Ravenwood(32)

Well, Elinore supposed there was no reason not to continue her traditions here. Ravenwood might be new to her and she to it, but she could still do the same things she’d always done.

She pulled out the book she and Charlotte had been working on, taking a moment to flip through the pages almost blindly, eyes scanning over the dark writing - some in her hand, some in her friend’s. Then, she started to read. Or at least tried to. It should have been an easy enough task - one she’d done a thousand times before - but the words swam in front of her, her eyes unable to focus on the page. It seemed as though she could see them too clearly and not clearly enough at the same time. She blinked and rubbed at her eyes to no avail. She could see each individual letter, each stroke of ink on the page, but couldn’t make her eyes focus long enough to read the words. Setting the book aside, she put out the candle and tucked herself deep into the covers. She must be overtired. Life was strange and different at Ravenwood, but she could be happy here. She was warm, she was safe and she had the promise of a close friend in Alice. Although she felt an aversion to Hayter, she’d only known him one day. Perhaps she only needed to know him better. She wrinkled her nose. Even thought the thought displeased her, she was practical. She would do what needed to be done to make life at Ravenwood acceptable.

The howl of a wolf cut through the night and she felt her heart lurch. There was a strange pull at her heart. She wanted to get up, rush to the window and peer outside. What would she see? Elinore did not know. But the urge to find out nearly consumed her. She took a deep breath. She was merely overwrought from the day. She wondered if Caleb heard it. Would he go out hunting again? He had been out late last night and during the day. Elinore wasn’t sure he’d go out again. She couldn’t imagine Hayter heading out. There was something decadent about him. No doubt he would find it too inconvenient to go hunting in the woods. She heard a floorboard creak. Not outside her door, but farther away. Below? On the main floor? No. That was impossible. She couldn’t possibly hear that far. She would have to write Charlotte regarding how her mind was running away from her here at Ravenwood. Charlotte would have some teasing words for her. Or perhaps persuade her to write a story about it. Pushing down the deep stab of longing she felt for her friend, Elinore closed her eyes and vowed to sleep.

What felt like moments later, she opened her eyes to find herself in the forest. She was in her gown from the carriage-ride - it was unblemished. Not a mark nor a speck of water damage besmirched it. However, her feet were bare and when she lifted the heavy skirts of her dress, she wiggled her toes and saw the pale flesh of them against the dark, muddy and mossy ground of the forest. Dreaming. She was dreaming. She looked around in wonder. The trees of the forest had a shimmer to them - their shapes climbing up against the nighttime sky. She’d never seen such shades of grey, dark blue, dark green and black before. It was dark. So dark she should not be able to see as well as she did. She reached out and touched a leaf, half wondering if it would crumble to dust beneath her fingers for surely such dark color could not be real. It was velvet soft under her fingers and she could almost feel the life force of the greenery against her skin. A sound caught her ear. She turned her head slightly and closed her eyes, hearing some kind of small rodent creature tunneling through the packed dirt, off to her left. Elinore opened her eyes and swung her head around, unerringly finding the small animal, digging in the dirt. She was at once seized with an incredible urge to pounce forward, to leap on it and … do something. She wasn’t sure what.

A flapping sound echoed in her ear. A raven swooped down from the night sky; its wings suspended against the full moon for a flutter-beat before it sailed down low and came to rest on her shoulder. Its beak nuzzled against her jaw and she turned her head slightly away to give it better access to her neck. It pecked at the soft skin sharply, just the once, and she hissed in pain, turning back to glare at it. It flapped its wings, making a shirring sound with its feathers and then it touched its beak to her ear and she heard the strange whispering she recalled from her dream the night before. It sounded as though thousands of voices were speaking to her at once, but Elinore couldn’t make out any of the words.

Motion in front of her made her eyes dart to the foliage and she saw white fur moving between the gaps in the trees and the bushes. It was so pale, almost silver in the moonlight. Her eyes tracked the movement - was this something she wanted to capture, or run from? It was coming closer and in that moment, she recognized it. The white wolf. It snarled and the sound echoed in Elinore’s chest, but she didn’t feel fear. The raven’s whispering increased and Elinore tried to listen closer. She could almost understand the words. Her arm burned and she clutched it close to her breast, her fingers a vice around her wrist. The wolf moved closer. Elinore stumbled backward and fell, her arms pinwheeling. The raven flew off, claws digging in one last time before it squawked loudly in annoyance. Her body hit the ground with a teeth-clacking thud.

There was another growl from the trees, only this one wasn’t from the white wolf. Elinore’s eyes moved left and right. She was flanked now by two wolves in addition to the white one before her. There was now one to her left - grey and white, yellow eyes glowing in the dark. It was the wolf that bit her. Another was on her right - dark, mostly black, it’s eyes were golden, but not burning with a mad light. In front of Elinore, the white wolf stepped forward, watching her with its eyes unblinking. It seemed to speak to her, its mind to her mind.