(Un)wise by Melissa Haag Page B

didn’t see any familiar faces.  I’d stayed on the train as long as possible but hadn’t even traveled halfway to my destination. I knew I needed to crash soon and hadn’t thought my fellow passengers would understand my thrashing and screaming when I did.
    Stumbling forward, I left the station as other passengers boarded.  This stop, a decent sized town, had several hotels near the station.  I picked one at random, paid for a room, and trudged up a flight of stairs.  Sliding the room card through the pad, the door clicked open.  I didn’t look around as I stepped in and closed the door.  The duffle, barely clinging to my weary shoulder, fell to the floor.
    I fell face-first into the firm mattress.  I bounced once but barely noticed.  Sleep had already wrapped its arms around me.  Fully dressed and laying on top the covers, I gave in.
    Absolute darkness surrounded me.  A low distant rumble filled the cool, dank air.  Lying on my back, I attempted to stretch out my arms, but they didn’t move.  Bindings bit into the skin of my biceps and forearms.  A small noise escaped me.
    “She is awake,” a voice rumbled nearby.
    “Untie her,” another voice responded.
    My heart hammered as two large hands lifted me and set me on my feet.  A light exploded in the darkness, blinding me.
    I could remember dogs trotting into the village.  They had rolled onto their backs, vying for father’s attention.  He had laughed and thrown them some meat scrap.  They, in turn, had hunted down two rabbits to set at father’s feet.  He’d piled straw outside the sheep pen, and the dogs stayed there for three nights.  On the fourth night, when father sent me out to feed them, they changed into men.  One had scooped me up while the other gagged me.  Then, they’d run.
    But something had gone wrong.  While running, three dogs crossed our trail.  The one carrying me had dropped me to the ground as he shifted and launched at one of the new dogs, tearing into it with deadly force.  Then, whirling, he had gone after another while his partner fought the remaining one.  The fights had inched closer to me, and I’d scrambled to my feet to try to run, but someone had caught me up from behind.  When I’d looked up, the man who held me had a horrible gash where his right eye should have been.
    The same man stared at me in the dim light while his partner untied me.  Dried blood crusted his face, but I noticed the gashed had closed a bit.  His eye socket, however, appeared sunken.
    “Do not dwell on it, child,” he said.  “Your life is worth an eye and more.”
    With the simple thoughts of youth, I didn’t understand how I could be worth such an injury but kept quiet.
    “My name is Roulf, and I have searched for you these last fifty years.”
    Since I’d just reached my fifth year, I couldn’t understand why he’d looked so long.  “Why did you bind me?”
    “We could not allow you to run.  The cycle ends in a few days.  They are still looking for the last one. You.  This is your third life in this cycle.  My son helped you in the last life,” he nodded at the man beside him, “and felt when the bond was broken.”
    His eyes didn’t leave mine as if he waited for me to answer.  I shrugged at him, my younger-self not understanding while my older, dream-self did.  An ache grew within me.  I wanted my father.
    “You do not need to understand now, just listen.  What I tell you will matter later.  They must have all of you alive at once.  It does not matter to them if you are Claimed.  You saw what they did to me.  If they take you, they will do the same to you.  They will hurt everyone you ever loved, and people you never knew.  You cannot let them take you,” he stressed with a slight growl.  He sighed and rolled his shoulders.  His son set a comforting hand on him.  Roulf reached up and patted it as he turned to smile sadly at his son.
    “We will stay here as long as we can.  If they find us,