Once upon a time in a wild, wild world, there were two wolf brothers living in their home lair with their papa wolf.

They lived in peace . . . until hunters took their dad away.

And nothing bad ever happened to them.

But the big brother had a secret.

He was no ordinary wolf . . . but a super wolf who had changed the past.

And he could still remember the way things used to be.

In the other life, the two wolf brothers faced many hardships.

They lost their papa to hunters.

They had to leave their home.

They wandered for days and nights.

And danger always followed them.

In the end, the big brother let himself be taken by the hunters, so the little one could be safe.

Though he was sad in this other life, the big brother felt closer to the little one.

In this new world the big brother created, it felt like the little brother was not even part of his pack.

A doe warned him that this might be the price for saving their papa . . . for the better life for the two wolf brothers.

Still, the big brother missed the little one so much that he would risk everything to have his little brother back.

Episode Three – The Wilderness

Chapter One

Soundtrack – Intro: "Savior" (Ghost Note Symphonies Version)

by Rise Against

Seattle, Washington

March 2023

Three Months After Sean Diaz Changed the Past

Daniel stomps his foot so hard that Dad's glass of water rattles against the coffee table, and he immediately feels stupid. Little kids stomp their feet. They throw temper tantrums and pout. He's not going to win this argument with his dad if he is acting like a stupid fucking child, but his dad will not listen to him.

"I don't want to waste my spring break going on this stupid road trip with Sean just because none of his friends can tolerate being around him," Daniel says. "And it's on my birthday!"

"Your brother would come in on your birthday. You would leave afterwards. Why not think of it as a kind of present?" Dad says from the couch, in that joking tone he uses in arguments. He does it to diffuse tension, but it's also infuriating, like he's not taking things seriously.

"You can't just kidnap someone and call it a present, Dad."

"What do you have going on that is so important? Wasting your spring break cooped up in your room?" Dad pats the seat beside him, and at first, Daniel pretends he doesn't see it. But his father keeps sitting there, patiently patting the couch, and the conversation isn't going to move forward until Daniel sits down. So he sighs and throws himself into the cushions.

He feels his father's hand rest on his back. It's weird how it feels the same as it did when he was little, like his entire body could still fit inside his father's palm.

"I worry about you, mijo," Dad says. "I love the time we spend together, but you should be with your friends, too. You spend most weekends here, usually locked in your bedroom. You know you have been wearing the same shirt for four days, right?"

"It's only been three . . ." Daniel says weakly. "I usually wear a hoodie, so it's not like people know."

"Tell me, why do you not want to go on this road trip with Sean?" Dad asks.

"I just don't want to. Isn't that enough?"

"You said I was not listening to you. I am trying to listen to you now."

Daniel's shoulders sink as he stares at his socked feet. "Sean and I don't get along. Most of the time, he acts annoyed to be around me. And then, if we do spend time together, we always get pissed at each other. I don't want us to get into some huge, stupid fight and be three states away and trapped in a car together."

"I hear you. I know Sean has disappointed you, and the two of you aren't as close as when you were niños. The two of you did used to be closer, though."

There's a loose thread near the pocket of Daniel's jeans. He tugs at it, wraps it around his fingers. "Sean got to high school and decided he didn't want anything to do with me. And it just got worse when he moved to Savannah. And I know you're going to tell me that he's been trying harder lately, but it's like he's pretending that we have a very different life than we do. Like, it really sucks to look up to someone and have them basically tell you they don't give a shit, and then he just comes home over Christmas and tries to act like everything is cool between us, and that . . . sucks more. Pretending everything is okay when it's not is worse somehow." He feels his father's arm around him. He lets himself get pulled against his father's side. Part of him feels like he should resist. He's almost sixteen; little kids get held by their papás. "I'm sorry, Dad. I know you think Sean is the perfect son."

Dad laughs so hard that his chest crashes against Daniel's ear. "I do not think Sean is perfect. I just choose to focus on both of my sons' strengths and try to ignore their faults, like how I am ignoring how stinky you are now that I'm sitting so close to you, Daniel. When was the last time you showered? And covering yourself with Axe does not count as showering."

"Dad, come on. It's been, like, four days, but I've been busy with homework and . . . " And not much else. Dad knows he hasn't been busy with shit.

"I think going on an adventure with your brother would be good for you," Dad says. "I think it would be good for Sean, also. If I can be honest, I worry about him too. Maybe I am an old man, so I worry too much. But a bit before Christmas, Sean started acting differently. When he was here, he seemed changed. Like he was my son but not the son I know. I can't quite explain it. Do you understand what I mean?"

"Uh, yeah, I do," Daniel says. "Sean started crying in the middle of Lord of the Rings, and it was super weird. He also had this freaky nightmare where he was shaking like he was having a seizure or something."

And there was also Sean's sketchbook, the story Sean seemed to be writing about the two of them on the run after their dad dies. A story where Daniel has superpowers. A story that isn't real.

"Also, where he wants to go, what he wants to do on this road trip . . . it surprised me," Dad says. "It really surprised me."

"Wait . . . why?" Daniel says. "What does Sean want to do on this road trip?"

Dad raises his eyebrows. "You don't know?"

Daniel digs his toes into their thin carpet and yanks the loose thread from his jeans. "Sean said something about going to the Southwest. I assumed he wanted to see the Grand Canyon. Or maybe what's left of that stupid border wall. I, uh, haven't actually texted him back about it."

"Oh. Well, then." Daniel feels his father's hand rest gently on his knee "I really do understand why you hesitate to spend time with him, mijo. I will not make you go if that is what you decide, but before you make up your mind, you should actually talk to your brother. I know it is hard to give him another chance, but sometimes those chances that are hardest to give are the ones we need to give the most."

Dad sets his lips against the top of Daniel's head. It's not a kiss. His dad hasn't kissed him since he was really little. But it's another thing that makes Dad feel big enough to make Daniel feel safe.

Except dad pulls back, and his nostrils flare. His lip curls in a grimace. "Seriously, Daniel, you have to take a shower tonight."

# # #

After his talk with Dad, Daniel pulls on his shoes and a hoodie and goes to their front yard to bounce a soccer ball off his knees. It usually helps him think, but this afternoon, the ball goes everywhere, completely out of his control. He was never athletic, but he thinks he was better at this when he was little.

Then the ball pops him in the face.

"Fuck!" he shouts and hurls the ball against the fence at the edge of their patio. The ball ricochets off the wood and right into his nose. "Motherfucker!" he screams, rubbing his upper lip, checking for blood.

He's not bleeding, but he throws himself onto the grass.

"Fuck you," he says, flipping off the ball. But it's not the ball he's frustrated at. It's . . . everything

His tenth grade year sucks. His friends want nothing to do with him. The senior in his Spanish class's asshole buddies started picking on him in the lunchroom. His grades are mostly B's, but there's this constant voice in his head that says he should be doing better. Especially in math. Everything just feels so pointless that even taking a shower or changing clothes seems hard.

So Dad is right. If Daniel stays here, he's going to waste his spring break in his room, wrapped in blankets, sleeping too much, maybe rewatching The Office for the seventh time. Which is a terrible way to start off being sixteen. On a road trip with Sean, he might get to see something besides his bedroom ceiling. And if they do get pissed at each other, at least feeling angry would be a change of pace from feeling pathetic and tired.

He reaches for his phone, and he opens the message chain with Sean. Sean has sent him a tower of texts over the past three months, and Daniel has barely replied to any of them.

Daniel keeps expecting Sean to lose interest, to drop the ball. But every other day there's a message saying hey or checking in, consistent, even though Daniel hasn't given Sean much reason to be.

So he types, If you want to talk about the trip we can. Facetime me when you get the chance.

And he has barely hit Send when his phone rings. He answers, and Sean's face pops onto the screen. Sean is wearing a Target work shirt, and there are stalls behind him, like he's in the public restroom. Through the tiny speakers of the phone, a toilet flushes. "That was not me," Sean says.

His hair is different, too. The sides have been shaved, but the front hangs down in kind of a lazy mohawk. It actually looks pretty cool, especially with his gages. "Nice hair, bro," Daniel says.

"You like it? I had one of my roommates do it. I could probably cut yours like it next time we hang out."

"No thanks. I think I like my ears not bleeding." Daniel runs his hand through his hair; it feels like greasy spaghetti. "So, tell me about this road trip?"

"Well, I know you don't want to go."

"Did Dad tell you?"

"Yeah, but I figured it out because you answered zero of my text messages."

Daniel cringes. He knows what it's like to have your brother ignore you, and it sucks. He tries to tell himself that it's just payback, but, no, it was a dick move on his part. "Well, the judge is listening. What's your case?"

"Okay, Judge Diaz," Sean says, and the background spins revealing mirrors and urinals. "I have two points. First, I want to stop in Beaver Creek to visit our grandparents."

"Claire and Stephen? I've never met them."

"I know! And you should. They're cool. Okay, they're not cool, but they're nice and worth knowing. I promise that they are going to love you. And they might have some information about where we are going next. Which is Arizona."

"Why would they have info about Arizona?"

Sean takes a deep breath, and the air he slowly releases rumbles through the phone's speakers. Then he says, "Because their daughter is there."

It takes a moment for what Sean has said to sink in.

"Wait," Daniel says, sitting up in the grass. "You mean Karen? Our mom?"

"I know she was in Arizona five years ago. It seems like as good a place as any to look for her."

"Dude, okay, hold up, slow down." Daniel stands up, and he does a loop around their fence, across their patio, and back into their yard. "I have a million questions. How did you find her? How long have you known where she is? Why do you even want to talk to her? You have always hated her for leaving us."

Sean nods. "All good questions. But ones that will take a long time to answer, approximately the time it would take for us to drive from Seattle down to Arizona. Look, I will happily talk to you about this all you want, but I am technically not on break yet, and my boss is going to murder me if she catches me 'slacking off.' I'll call tonight, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," Daniel says. "Tonight is good."

"Will you actually answer this time, enano?"

Daniel sighs. He still doesn't like that name. But he also doesn't like realizing he's been the jerk. "Yeah, bro, I will."

Sean throws up some horns and makes a dumb face before he hangs up, and it actually makes Daniel smile. He lies back down in the grass. It's early spring, and the air is still cool. The sun feels warm against his face. He stares up at the sky. A few gray storm clouds smudge the placid blue.

They're going to find Karen. They're going to find his mom.

He has always wondered about her. What she was like. Why she left. He has a shoebox under his bed of Mom Stuff he has collected over the years, like a detective storing evidence. Because his brother and dad don't talk about her, not really. What their dad said about the star book at Christmas were the first nice words Daniel has heard about Karen since maybe ever.

And Dad is right—there is something up with Sean. Sean hates their mother. So much so that he always refused to refer to her as their mom. And as Daniel has grown up, he's understood that hatred better. After all, who just abandons their family like Karen did?

Daniel is still clutching his phone when it vibrates in his palm. It's a text message from Sean:

One more thing. The most important thing. I know I haven't been the best brother to you. I've probably been a real shitty brother to you actually. But I don't just want to do this trip. I want to do this trip with you. It has to be with you. Please come with me. Por favor mi hermano. (I know you don't know Spanish use Google translate to look it up haha)

Daniel rereads the text message a couple of times, not sure how he feels about it. But what else is he going to do over spring break with no friends, no life? So he sends back:

Sure hermano. I'm in

but seldom do these words ring true

when i'm constantly failing you

like walls that we just can't break through

until we disappear

so tell me now

if this ain't love

then how do we get out?

'cause I don't know

that's when she said

i don't hate you, boy,

i just want to save you

while there's still something left to save