I gasped, Grandma grinning as she flung the cloak over my shoulders. She settled it about my shoulders and put the clasp at my neck.

I fingered the soft yet sturdy material in absolute awe. Never had I owned anything so fine.

Grandma held up a pan so I could see my reflection. The dark red contrasted sharply with my pale skin, looking almost black in the shifting shadows of the lengthening night.

Grandma gave a high-pitched “Oh!” as I threw my arms about her shoulders and hugged her tight, almost knocking her over.

“I love it,” I whispered into her bosom.

She kissed my forehead. “It is my pleasure, my dear.” She pulled back and cupped my cheek so she could look into my eyes. “You are almost a woman now, and life is never easy. But you, my dear, are the bravest and strongest of them all. You will rule with compassion and you will fight for Empathy.” Her last word was oddly inflected, but I didn’t understand then what she meant. Following along now… I wonder if she always knew. And I wonder what Gifts of her own she had.

I paraded about in my cloak, a Gift that Papa wouldn’t be able to see as he was called on a mission for the king. I couldn’t wait to show him when he got back.

“Momma… when’s Pa coming back?” I asked.

Momma barely turned her head to glance at me, her forehead puckering, before turning to look out the slit in our living room, fingering the knives around her waist. “He’s on a mission, hon. I don’t know when he’ll return.”

“But… Grandma…” I replied, picking dirt from under my fingernails.

Momma gritted her teeth, looking outside as another howl tore through the air. “I can’t leave Jack and Jill. They are too young.”

“Then send me.”

Momma glanced up sharply, her eyes torn. She was silent, but then shook her head. “No. You, too, are much too young to be wondering the woods alone, sweetheart. We shall just have to trust in The King to protect your grandmother.”

A shiver spread up my spine with the next bone-chilling howl. Pa had found tracks around Grandma’s cottage before he was called away on a mission. They had found her.

And if I knew anything, it was that the Timber Wolves wouldn’t let prey go unheeded. They would come, either for our cottage, or for Grandma’s. And I had already wounded one.

The howls moved further from us. Further East. Toward Grandma.

They were going for the weaker prey.

And I wouldn’t let them.

I snuck out, using the tricks Pa had taught me. A part of me felt guilty leaving Momma and my siblings, mere toddlers at that point, but I knew I would feel greater guilt should something happen to Grandma and I did nothing.

So I disobeyed and left.

The night was one of those you could touch the supernatural merely by reaching out with your fingers. Pixies drifted from tree to tree, their tiny forms shimmering like stars as the gentle brush of leaves in the wind whispered overhead. Tiny critters with horns poked their heads up from the underbrush, flaring their wings and hissing. Eldertrees swayed at the corner of your vision, seeming to move with both purpose and patience, as if they had all the time in the world for whatever task lay before them.

As a girl clutching the hilt of her knife with a strangled grip Pa had warned me of… it was terrifying. I had never been out alone before at night. Especially not on a full moon. Pa had led me and left me, but I always knew he was close by if I ran into trouble. Shoot, he was typically the one causing me trouble.

But then I was well and truly alone, a child in the world of monsters and men.

A wolf howled in the distance, the haunting cry chilling me to the bone as shivers wracked my frame, but I set my shoulders and hurried forward along the path to Grandma’s house. I pulled the hood of Grandma’s handmade cloak tightly about my shoulders. I was wearing it for the first time… she had just given it to me that day with a gentle smile.

I was in awe. She had spent so long on that cloak, carefully placing each stitch with loving care, even getting me to help with the Gift as I was there.

It was only fitting I wore it to rescue her.

My mind tried to make me stop. To go back. Fear made my heart pound and muscles tremble, but I was going to make sure she was alright, no matter what anyone said. I had faced a Timber Wolf. I would face one a thousand times over to make sure my family was safe.

The trees parted to grant me a clear view into my grandma’s little cottage set in the middle of a clearing.

The nippy spring air tugged at any exposed skin, trailing goosebumps along my arms. It snapped the cloak around my figure, but it never snagged on any jutting branches nor roots.

Grandma’s cottage seemed fine. There was a little flickering glow in the window. The candle she lit at night to knit by before going to bed. A breath rushed from me, and I realized my folly.

What was I, a mere child, going to do if my grandmother hadn’t been fine? I just put myself needlessly at risk and probably scared Momma to death all because I wanted to play hero.

I slumped against a tree, feeling a weight on my small shoulders.

I shouldn’t have come.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as I felt something.

I didn’t want to see. I wanted to hide beneath my grandmother’s bed and pretend everything was ok. That it was just a rabbit or something harmless behind me.

But the goosebumps all along my neck and arms knew better.

Two shimmering lights glared at me from above my head. I stumbled back into the clearing, and the eyes came ever closer, the shadow detaching from the forest.

The saber teeth were the first thing I saw. One was snapped off halfway up, but the other was still long and strong. The lips were pulled back in a silent snarl, and he snapped those teeth with a thwack that made me freeze like a rabbit beneath a wolf’s paw.

His claws and jaw were spotted with something wet and a deep burgundy that glistened in the full moon above.

He took his time, coming closer and closer with each whisper soft step. I closed my eyes tightly, jumping with a whimper when I felt hot breath that stunk of death and rot and something metallic like… blood.

He circled me, and I stood stock still with something trembling deep within.

“Go away,” I whimpered, and felt hot breath once more on my face. I risked opening my eye, and I saw my death.

His eyes were alight with joy and his tongue lapped at his jaw. Run, little girl. Run.

I stumbled back, tripping over a root.

I stumbled to my feet, feeling the breath of death on my neck. I leaped to the side, narrowly avoiding his outstretched claws.

I ripped my knife from its sheath, racing for the door of Grandma’s cottage for all I was worth.

I pounded on the door, looking back and… the wolf was gone.

The door opened and Grandma stood there, wide eyed and with her hair in a fuzz. “What are you doing here, child? Come in, come in!”

I stumbled inside, trembling so badly I wasn’t sure my legs could hold me any longer. Grandma led me to the chair by the fireplace, sitting me down and bustling around her kitchen, muttering about tea.

It seemed I blinked and had a hot mug in my hands and a blanket about my shoulders.

Grandma sat on a stool before me, her eyes boring into mine. “Tell me true now, my little red. What happened? Why are you here in the middle of the night? Is your Ma alright?”

I shake myself, taking a sip of the tea. “They’re f-fine, Grandma. I—“ I looked down and my cheeks reddened in mortification. It sounds dumb to speak it.

“Praise the King. But what were you doing?”

“I…. I was c-coming to check on you,” I said, my voice muffled as I spoke them into my tea instead of lifting my eyes to my grandmother.

“Oh, dear child,” she said, her voice warm. I chanced a look up, and saw her face had softened and she was giving me a tiny smile that was all the more weary for it’s gentleness. “Dear me, but you have a right brave heart. Be sure to temper it with wisdom and you will be a fright to all evil, dear one. But for now, what had you frightened so?”

“The w-w-wolf,” I said, my voice trembling as I remembered his breath and those eyes and teeth. “His teeth were huge, and his breath stank.” I screwed up my face, and Grandma gave a gentle laugh.

“You’re safe now—“

A thump shook the door, and Grandma turned sharply, grabbing a fire poker set beside her chair.

She motioned me to stay, and I sank deeper into my chair with a whimper.

All was silent. There was only the creak of wood and the sway of trees from the wind whipping into a fury outside.

I screamed as the door shattered.