"Tighter."
Henri glanced up at me, frowning, but tightened the chains regardless.
"Are you sure? Your hands are turning red." Henri slipped some old rags from a bag and stuffed them in between the metal and my skin. It gave some relief from the rusted metal rubbing against my skin, but each movement caused it to dig in further.
"If I escape again, Uncle will kill me for sure."
Henri leaned back, tucking his hands behind his head. "I'm jealous of you, cousin. You get to sit and relax all night. Father has taken the fun out of hunting. It used to be fun when it wasn't planned. Do you know what happens if we do not catch something? The next change we have to catch two animals! One is bad enough—"
"Thank you, Hen," I cut him off—his would go on talking all night if I let him.
Henri smiled. "We're family. Everyone is worried about you, Father included. He thinks about you more than everyone."
I snorted. "I doubt that. Come summer I'll be living outside again. And my meals—once a day is hardly caring! It's his fault my wolf self hunts anything that moves."
Henri's smile faded. He leaned forward, his eyes checking the door before his mouth opened. "It's because Father is worried about you. He fears if he treats you like one of us, you'll get a little bit too confident and try and steal back your father's crown. He's trying to keep you weak." His smile returned. "I doubt you'd do that to me, right? I'll be Alpha soon and I'd hate to have to kill you."
The corner of my lip faltered for a moment before I brought it up in a fake smile.
"I don't want the crown," I said. Whether this was a lie or not, it was hard to say. Ruling was never something I thought of, even when I was a prince. Now I was nothing more than a prince's cousin.
I glanced at Henri's arms; the once scrawny boy I grew up filled out without my realization. My cousins all had to perform chores involving hard labor, and I never did. I thought nothing about it, but the pieces were lining up. Uncle was trying to keep me skinny and weak. Even right now, I would be no match for Henri.
"It seems there is still a bit of time before the change. Shall we pass some time by playing cards? War, perhaps?"
I nodded.
Sunset was in an hour, but I had asked Henri to be with me for as long as possible. I feared the woods, and the creature that lived within them. I told no one about its existence. Henri would probably laugh, and Uncle would scold me for making up stories. Perhaps they would have listened, but even I was yet to see the creature that had tried to kill me.
Henri split the deck down the middle after shuffling the flimsy cards. He placed one in front of me, face down. He flashed a smile before taking one for himself. When the deck was divided, I straightened my cards into a neat pile.
"Ready, cousin?" Henri flipped over the top card, revealing a nine.
My fingers brushed the hard paper, flipping over my own. Three.
Henri smiled, dragging both cards and adding them to the bottom of his pile.
We flipped over another, this time it was my victory.
"Listen, cousin."
I looked up.
"Take it easy tonight, will you? Your escapes are becoming more and more of a nuisance to the family."
Henri won.
I shrugged my shoulders raised my cuffed hands. "It will be kind of hard with these," I forced out a chuckle.
Henri won again. "I hope so. The extra chains on the floor will look a little bit suspicious, but as long as they hold you—"
"They will," I insisted, gathering the cards I had won. Henri's head bobbed as he tossed another card on the table.
"I met Eleonore once. Cute girl. I would have asked for her hand in a heartbeat if she knew about our world. Shame she was human."
Of course. Humans must never find out about the world hidden among them. The Adalwulf family was just a small fraction of what was lurking in the dark, but I was singlehandedly threatening everything. If someone else were to find my prints near Eleonore's body, or see me in the act, it would risk everything.
"I'm sorry about that," I muttered.
I still kept the sketch of the dead girl, even though the memory of her haunted me every time I looked at it.
Henri smiled. "I think you've said that enough." He gathered up the card pile.
I just forced a stiff nod. No number of apologies would bring back the girl I killed. Livestock and family pets could be forgotten. Killing a human was something that was off limits for my kind. There were rules and laws in place for this.
We continued playing war until my stack of cards was looking pretty short. Henri's grew with each game, and soon I was down to two cards. I flipped over my last three. Henri stole it with his queen. My eyes lingered towards the clouded window. The grey sky was turning pink. My fingers shook as I turned over my last card: king.
I tried to keep my breathing normal to hide the pain that had started in my back. Henri must've felt it too, but said nothing; he just continued to smile. He shifted in his seat every few seconds, unable to get comfy.
"Seems like we will have to cut our game short, cousin. It's almost time."
I stood a little too eagerly. My wrists were sore; both my hands throbbed from the cuffs, but in a few hours they would be taken off.
Henri picked up the bucket that had been sitting beside the fire, the melted snow sloshing and falling on the floor. He dumped the water over the fire. The room grew to be almost black in a second.
I stood by the open floor door, glancing into my prison. Dropping to my bottom, I dangled my feet in the hole. I took a deep breath.
"Will you be alright? You seem to be a little pale." Henri stuck his hands in his trouser pockets, his lip curled up.
"Nervous, that's all."
I jumped, landing on my feet with ease.
"I'll free you in the morning, cousin."
I saluted him awkwardly. "Happy hunting."
Henri dropped the door.
Darkness.
Without a speck of light, it was impossible for my eyes to adjust. I was left groping for the damp wall, leaning my back against it.
Metal scraped against the floor as Henri moved the table and chairs over the door, as I had requested. I hoped that adding more weight on the door would make it harder for me to escape. When the noises stopped, he knocked on the floor twice.
My heavy breathing filled my ears. The pain was starting to spread, forcing my heart to beat faster. Usually when the pain became too unbearable, I would allow myself to give in, and that's when I would black out, only to awaken in the morning.
My legs and arms throbbed. The bones in my body would start to shift and change any second now. I started panting; the room felt hot.
A stab of pain radiated through my head. My cuffed hands cradled my skull, my fingers starting to shorten as the bones crunched together.
I had kept my clothes on this time. While changed, the sight of the fabric might zap me back to having conscious thoughts. Saliva dripped from my mouth, but wiping it off my chin didn't even cross my mind.
My back snapped. I groaned, my mind flickering as my body crumpled to the floor. This was as far as I got before losing myself. I coughed, my lungs changing with each breath I took. My eyes rolled back for a second before I snapped them forward.
My spine changed its shape, my legs and arms following. I vomited, my empty stomach offering only acids. Fur started sprouting along my changed limbs; each patch tingled. It was my first time feeling the sensation.
Did everybody else's change take this long? Or was it because I was weak?
The front of my face started to grow into a snout, cutting off my air or a moment. I clamped my eyes shut.
My body was cold.
My clothes were long gone. The slight breeze kissed my skin; the falling snowflakes landed over my body in an attempt to bury me.
My tongue moved; the iron taste of blood sent a pang of regret to my heart. I wanted to stand and run to the river to rinse my body of blood, but I just lay still.
A wolf was sniffing me, its nose tickling my toes. I bit my lip, trying to hold still. It wasn't one of my cousins or Uncle; I was sure it was the mystery creature. My nose was filled with the scent of pine.
Questions ran through my head, but the biggest one was how—wolves can't just learn how to open doors, unlock chains and turn human.
My heart raced and the wolf moved closer to my face. A tongue dragged itself over my cheek, cleaning up remnants of blood.
I sat up, my fist too slow to hit the wolf. I flung my eyes open. A girl sat cross-legged at my feet, her large gold eyes staring into mine. Her long, white matted hair was a tangled heap, its ends in her lap. Pointed ears stuck out from behind her hair. She could have been mistaken for a statue; her stillness was unnerving.
She must have been at least my age, but it was hard to tell with her blank expression. Blood surrounded her mouth; her hands were caked as well.
"H-Hallo," I ventured.
My heart felt like it was going to explode in my chest. She wasn't human. I couldn't smell the scent humans gave off.
The girl just stared, tilting her head.
"Do you speak German?" I asked, hoping she did. My English was awful and I knew one word of French. Anything apart from German and our conversation wouldn't last very long.
No response.
She stood. Her feet were bare, but the rest of her was covered in a white fur dress, falling halfway to her knees. Her arms were bare, but she gave no hint of being cold.
"Are you like me? A werewolf?"
I flinched as she knelt beside me, her hand brushing my cheek. Her fingertips were cold; colder than the snow around me. Her gold eyes searched my face, seeming to look for something.
"What is your name?" I asked. "Why did you try to kill—?"
Her hand dropped to my neck. The pace of my heart doubled as her fingers squeezed it. The pressure released a few seconds later. As she pushed to her feet, I jumped up too. I reached for her arm, but she moved faster than I could see.
Turning around, she still stared at me.
"Are you...a Faerie?"
She disappeared once again. I spun around, searching, but she was gone for good this time.
The scent of pine lingered in the air.