Chapter 21: The Moon Is Coming

The stone circle sits on a bald hill above the lodge.

On the eve of the full moon it was the quietest place I had ever stood.

Seven grey stones stood in a ring, each one taller than Torin.

In the middle lay a long flat slab, worn smooth, with a shallow groove cut down its length.

I looked at the groove for as long as I could stand it.

Then I looked at the sky, which was going orange over the pines, and at the moon, which would rise full tomorrow night.

"Is that where you did it to Mommy?" Hazel asked.

She was sitting on the altar stone with her feet swinging, because nobody had told her not to.

"Not me," Torin said.

"Somebody who should have known better."

"Does it hurt the stone?" Hazel asked.

"No."

"Then I can sit on it."

"You can sit on it," Torin said.

He sat down beside her, carefully, and it cost him.

He had a hand pressed to his side, and the skin under his eyes was grey.

Six of the old Beta's own men stood in a wide ring around the hill, at forty paces.

Their backs were to us and their eyes were on the trees.

I had met every one of them that morning and asked each his name and his mother's.

I had memorized the way they stood.

The grey-bearded elder had come up the path an hour earlier to walk the ground.

He stood at the edge of the circle now with his hat in both hands and said nothing.

I understood he was there to be a witness.

Torin had asked for exactly that.

It was the first quiet hour I'd had in weeks, and I let myself sit in it.

Orin lay on his stomach in the grass with his book open under his chin.

"Dad," he said.

"What?"

"What's a Beta?"

"The Alpha's second.

"He runs the guard, and he keeps the Alpha honest."

"Who keeps you honest?" Orin asked.

"Your mother."

"That's true," Orin said, and turned the page.

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