The Paget girls grabbed their dolls and raced up the ladder to the loft, where they watched from overhead while their mother wet a rag and carefully cleaned the filthy child, who began to shiver from the cold water.
“There you are. Just look at your handsome face! It was very nearly hidden by all that dirt!” Madame Paget exclaimed, but the boy seemed unaffected by her praise. “Hands up, please.” She raised her own in demonstration.
He lifted his arms, and she slid the tunic into place so that it settled around his calves like a nightshirt, the laces at the neckline hanging loose to his waist.
“That’s better. Now, what’s your name? Else, I’ll have to call you ‘Boy.’”
The child blinked again.
“You do have a name, don’t you, child?” Madame Gosse demanded, in as amicable a voice as I’d ever heard from her.
The boy only shrugged.
“‘Boy’ it is, then.” Madame Paget stood and wiped her hands on her apron. “Up the ladder with you and play with my girls, while we figure out what to do with you.”
For a second, the child only stared at her. Then she gestured at the ladder, and he scampered up to the loft, before Madame Gosse could demand to know whether his legs were functional.
Madame Paget escorted us outside. “You will spread the word during your patrol, won’t you, Grainger? Find out if anyone knows anything about a merchant wagon? We need to find out where he’s from.”
“Of course,” he promised.
“I would accompany you,” I said. “But I’m sure my mother will need my help with the Laurents’ order for tonight.” And she was probably at her wit’s end, fearing that I’d perished in the dark wood.
Madame Paget turned back to Grainger. “If you see my husband, will you tell him what’s happened? I believe he’s still repairing the church roof.”
“I certainly will. Adele, may I see you home?” Grainger asked, and I did not miss the smile the two ladies exchanged behind his back.
Grainger escorted me down the long side of the village square, but he didn’t say a word until we got to my cottage door. “So, will I see you tonight at the ceremony?”
“You will. I’ll be the one in the red cloak,” I teased.
His gaze swept the full length of my body, setting my pulse racing, even though my cloak hid most of me—not to mention my new hatchet—from his sight. “It looks beautiful on you.” He gave me a dazzling smile, as a lock of pale hair fell over his forehead. Then he turned and headed off through the village square.
I took a deep breath to slow my racing heart before I pushed open the door and stepped inside.
My mother let out a sob the moment she saw me. “Adele!” She dropped the knife she’d been using to slice an apple. “I was so worried—” Her jaw snapped shut as she glanced at my sister, who sat in front of our hearth darning a woolen stocking. “But you’re okay? The delivery went . . . well?”
“It was a bit of an adventure,” I admitted. “I broke the lantern. And I dropped my basket and ruined Gran’s bread.”
“Well, aren’t you a clumsy clod?” Sofia declared, clearly delighted by the rare chance to tease me with a phrase I’d often used to describe her.
I stuck my tongue out at her as I set my basket on the table. “But Gran sent the venison back with me anyway. And she offered to trim my cloak in white fur if I’ll replace her raisin bread next week.”
My mother exhaled, obviously relieved. “I’m sure we can do that.”
“Did you see any monsters?” Sofia had never been in the dark wood; Gran came to the village, occasionally, to see her. To spare her the risky trip.
“I felt more of them than I saw,” I told her. Which was true. “But that’s only the beginning.”
My mother’s brow rose as she picked up her knife. “Oh?”
“I found a child in the forest on my way home.” I took off my cloak and hung it on a hook near the door; then I positioned my body to block Sofia’s view as I hung my hatchet beneath it. “A little boy, alone and naked. He hasn’t said a word. Madame Paget has fed and dressed him, but we have no idea who he is or where he came from.”
My mother laid her knife down again, her apple tart forgotten. “You found him in the woods?” Her voice sounded oddly high-pitched. “Where?”
“A bit off the path. But not too far from Oakvale,” I added, before she could scold me for not following directions. “A merchant wagon had been attacked nearby. I think a monster got his parents,” I added, pointedly holding her gaze. “A wolf, if I had to guess.”
“Mon dieu. Is he all right? Was he scratched or bitten? Injured at all?” The reason for her concern was clear. If the child had been infected, he’d be as much a threat to the village as my father was.
Would my neighbors truly burn a little boy alive? The very thought sent a chill through my bones.
“No. We’ve examined him thoroughly, and other than some abrasions on his feet from walking barefoot in the woods, there isn’t a mark on him,” I assured her.
“A wolf killed his parents?” Sofia had clearly forgotten about the stocking she’d been repairing. “A werewolf?”
“Yes. Then, it seems, something even scarier got the wolf, while the child was hiding.” And though I’d meant for my words to frighten her out of going near the woods, excitement glittered in my sister’s bright green eyes.
“You did have an adventure!” Mama wiped floury hands on her apron. “But now that you’re back, I could use your help with this tart.”
I grabbed my own apron and tied it on to cover my dress, though baking suddenly felt like a terribly dull task after my time in the forest. I was bursting with questions for my mother, but since they couldn’t be asked in front of Sofia, they would have to wait. So I settled into the job at hand. “I’ll finish the tart while you do the pies, then, tonight, I’ll introduce you to a creature more astonishing than any monster roaming the dark wood: a child who doesn’t talk your ear off!”
Sofia stuck her tongue out at me, and I laughed as I tugged on her braid.
“Worry not, dear sister. I believe we’re stuck with you—wagging tongue and all!”
Five
We spent the last bit of daylight finishing the Laurents’ order, then as the sun set, I rebraided Sofia’s hair and brushed the flour from her dress so she could help me deliver the meat pies to the village square. My mother would be coming shortly with the raisin bread and the tart.
“Elena!” I called as I stepped into the open, torch-lit space, one eye glued to my sister, who’d been entrusted with carrying one of the pies all on her own.
Elena’s brown eyes widened with relief when she saw me. “Adele! I’m so glad you made it out of the woods safely! I can’t believe you went out there alone!”
I wanted to tell her about the whitewulf, and the guardians, and the true meaning of my new red cloak. I wanted to tell her how scared I’d been, alone in the woods. That I’d almost been killed, but that I’d slayed a monster instead, and that it was likely only the first of many. I wanted to confide all the secrets and fear and excitement burning a hole in the end of my tongue and watch her eyes widen the way they had when I’d told her about the first time Grainger kissed me, and when I’d confessed, breathlessly, that I might love him. That I might soon be married to him, and that until then, I intended to sneak kisses every chance I got.