Hot, Hard & Howling - OpenDrive

Hot, Hard & Howling
“Hang on and we’ll see.” Nell scooted the moth a bit forward with her finger,
turning her to the right. When the Black Witch was in just the right spot, she stopped
and spread her wings as far as they could, shaking them as if to dry them.
“I’ll be,” Mi-ma whispered as the moth began to take on a golden glow. “The moths
are part of the box.”
The light emitted was enough to brighten the room. The women all had to squint to
watch as the moth turned golden, the intricate outlines and details of her wings
hardening into gilded sculpture—and then melding into the box.
Nell traced the outline of the golden moth with her fingertips. She turned the box
over a couple times, looking to see if that had triggered anything. “Huh. Not opening it.
Must need more than one.” She tried to find another spot that looked like an outline of a
moth in the grains of the mixed woods.
“Close your eyes and feel for it again, Nelly,” Sonja said. “See it with your other
senses.”
Nell did as Sonja suggested, using her fingers to feel the lines and swirls. After a
moment, she found another one. She marked the spot with one hand and retrieved a
moth with the other and coaxed her into place. Immediately, the moth began to
transform into a golden incarnation.
“This could take a while if you have to cover the entire thing,” Trina said. “I’ll get
some more tea.”
Nell glanced up the stairs, wondering just how long Trent was going to stay
outside. She closed her eyes and started the search for the next place to put a moth on
the box. The room was quiet. “Mi-ma? Did Trent’s dad and grandpa really kill their
mates?”
“Yes. Yes, they did,” Mi-ma said, her voice distant, melancholy.
“Concentrate on the box, Nell,” Trina said. “Trent will be back soon. I’m sure he’s
not that far away as it is.”
Nell felt the faint outline of a wing. She urged another moth into place. As the insect
shimmered into gold, Nell looked at Mi-ma.
“I have to understand. He’s shutting me out.” She closed her eyes and started to
feel for the next spot. Her ability to find the designs in the wood seemed to come faster
each time. The moths were swarming around her again, each clamoring to be the next
piece of the puzzle. She felt their collective magic.
“I don’t know the particulars of his grandmother’s death. For years I heard rumors
of Cedric, his grandfather, being a mean drunk. They say he lost his mind with rage one
night over something silly at a ceremony for the pack. That he got jealous and tore her
limb from limb. But that’s a forty-year-old rumor. We weren’t close enough back then to
know much about inter-pack problems.”
Nell managed to find another spot and keep up with Mi-ma’s story. “And his
father? I think he was already gone when I first remember Trent in school.”
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