When he came outside, William was leaning against the porch next to Declan, who sat in the grass. Rose was chewing George out for something. Jack went over to Declan and sat by him.
"How long have you known?" William said.
"I came across them my second day here. Casshorn's hounds attacked him, but he hadn't turned, so I wasn't sure at first."
"It hurts to change shape here," William said. "You go into a fit."
"That's what I gathered."
The muscles along William's jaw went tight. "Are you sending him to Hawk's?"
Declan shook his head. "If she comes with me - and she hasn't said she would - he's staying with us. No Hawk Academy, no special schools, no empty rooms. His childhood will be as normal as is in my power to make it."
William didn't look like he believed him.
"He's lived with them all his life," Declan said. "You think she'd let me send him off?"
They both looked at Rose.
"You got me for this fight," William said. "For the boy. After that, I'm gone."
Declan nodded.
"You have a plan?"
Rose came up to them. Jack tensed, but no chewing-out seemed to be forthcoming.
"Several locals are cursing Casshorn into sleep as we speak," Declan said. "Once he's out, we're going to send an electric current through a local lake. The current should be strong enough to weaken the hounds. Rose and I will wait for them on the dock in the middle of the lake. We'll flash a few times to pull them to us and kill the survivors. Once the main body of the hounds is gone, we go after Casshorn."
William squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.
"If you have a better plan, be my guest, don't keep it to yourself," Declan invited.
William leaned back and stayed quiet for a few minutes. "Flashing won't be enough. You need to draw as many hounds as you can to you."
"You want to run it?" Declan asked.
"Who else? You're too slow."
"What do you mean?" Rose asked.
"He means that he'll turn into a wolf and draw the hounds to us," Declan said.
"That's suicide," she said flatly.
William grimaced. "This is coming from a woman who's willing to crawl onto a dock in an electrocuted pond."
"How do you even know what 'electrocuted' means?" Rose asked.
William glanced at Declan. "You didn't tell her?"
Declan shrugged. "It didn't come up."
"We had training in industrial sabotage," William said. "In case of a conflict between the Broken and the Weird, the Legion will send soldiers into the Broken and they will cripple the industrial centers."
"The Broken runs on electric power," Declan said. "Destroy the power plants, and everything stops. No power equals no water, no communications, no logistics, nothing. Even fuel is pumped by electric pumps. Take away electricity, and you'll have anarchy."
"The Weird has a lot less people than the Broken," William said. "If it comes to war, destroying their infrastructure is our only option."
"You're scaring me," Rose said.
"Don't worry," Declan told her. "The probability of an actual conflict between the two dimensions is rather low."
"It's mostly a precautionary measure," William said.
"You have to be prepared for what your enemy could do rather than what they might do," Declan said.
William nodded.
Rose didn't look convinced.
Chapter 25
ELEONORE sensed the approaching steps a moment before a careful knock on the door broke the silence. She put down her pestle and went to get the door. Technically Emily should be the one to do it, given that she was the youngest, but Emily was cooking a dead cat over the stove and had to keep stirring it. It smelled ghastly enough as it was. No need to add burned stench to it.
ElEonore opened the door and looked at a familiar-looking young woman. Ruby, she remembered. One of Adele's great-grandchildren.
"There is a man here to see you," the girl said.
A man? In Wood House? How in the world did he get past the wards? "Me or your great-grandma?"
The girl bobbed her dark head. "You, Mrs. Drayton."
ElEonore wiped her hands on her apron and stepped out.
A man waited in the yard. Dark-haired, tall, about Declan's age. He looked up, and his eyes shone with wild amber. Alarm shot through ElEonore. Like looking into the eyes of a feral beast. "You would be William, then," she said.
He nodded.
"Are you here for yourself or for Casshorn?"
"For Jack," he said.
"I see." She didn't, but that seemed like the right thing to say.
William sat into the grass. "Tell me when the curse is ready. I'll draw the hounds to the lake."
ElEonore nodded and went inside. Something had happened. She would have to ask Rose about it, but not now. Now they had old magic to court.
Two hours later, she staggered out onto the porch, pale and exhausted. He sat in the same spot. "It's done," she gasped. It had taken all of their strength, too. "Go fast. The curse won't hold him for long."
William pulled off his shirt, then his boots. His pants followed, and he stood naked on the grass.
His body twisted, muscle and bone stretching, flowing like molten wax. His spine bent, his legs jerked, and he crashed into the grass. A violent tremor shook his limbs. His fingers clawed the air. Newly formed bone, wet with lymph and blood, thrust through the muscle. ElEonore fought a shudder.
Flesh churned and flowed, encasing the new skeleton. Dense black fur sprouted and sheathed the skin. A huge wolf rolled onto his feet.
"Open the gate!" ElEonore called. Some young one slid the wooden beam aside and wrenched the gate open.
The wolf panted once and dashed into the Wood.
ElEonore watched him go. A terrible dread claimed her, squeezing her chest with a cold fist, and she sank down into a chair. This wouldn't end well.
THE pond lay placid, its silt-muddled waters opaque and green. The afternoon had ripened into early evening, but they still had at least a few hours of sunlight. From her vantage point at the nose of the small inflatable boat, Rose saw the dock very clearly. Layers of ribbed tire rubber sheathed it, covering the wood completely. She might die there. All the times in her life she'd thought of dying, she hadn't pictured her demise on a dock covered with black rubber. At least the boys were safe. She took them out to the Broken to stay with Amy Haire. They didn't like it, but they both realized this wasn't a good time to argue with her.