raised by wolves

Sophie smiles at me over Solomon’s shoulder encouragingly. I take his hand confidently and spout some smooth-sounding bullshit about being eager to see what he can do.

“Ah-ha! But you already have,” he said, gap-toothed grin big as a slice of watermelon. “If you have not noticed, the sun no longer holds sway on us. This is but the first of a series that will finally bring our kind to the top of the food chain once and for all. No longer will we be confined to the shadows. No longer shall we allow these sheep, these humans to over-run the planet. They will take their place as simple livestock. It will be glorious!” he declared at last, smiling with an empty stare at nothing in particular.

I did my best to retain my composure. I wanted to demand an answer from him right then, what was the deal? What about the comet? What are you really up to, man? But none of the questions made it out. Instead I nodded dumbly and said, “Yes, glorious. Well I’m certain you have much preparation still before the night’s ceremony. We won’t keep you.”

With only a mild struggle, I convinced Santiago to follow me out of the chamber and back down the corridor that brought us here.

“This Solomon is an idiot,” I said simply. “He is not the source of this magic. There’s something else at work here, and someone isn’t letting on as much as they know. But Solomon believes what he says. You can see it in his eyes. There’s nothing there. Lights on, no one home and all that.”

“Then who?” Santiago asked.

“I’m not sure. We’re going to have to do some snooping around.”

“Snooping around?” Santiago inquired with alarm. “What are you talking about, Sergei? Did you not see the guards? This is not the kind of operation you want to snoop around. This is some medieval shit, Sergei.”

“What are they going to do if they catch us? Kill us? The sun doesn’t work anymore. They aren’t expecting to have to stake anyone. Everyone here is here because they believe in what this Solomon guy says he’s doing. They’re being made stronger, what reason do they have to stick their noses into things beyond the surface?”

“When you say it like that it sounds so simple! Why are we snooping around then? Why don’t we just sign on for the ceremony too? Humans as livestock doesn’t sound too bad, does it?”

“Santi, we’ve been over this. Madness. Extinction. The Spider Lady. Besides, we’re already well below the surface. I feel like we’re in the VIP section now. Somehow Sophie’s got connections. Or else this Solomon isn’t quite as important as they’re making him out to be. We need to snoop. There’s something else going on here, or else the old witch wouldn’t have sent us,”

“Sent you,” Santiago cut in. “She sent you. You just dragged me along.” He crossed his arms over his chest and frowned like a stubborn little boy.

“Please, Santi,” I implored. “Is it so much for me to ask that you trust me? We’re here already. Everything has gone like clockwork, even though we don’t know which end is up in this mess. This is what we’re here to do and it’s going wonderfully. But we can’t expect everything to happen on it’s own. If you really feel that strongly about it, you can wait in the car.”

Santiago rolled his eyes and uncrossed his arms. “Fine,” he spat. “But when those guards catch us and start cutting off our parts and making us watch them grow back, I don’t want to hear you complaining about it.”