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not to let this one incident
affect your opinion of Rapid City, or South Dakota, in general.” Max lifted his
black bag as he stood up. “I’ve got to go. I’m going to be out of town for the
next few days, but I’ll be back Monday morning. If you start seeing signs of
infection, go straight to Urgent Care. Otherwise I’ll stop by on Monday to
check up on you.”
    “Okay.” I was starting to feel awkward. First he’d chastised
me for buying into the wolf stories, and now he was treating me like a little
kid who couldn’t take care of herself for a couple of days. I knew he had to be
at least ten years older than me, but up until this moment, I hadn’t noticed
the age gap at all, and I’d thought he hadn’t, either.
    He must have noticed my irritation, because when I lifted my
eyes to meet his, he had a bemused expression. “You have a terrible poker
face.”
    “I’m just tired.”
    He took that as his cue to leave. “I’ll see you Monday.”
    “Thanks for everything,” I said as he walked out the door,
but he didn’t answer. I heard him descending the stairs, and a few moments
later, the front door opened and closed.
    I tossed and turned for a while, trying to find a
comfortable position for my leg. I finally elevated my knee with a rolled
pillow, which meant my calf was slightly suspended and my bite wounds weren’t
touching anything. It wasn’t an ideal position, but eventually I managed to
fall asleep.

Chapter Three
    I woke up only once the whole day, when Gram came home from
the bookstore and offered to make me soup. I declined, rolled over and went
back to sleep.
    I didn’t sleep well after that, and when the sun went down,
my fitful dreams dissolved into full-blown nightmares. In my nightmare, the
wolf was back, except I didn’t have the rake to defend myself, and no shadowy
blur emerged from the darkness to save me. I fought the wolf off, kicking and
screaming, tearing at his throat with my teeth, but nothing seemed to work-
until suddenly the wolf backed away of its own accord. Its ears were flattened
to its head, and a low whine came from its throat.
    I sat up in bed, drenched in sweat and haunted by the fear
I’d seen in the wolf’s eyes.
    What had it been scared of? Me?
    I reached for the water glass on my nightstand, but it was
empty. The pitcher Gram had brought me earlier was dry, too. My throat still
felt sandpapery, so I switched on my bedside lamp, planning to go downstairs to
the kitchen. When I looked down at my leg, I paused.
    The bite marks looked healed. Some of them had disappeared
entirely. I leaned forward and ran my fingers over one of the long grooves
where the wolf’s teeth had torn through my skin. It was completely healed over
with new, pink skin.
    “What the hell?” I muttered. What had been in those shots
that Max had given me? I’d never healed so quickly before in my life. My head
felt heavy, though. The medication must come with some side effects.
    I swung my legs down onto the floor and tentatively allowed
them to bear some of my weight. Both legs felt fine. I stood up, bewildered,
and turned to look for my phone in the folds of my blankets. Maybe I’d only
imagined I’d been asleep for a day. If my wounds were healed already, I might
have been asleep for several days.
    A glance at the calendar on my cell phone disproved that
theory, however. I’d been asleep for somewhere around fourteen hours. My
stomach grumbled at me. Clearly it hadn’t enjoyed the extended nap nearly as
much as I had.
    I dropped the phone back on my bed and picked up the empty
pitcher before shuffling to the door. It was cracked open, presumably so Gram
could look in on me. I pulled it open further and slipped through. My leg was a
little stiff, my head was heavy and my mind was still a bit fuzzy, but
otherwise I felt pretty good. I made a mental note to thank Max for whatever
wonder drug he had slipped me. I’d assumed I would be stuck in bed for at least
a day or two while my bite