The House in the Woods

Chapter 18

I was starting to worry at how quiet things were. It had always been quiet, it was one of the qualities I could depend on the house to have, but it shouldn't be like this. I knew in my bones that Roscoe wasn't finished with me yet, and it was becoming unnerving, waiting for him to come.

A week passed. We were now in the final days of August, and to my sorrow the leaves on the deciduous trees were beginning to turn orange and yellow - the colors were beautiful, but it could only mean one thing; winter would soon follow fall. The air was still warm, and the sun still shone, but the winter blues had claimed me several weeks too early.

Sergei was quick to notice. "Little Red, if you pout those pretty lips of yours anymore, they might just fall onto the floor!"

I offered him a bright smile. "Sorry, Sergei. I can't help but hate the fact that winters on its way."

"Why do you scorn winter so much?" Sergei asked curiously.

I looked at him like he was crazy. We were eating scones that Myrnah just made, sitting on the kitchen island, and his huge frame seemed to fill up the whole room. He looked back at me evenly, his black eyes imperceptible.

"Winter is a lovely season." He told me. "When it snows, the world becomes a glittering wonderland. I personally love it; back in Russia I used to spend the entire season outdoors."

I shuddered at the idea of doing that. If I tried staying outside the whole of winter, I'd probably curl up in a ball the first day and beg the ground to eat me up.

"Where do you and the girls live now?" I asked him. Lei and Wei stayed with Sergei in Russia till they were thirteen.

"We live in Hamilton, Ontario." Sergei tossed another scone into his mouth. At the rate he was going, we'd polish off those scones in no time.

I nodded vaguely. I'd lived in BC all my life; anything further east of Calgary was foreign territory. "Do you like it there?"

Sergei shrugged as he chewed. "It's nice. We were just visiting when we came here, but decided to stay after the Cold War started."

I nodded as I digested his information. I was going to lose track of what decade I was in if I hung around shifters and vampires too much. All this talk about wars was seriously going to catch me off balance.

"Do you think you'll live there forever?"

"Maybe." Sergei didn't look fazed by the idea. "We don't know how long we'll be around."

"What do you mean?"

Sergei looked at me. "Well, Little Red, shifters can die, you know. I have many friends who died in the fall of the Turkish Empire. The only reason I'm still here is because no ones hated me enough to kill me."

I looked at him in surprise. Till now, I thought shifters were immortal, like Apollo and Astera. Now that I thought of it, if Jannosh was immortal he wouldn't have broken his arm.

Then again, I had no idea what I was talking about. I was just a lousy human.

Sergei brushed crumbs off the broad front of his shirt. "If you'll excuse me Little Red, I think I'll just go for a run."

"But you just ate like fifty scones!"

"And?" He gave me a questioning look as he left.

I shook my head. Those crazy shifters - or maybe it was just men? I'll never understand either.

I slid off the stool and wandered closer to the window to offer another glare at the colorful trees. Lei and Wei were sprawled on the lawn with the Blue Brothers. As I watched, Sergei sauntered passed and ruffled each of the girls' hair as he walked. Wei got up to go after him, and laughing, Sergei shifted into a humongous black bear and took refuge in the trees. Wei stood for a while, shaking her fist after him while the others laughed behind her.