Chapter 11: The Harvest Moon

The Harvest Moon rose red over the high meadow, and three hundred wolves stood in a ring to watch me be thrown away.

I stood in the middle with the brown page in my hand.

I had put on my own gray dress, and nobody had braided my hair.

Lottie stood at the front of the ring with her arms folded and her jaw set.

Behind her, Cordelia Sunderland held her hands clasped at her waist and wore a gentle look.

The Keeper of the Moon Book stood beside me with her book open on her arm.

Jasper stood across the circle.

He wore black and had not slept, and he looked at everyone in the meadow except me.

"The season of the Hundred is ended," the Keeper said in a small, carrying voice.

"Autumn Ostley was given the rules at the midsummer moon. Does anyone here say she has broken one?"

Roland Radcliffe stepped forward.

"I do," he said sadly. "I have been told she left the house after dark last night. Rule seventy-seven."

A murmur went around the ring.

Cordelia lowered her eyes.

"Who told you this, Alpha?" the Keeper asked.

"A person I trust."

"Then let that person stand and say it before the Moon."

Nobody moved.

I saw Cordelia's fingers tighten on each other.

"I did not leave the house," I said.

"I saw her at her window," called a young man's voice from the crowd.