Predator and prey?thought the wolf.What do you know of such things, not-man?
Green turned his luminescence to the wolf and found that the wolf extinguished as much light as he could summon.
The creature remained a dim ivory mask with a mane of starless night.
The wolf, in turn, pressed its shadow on Green and a thick velvet curtain fell across his senses.
Grow,the wolf said in the dark.Grow to honor the world that made you.
Green squirmed on his cot, blinking at the firelight glow on an unfamiliar ceiling.
He tried to bring back the treetops and the moonlight, concentrating until his breath caught in his throat, but they were gone.
There was only night and smothering heat.
He slept again without dreaming.
Green sat up and foundtoast and coffee on the table where the rag moth had been. The coffee was still steaming.
Valentina had been there.
He ate the toast. It was homemade bread, two fingers thick. It tasted like butter and woodsmoke. The coffee was darker and stronger than he thought possible. He sipped it with his eyes closed and tried to remember the last time somebody made him coffee without money changing hands.
Even with the scent of strong coffee in his nose, he could still smell the rag moth. He wondered if the creature’s influence could linger on in more dangerous ways than a simple odor.
Stepping out into the frigid morning, he reflected on a life mostly spent inside climate-controlled spaces. Seventy-two degrees Fahrenheit had been an unnoticed companion for decades.
I’ll miss you, old friend.
He visited the outhouse. Washed his face in violently cold water from the pump and went to find Valentina.
He heard a muffled conversation from the tan camper and knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
It was a cramped domestic space lined with utility shelves full of foodstuffs. There was a small kitchenette, a tiny writing surface scattered with papers, and a curtain separating what Green imagined was a sleeping area.
Valentina and Dancer were seated in two folding chairs. Valentina had her narrow brass coffee cup. Dancer had her plaid thermos. A thing that looked like ten pounds of chewed bubble gum, pink and lumpy with a smattering of various-sized eyes, pulsed rhythmically a few feet above the women’s heads. Some of the eyes were liquid black, others had goatlike hourglass pupils. Several eyes shifted to look in Green’s direction.
He froze and stared up at the blob.
Valentina cleared her throat, gave him a level stare, and shook her head. The look seemed to say,Don’t mention the hideous thing on the ceiling,as if it were a stain on the sofa.
Dancer turned to the newcomer.
“Howdy, Green. I thought I’d—”
She stopped short and gaped at him.
“What the hell?” she said.
Valentina sipped her coffee and said nothing.
Green’s heart sank.
“What?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”
He checked the ceiling just above his own head, suddenly afraid a second blob was approaching his scalp.
