sharp tongues {Embry Call}

⁴ Hawking

The girl was turning wildly in circles, trying to gain any sense of direction only to stop when she saw a marker. There was a deep ravine. She spied over the cliff's edge to see a stream of shallow water at the bottom. Harper pursed her lips, how unhelpful it was. That was before she heard it. A twig snapped somewhere in front of her. 

Harper shot her eyes up to look across the ravine. There stood a woman with long sleek black hair and bluntly cut bangs. Her eyes were slanted slightly and she had a small mouth, but full lips. Harper could see the extensive eye makeup the woman wore. That along with her bright red eyes. She dismissed it as a fashion statement. Her eyes raked along her figure, the woman wasn't wearing any clothes to indicate that she was out in the woods for hiking purposes. No, she wore a flowy, but short, floral dress and a pair of heeled boots. Wrong for the weather and the purpose. It was so bizarre.

She must've been freezing. Harper had already felt a chill settle on her and she was wrapped in Sam's old heavy jacket and a pair of thermals under her jeans.  The woman merely looked at her, quirking her head letting her inky hair copy the movement.

"Hey, are you okay?" Harper called, cupping her hands and yelling. The woman made no move to respond. "I'm lost, do you have a phone or something I could use?" She lowered her hands and stared at the woman in confusion. The woman rose her nose up in the air and inhaled deeply. Harper could see recognition flash on her face. 

"Harper?" The woman asked. Harper's eyes widened and she could feel her jaw drop. What was she supposed to say, 'Yes that's me, Harper, Ms. scary lady in the woods.' The woman tore her eyes from Harper and onto a spot behind her. Her red eyes widened and the woman backed into the woods before disappearing completely. 

Unbeknownst to Harper, Sam Uley was a mere ten feet behind her in a body that was his own and wasn't. He was a large black wolf, growling so lowly at the woman it was almost inaudible.

"Wait no, don't go! Well, that was a complete and total bust," Harper murmured to herself, turning back around to look at the trees. The sunshine was fading fast and soon there would be nothing but moonlight to illuminate the forest. Harper was not sure how reliable that would be. 

"Fucking shit," she cursed to herself before choosing to follow the ravine left. And that's when she saw it. A point where the dirt seeped down further than it should have. Harper bent down and traced the outline. One sort of circle and four smaller ones that were definitely its toes. she brushed her hand upward slightly and could feel the terrifyingly deep indentation of claws.

Harper as a kid had a ton of niche interests. From astronomy to geology. There was even a point where she was obsessed with learning about how to track animals, begging her grandma to help her out. And she was certain that it wasn't a bear print she was tracing or had stepped into. It was a wolf's. It was way too big to be a wolf's but the proportions were all wrong for it to be a bear. And bears had five toes. "What the-" 

"Harper!" Came the shout from Jared Cameron. Harper merely glanced up at him to see he was in a pair of basketball shorts and a hoodie. Her eyebrows furrowed and she looked back at the print. Her fingers traced it again before standing up. 

"Are you okay?" He asked, racing to her. Jared bent down to get eye level with Harper. He put his hands on her arms and looked for any sign of damage, only seeing confusion. "What happened?"

Harper looked down at Jared's bare feet to see that he had completely mucked up the print. She scrunched her face up and shook her head. "I'm fine Jared, just cold," she said quietly, allowing the boy to stand her up.

Jared just nodded, "Come on. Let's get going," he tugged her along and she looked back, her eyes dropping to where she knew the print laid.

Emily was both furious and relieved when she saw Jared and Harper come out of the treeline. As soon as Harper had set foot in the house she had pulled Harper away from Jared and into a hug before pulling away and shaking her niece.