White Wolf 2: The Call of a Soul Read Online Free PDF Page B

which is the last class before lunch. Our PE teacher is really cool. I think I’ll ask her to let me out a couple minutes early.”
    “You might even want to tell her what’s going on. No teacher likes a bully, Yvonne.” Melanie could see from the way the girl averted her gaze she wasn’t keen on the notion. “Just consider it an option.”
    “Okay.”
    “Don’t you feel better for having told me?”
    “Sort of. Yeah. I guess so.”
    “So, don’t write off talking to your PE teacher.”
    “What if she tells everyone? I’d look like an idiot.”
    Melanie well understood Yvonne’s predicament having once been in the same situation herself. Sheesh, what else could be done? “What about if I ask my brother Gray to teach you some self-defense moves? It’ll boost your confidence. He plays football and knows all sorts of tricks.”
    “I guess. Anyway that’s not what’s important. My mom’s what’s important. Will you ask Mom about being sick? I looked up the symptoms on the Internet. She has these bumps on her back, and her hair’s falling out. Is it cancer?” Yvonne worried her lower lip. “It’s only me and Mom. I don’t have any aunts or uncles. There’s only me to take care of her.”
    “That’s where you’re wrong. There’s me, Virgil, Janie; everyone at the Caboose is family.” Melanie tugged the teenager into a tight embrace. “Your mom doesn’t have cancer, I promise. Now stop worrying. We’ll figure this out, together.”
    “You won’t tell her? About Nadine? I don’t want her to worry.”
    “Pinky swear.” Melanie grinned and held up her finger and put on a brave front while worries chased her brain. Was Brinda sick? She hadn’t noticed a thing. Surely as a maggishahwi, she would’ve picked up on any illness?
    She watched Yvonne leave and sighed. The poor girl had grown five inches over the summer, and awkward didn’t begin to describe the teenager’s gait or posture. Maybe being short wasn’t such a bad thing after all.
    Melanie checked the time on her phone: 5:15. She hurried to the bench under the trees that faced the back entrance to the Caboose, set the cell’s alarm, and sat. Within seconds she was thoroughly engrossed in the journal.
    When the phone dinged, she jumped, and it took a minute to adjust to her surroundings. She tucked the book into the depths of her purse, dropped the cell into the open outside pocket, and started for the Caboose’s employee entrance.
    Had it all really happened?
    Miigawashi had lured half the tribe to the surface.
    A victorious O’aajiisi gifted those who had left the sanctuary of Ma’ghiciwa with great strength, a deep hunger for power, and the ability to shift form.
    Gaa’lingan ordered the remaining Cwaatchii, the powerful alphas and their mates, to retrieve those who had abandoned the cave. The Cwaatchii reached the surface but could not find their fellow wolves.
    Bii’lingan , the great water spirit, coveted wolves of his own, so he flooded the land with five great lakes so the Cwaatchii could not return to the caves. And thus began the great divide between the wolves.
    Was that how the black wolves came into being?
    Was that how their last name had come about?
    Gramps had brought them from their hometown, Twisp, Washington, to this reservation, hoping to cure Papa of his addiction. So the Makgamii tribe had to be white wolves like they were. Why then had the tribe shunned them after Papa and Gramps died?
    Yet when Mama’s drinking had gotten out of control and Melanie had gone to Shuman, leader of the Makgamii, he had agreed to send Mama to the rehab center. Once Mama came back clean and sober, Shuman had even offered her a job.
    But none of the tribe’s alphas had taken Gray under their wing. Maybe when she finished the journal, there would be more answers. She sighed and climbed the five steps leading to the Caboose.
    The door swung open. Brinda, hands akimbo, frowned down at her. “I thought you were going to sit on that