doesn’t make sense. Even if Wolf was responsible, he wouldn’t have killed that many. I know they’re different around here, but I still don’t think they kill just for the sake of killing. It’s all food. I just don’t believe it. We’ve got to get him out of there. We can’t let them do this.”
“Okay. Uh.” Alex ran a hand through his hair. “Okay. I’ll go to the fields and see if I can find tracks or anything else.” He paused. “Wait, what about this thing?”
We stared at the building for a few moments. A few streets away, the roar of the crowd grew louder. I closed my eyes and delved into the strange magic sensation the place gave off.
“It won’t wake up for a while yet. We still have some time.”
Alex looked down on me like he wanted to ask how I knew that, but instead ran off towards the fields, his black coat flapping around him.
“Wait,” I shouted, an idea popping into my mind. “You have both our radios right? Give them to me.”
Alex dug into his canvas sack and pulled them out. “What are you going to do?”
I took two boji stones from our magic stash and the shrinking roll of duct tape from my daypack. I taped a stone to each radio.
“Here.” I handed one of the radios to Alex. He looked at it like I’d just given him a porcupine.
“And what’s this supposed to do?”
I fiddled with my radio. “The books said boji stones can be used to boost communication. I thought that maybe we could get these going again with a little magic aid.”
He shook his head. “Caroline, you don’t really think that just because you tied a rock to these that they’ll work.”
We both turned them on. Alex’s mouth fell open as a faint crackle emitted from them.
“Apparently they will,” I said into the radio, my voice coming out on Alex’s. I was surprised myself, but now wasn’t the time to marvel over our little success. The roar of the mob drew near the town.
“All right, see what you can find out. I’ll try to stall them.”
I made my way back to the town square. Already a large pole was erected, with piles of brush and sticks being stacked around it by the villagers. They shouted and some cheered, excited about the prospect of burning the fanged perpetrator that had eaten their livestock. I ran up to one of the men.
“Where’s the wolf now?” I asked, trying to sound just as eager for his demise.
“Bein’ held at the House of Judgment.” The man nodded in the direction of a whitewashed building that looked just like the others, save the sign hanging from it that clearly read “Judgment” underneath some sort of crest involving arrows.
The door was flanked by two men holding pikes. I tried to look angry, which wasn’t hard, so that maybe they