She stared into the wolf’s eyes as it howled. The sound split her in half. It was, in many ways, similar to mum shouting. It had the same inhuman edge and carried the same note of insanity that came with a real flip-out. Unfortunately, this was unlikely to end with her phone being taken away and no pizza for a week.
Scarlet took a step back and bumped into a tree. At least she had something to her back, something she could lean against as it tore her throat out. She would die standing up. Why was that good? Given the choice, she’d spend her entire life lying down, preferably on something soft and warm. Maybe she should lie down.
The wolf moved, faster than she could follow, and stood before her. It was close enough to feel the warm breath on her cheeks. And the smell. This bad boy wasn’t big on the teeth cleaning. Trying not to breath she slipped a hand into her pocket, resting it against her spell book. There had to be something she could use.
Her mind was trying to race but in reality it raced much as she did. So her mind was far behind the pack, stopping every three paces to draw breath and gasp. She had nothing. The eyes were still staring at her, massive and eerie. The irises were yellow run through with thick black veins and they were almost luminous, drawing her in so the forest around her blurred and disappeared.
She took a step away from the tree, one hand held out. Now that she was really looking, she could see the love in those eyes. The wolf didn’t want to kill her, it wanted to mate with her and such an honour she’d never thought to have bestowed upon one so lowly as she.
‘One so lowly as she?’
Hang on, what the hell was she thinking? She blinked and the eyes lost their grip. Unfortunately, so did she and she screamed and dived to the side. One enormous paw caught her on the head and checked her dive, slamming her to the floor. She landed with a howl of pain and curled up, waiting for the teeth.
She heard the crunch of feet on the pine needles and sticks and the wolf grunted and moved away. She sat up, arms wrapped around herself and stared in wonder. A girl was clinging to the side of the wolf, one hand wrapped around its long fur. Her other hand gripped the handle of a knife that was buried deep in the beast’s side.
The girl was wearing red. Tight-fitting crimson leather. Oh boy. She wiped the imaginary drool from her lip and forgot for a moment all about the nearly dieing thing. Then the wolf charged her and all her thoughts, naughty and otherwise, fled as she scrambled back. Her heels shoved through the loose forest floor and she moved by all of a few centimetres.
Fortunately it made little difference. Red Riding Hood pulled her knife free and slammed it in again to the same place. The wolf stopped in his tracks, head thrown back and howling. He shook like a dog, shaggy fur whipping around until his attacker was lost among it. Scarlet thought she saw the knife come out again and once more dig deep into its side.
The shaking slowed, then stopped altogether. The wolf dropped to his knees. Had she ever seen a tree fall, she imagined this was what it would look like, ponderous and sad. It slumped onto its side, final breath rushing from it like a popped balloon.
Red Riding Hood, and how cumbersome was that for a name, pulled her knife free and dropped to the ground. She wiped her blade on the wolf’s fur and slipped it back into a sheath that hung at her side. Scarlet stared. She had long black hair and pale green eyes and a face that could only really come from a fairy tale. Scarlet whistled softly under her breath, trying not to pant. Only then did Red Riding Hood look up and apparently see Scarlet for the first time.
‘Who are you?’
‘Joanna… Actually, I’m called Scarlet.’ What was that about?
‘Well, Joanna Scarlet, you shouldn’t be here.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because you aren’t ever here.’
‘Um, except I am, like, right now.’
‘Which is why you shouldn’t be here.’
Riiight. Scarlet rubbed her arm where life was just returning after her trip to the ground. This hadn’t started well. ‘You’re Red Riding Hood, right?’
The girl nodded. ‘How do you know my name?’
‘Honey, everyone knows your name.’ If I knew you looked like this I’d have visited sooner. Too soon to say that? Probably.
‘Who is everyone? Do you mean the villagers?’
Scarlet had one of those moments. They were called clarity, possibly, or maybe insanity. Swap a few letters round, what’s the difference? Red Riding Hood had no idea she was in a story. To her, this was normal.
‘How come the wolf was still alive?’
The girl sighed and leaned against the massive corpse. ‘He is always alive. Every morning I wake up and every day I come here and slaughter him. Tomorrow I will wake and do it again.’
Man, that sucked. ‘That sucks. Why do you do it?’
Red sighed and waved a hand toward the mansion cottage across the clearing. ‘Because my grandmother lives there and without me, she would die.’
‘Why doesn’t she move? I mean, it’s a nice house, but surely if this is happening every day she could just move somewhere safer?’
Red frowned and shook her head. She squinted at Scarlet, as though making her blur would make more sense of what she’d just suggested. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t understand.’
‘Mmm.’ Could fairy tales be stupid? Apparently yes. ‘So, look, I’ve come here to ask you for your knife.’
Red put a hand to the hilt and turned her body to put it between Scarlet and the knife. ‘My father gave me this knife. The only way you’ll get it is after I put it in you.’
Scarlet shuddered. The squint was gone and the beautiful lines of her heart shaped face were set as she scowled. Still hot though. Scarlet held her hands up before her. ‘Hey, fine, don’t kill me, I’m not a wolf.’
Red relaxed a tiny bit and her hand returned to her side. She came closer and Scarlet smelled her. There was a hint of wood smoke and pine and lots of something indefinable that made her neck hair stand up and her insides go funny. She wasn’t actually going out with Lara, not right at this moment. The thought made her blush, shame and lust warring within her. Shame lost. It would be fair to say shame snuck out before the battle even began.
‘So, um, do you live alone out here?’
Red cocked her head to one side. ‘I live in the village, with my mother. Who are you, why are you here?’
‘I told you. My name’s Scarlet, and I’m here because I need your knife.’
‘Why?’
The scowl was back. Scarlet told her about the other her and the council and tried to do it in words that didn’t mean lots more explanation. The phrase ‘other worlds’ was pretty safe. She tried dimension once and got a blank look. Which was fair because she was only going on what she’d got from old episodes of Star Trek.
When she’d finished, Red was frowning again. Her hand wasn’t on her dagger, so that was a good sign, but the frown was scary on its own. And hot.
‘Why did you not just rescue her?’
‘Um, excuse me, how? Not some hot fighting goddess like you, in case you hadn’t noticed.’
Red’s cheek turned the same colour as her outfit and she looked everywhere but at Scarlet. That was cute, just completely adorable. She felt the urge to slap herself round the face. Red nodded. ‘That is true.’
Okay, maybe it was, but she didn’t need to say it. Scarlet folded her arms, waiting. Red frowned, which seemed to be her default expression. Scarlet was pretty certain she was thinking, looking past her into the forest. She came to a decision, because she put her hand back on her knife and nodded.
‘Fine, well, I think we should return to this other world and rescue her.’
‘What, together?’
‘Is there something wrong with that?’
Scarlet shook her head violently. ‘Not at all, no, that’s fine, great, really. Um, are you sure?’
Red nodded. She was about to say more when a voice came across the clearing like the detention bell.
‘RED! RED, ATTEND ME AT ONCE.’
Red groaned, putting her face in her hands.
‘Is that granny?’
Red nodded. ‘Can we go, please?’
‘Shouldn’t you talk to her?’
‘She doesn’t want to talk. She wants me to get the ashes out of her oven.’
‘That doesn’t sound too bad.’
‘It is when the ashes are what’s left of the children.’
Next Instalment Friday 18th April
