Chapter 6: The Hound

The first thing I noticed was the smell.

The whole valley opened up to me at once, pine and frozen creek and woodsmoke and rabbit, thousands of threads, each one separate and clear.

The second thing I noticed was that I was on four feet.

My paws sank into the snow, and the snow did not feel cold.

My wolf had pushed up through me, and the fear I had braced for never came.

She was silver-grey, and when I looked down at my reflection in the porch window, she was bigger than I'd expected.

Beside me stood a black wolf the size of a horse.

*Breathe,* Torin said, in my head. *You're doing it right.*

*I can't talk like this.*

*You are talking. Listen to yourself.*

I did.

*Oh,* I said.

*Yes.*

*She's been in here the whole time.*

*Something was holding her under.* His voice was warm. *I don't know what. She's up now. Want to run?*

I didn't answer him.

I was already running.

The yard went by, then the fence, then the first stand of pines, and I laughed, which came out as a bark.

He ran at my shoulder and let me lead.

The cold air tore through my lungs, and nothing hurt.

For three months I had been a ghost standing in other people's doorways, and now my body was good for something.

We crossed a frozen creek, climbed a ridge, and came down the other side onto land I knew.

I slowed.

*This is the border,* Torin said quietly. *That's Harlan land.*

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