Induction by T.K. Eldridge (howl and other poems TXT) 📕

closed my eyes and focused. I could solidify the air under my feet for a bit, and then try and lift myself inch by inch. I wasn’t very good, back then, with the float spell, so it only got me up far enough for me to wrap both arms over the boulder and hold tight to the root. Now I just had to hope the hill didn’t let go enough to send this boulder towards the valley below, along with everything else.

It had been maybe fifteen minutes and Sid flew back with a pair of hawks behind her. I felt the shiver of magic from the three shifts and then heard Dad’s voice.

“Hang on, Sin, we’ll have you up in a moment.”

Benny said, “When we say, let go of the rock and grab the rope, use your feet to keep from being dragged against the cliff. Got it?”

“I got it. Thank you.”

“Don’t thank us yet, we haven’t got you safe,” Benny teased, and my dad snorted a laugh.

It took them just a few minutes to belay the rope around the tree and pull me up the cliff. I stumbled over to the tree and just lay on the ground for a moment, letting my trembling muscles relax.

Dad was moving up and down the trail area, then took a couple of branches and drove them into the ground, tying some of the rope between them. “When we get back down, we’ll let Tim know the trail up here is eroded and needs to be re-worked further in. This will show him where the damage is.”

“You mean, he won’t be able to tell by the missing section of the trail?” Sid said.

“Don’t be a smart ass. This should also keep any hikers from getting hurt. You two ready to head back down?” Dad said.

Benny came over and gave me a hand up, then turned to my Dad. “I’m gonna fly on back. I left the boys trying to pull an engine.”

“Appreciate the assist, Benny,” Dad said.

“Thanks for helping out, Uncle Benny,” I added. No, he wasn’t our uncle. More of a distant cousin, but he was my Dad’s friend, and around a lot.

I gave Sid a half-hug and kissed her temple. “Thanks for not letting me die, sis.”

“Yeah, make me have to shift again when it’s not time, and I’ll push you over a cliff.”

I could tell by the tone in her voice that she was mostly serious. However, after that, we went out to different places and practiced shifting so that it wouldn’t hurt the next time she did it. She still preferred her witch skills over her shifter skills, but it wasn’t all or nothing anymore.

Policy and Procedure class was mostly reading and going over case studies, then writing what policies called for what procedures in handling each case. Yes, it truly was that boring. I’d finished my last case study yesterday and now I was reading a book written by one of our professors. A psychological break down of several serial killer cases all compiled in one book. I got it in audio, so I was listening to an interview with Dahlmer while folding laundry.

Talk about a creeptastic psycho. I’m going to blame my utter focus on the audiobook and the warm, seductive comfort of laundry on why I had no warning when Sid snapped a thick rubber band and it pinged my ear. I yelled and spun around, tossing the basket of folded laundry in the air and landed on my ass. Sid’s laughter made its way through my earbuds, so I tugged one free and threw a balled-up pair of socks at her head.

“Aren’t you supposed to be doing homework?” I said.

“Yes, but it’s boring. Scaring the crap out of you was much more fun.”

“I’m sure. Well, now you can help me pick up all my laundry. Want to order pizza for lunch?”

Sid had already started to pick up the stuff and had tossed it into the basket. “Pizza? Sure, but I’m ordering.”

“I know, I know – and I’m paying.”

“Yep,” Sid gave me a smug smile as she pranced into the other room.

I swapped the next load around and added it to the now very full basket of laundry. I dropped onto the sofa and the sound of an explosion had me back on my feet, headed for the front door.

Sid ran out behind me and we both stood at the railing, eyes on the smoke.

Moments later, my cell phone rang, I put it on speaker. “Go ahead, Sett. We’re listening.”

“That was a controlled detonation. You guys can relax. Some of the IED were too unstable to transport so we had to blow them. I thought Ty had called, he thought I had called and we both dropped the ball. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, Sett. We get it. I’m just glad you got them all. How far were they spread?” Sid asked.

“About three miles deep into the forest and they followed several of the trails, reaching out from the Timmons property to the north and the Stansfelds to the south,” Sett said.

“Holy crap, that’s a lot of boom,” I exclaimed.

“Yeah, so there will be a couple of these controlled detonations. We need to let this cool down and then we’ll do the next, so probably one every thirty minutes or so. I’ll call you when we’re done.”

“Thanks, Sett, appreciate it. Be safe, okay?” I said

“Will do.”

Sett hung up and I let out a breath. “Shit, I thought for sure we were being attacked again.”

“I didn’t know what to think,” Sid said, “Until she said they followed the trails. Our trails.” She turned to look at me and took my hands in hers. “Are we making a mistake by going to the Academy? If they’re going to this much effort to try and take us out, what will they do when we’re in a place where combat and firearms training is the norm?”

Sid was right. What we were doing was insane. It was also exactly what Dad had told me we had to do. I hadn’t shared it with Sid, and I wasn’t sure how to tell her what Dad had said while we were both in wolf form. He had told me that the voices of their kidnappers had been familiar. That the ones that took my parents, nearly killed them and burned our home to the ground – were insiders. He said he didn’t know if it was the drugs, trauma, or something else, but he thought one of the voices had sounded like his father. I told him we’d already cut ties with Grandpa. He said not to cut him out completely. The whole ‘enemies closer’ thing. Yeah, Sid wasn’t going to be okay with that.

“It’s crazy, yeah, but remember what Dad always said? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Getting inside their organization is our best bet.”

“It’s also our riskiest move yet.”

“Yes, it is that. But since when have we shied away from risky?” I said.

“True that.” Sid took a deep breath. “So, how about we twin-tag-team our classes like we did in high school?”

Now that wasn’t a bad idea. “Okay, for the academic stuff only. We both need to do the physical on our own.”

“Great. So, you can fill me in on Policy and Procedures and I’ll give you Criminology 101. I got through it in three days. It was mostly a refresher for me since I took criminology classes as part of my degree program,” Sid said.

“Slick, sis. That was slick,” I laughed and pointed to my laundry. “Start folding and I’ll get the last load. We can fold and talk.”

Her laughter followed me into the laundry room.