Chapter 3

That evening Margaret didn't return to her house. It was a Friday, and the Wolfson's always spent their Friday's at the inn. As smiled at the tinkling bell when she opened the door to the warmth of the inn. Her father looked up from behind the reception desk and smiled. Margaret ran behind the counter and gave him a hug.

"Hi Daddy!" Margaret said happily.

"Hello, my sweetling. Good day?" Wolf asked, still confused by his daughter's exuberant demeanor.

"Oh, it was an excellent day." Margaret replied.

"That's good. Now run off to the kitchen and get some food." Wolf said, lightly pushing his daughter towards the kitchen door.

"Oh, but first, did a boy named Jeffrey Sheridan come get a room for the night?" Margaret asked quickly.

"Yes he did." Wolf answered after checking the books. "Seemed like a vagabond type boy."

"Could you tell me what room he's in?" Margaret asked politely.

"Now, why would you want to know that?" Wolf asked his daughter seriously.

"Oh, well, I met him today, and I wanted to stop by and say hi." Margaret answered innocently.

"Hm..no, I won't tell you what room he's in. You'll just have to wait for him to come down. Now go get dinner." Wolf said, turning away from his daughter, slightly perturbed. Margaret scowled at Wolf's back and left to the kitchens where she found her mother bustling away over the stoves.

"Hello, Margaret. Good day?" Virginia asked without looking up.

"I had a great day. What's on the menu tonight?" Margaret asked, poking around in the pots on the stove.

"Spaghetti. Now, out of the pots!" Virginia scolded, slapping the back of her daughter's hand with a wooden spoon. "Dinner will be ready soon enough. Now shoo." Margaret sent a mock-hurt look in her mother's direction and left the kitchen to the common room of the inn, where she found Randi curled up on the hearthrug.

"Hello, Randi." Margaret said happily as she sat down next to her beloved dog. Randi looked up at Margaret in a way that screamed "Did you bring me food?"

"No food right now, my love, but I'm sure there's food out back." Margaret smiled as she pet Randi. Randi just yawned and fell asleep with her head in Margaret's lap.

Margaret scanned the room, looking for any sign of Jeffrey. She didn't see him anywhere.

"Looking for me?" A voice asked from behind her, making her jump. Turning around Margaret saw Jeffrey sitting in a chair behind her.

"Why yes. I see you found the place alright?" Margaret asked.

"Oh yes, it was quite easy to find. It's the only place in town that just reaks of wolf." Jeffrey replied with a large grin.

"Gee, I can't imagine why." Margaret laughed. Her laugh was interrupted by her stomach growling loudly.

"I see you haven't had dinner yet." Jeffrey observed.

"No, my Mum shooed me out of the kitchen. Have you eaten yet?" Margaret asked.

"As a matter of fact, I was planning on going hunting tonight. Would you like to come? There's nothing like fresh meat." Jeffrey grinned.

"Hunting eh? Can't say that hunting is one of my fortes." Margaret said.

"You can't hunt? What is this madness! You're coming with me, my dear. A wolf should know how to hunt properly." Jeffrey exclaimed, pulling Margaret up by her arm and dragging her out the door. Once outside Margaret pulled her arm out of Jeffrey's grasp.

"Now, what makes you think you can boss me around?" Margaret asked angrily.

"I'm not bossing you around." Jeffrey explained.

"Oh? Care to elaborate on that theory?" Margaret asked, crossing her arms.

"If you cared so much about going hunting, you wouldn't even have let me pull you out of that inn." Jeffrey said, as he scratched his ear. Margaret said nothing as she considered Jeffrey's argument.

"You know, you're really cute when you think." Jeffrey said as he flashed his wide grin at Margaret's puzzled face.

"You're quirky." Margaret stated.

"Is that a good thing?" Jeffrey asked.

"I think so." Margaret said with a grin.

"Good. Now that we've gotten that figured out, are you coming hunting or not?" Jeffrey asked.

"Okay, fine. I'll come hunting with you." Margaret conceded.

"Great fun! Now come on, we might be able to see the moon rise, if we're lucky!" Jeffrey exclaimed excitedly before running off down the street.

Margaret and Jeffrey chased each other down the hill where they had met, falling down at the bottom. They had missed moonrise, but they still had lots of time to hunt down some food.

The two half wolves ran into the forest and stopped to sniff out animals.

"I think I smell something." Margaret whispered to Jeffrey.

"What do you smell?" Jeffrey inquired.

"I'm not sure. Rabbit perhaps?" Margaret guessed.

"Well, follow it. Find it and catch it." Jeffrey urged. He watched as Margaret clumsily sniffed out the rabbit hole and trapped the family inside. Together they caught two rabbits and devoured them.

"That was the best thing I've ever tasted!" Margaret sighed as the two half-wolves lied down on the hill, not feeling like going back to the inn.

"You don't eat fresh meat much do you?" Jeffrey asked.

"I do...it's just usually cooked." Margaret replied.

"Well where's the fun in that? Hasn't your father ever taken you hunting?" Jeffrey asked.

"As a matter of fact, yes. But it was a very very long time ago." Margaret answered.

"Why?"

"Why what?" Margaret asked, turning her head to look at Jeffrey.

"Why such a long time ago? Don't your parents want you to know what it's like to be a wolf?" Jeffrey asked.

"Sure they do. I guess?" Margaret wondered. Why had her father only taken her hunting once as a child? she found herself asking herself.

Because you're both so busy.

If you'd really wanted, you could've found time to go hunting.

I'm gone all day and he's busy all night with the inn.

He's not nocturnal. He does come home and sleep.

Yeah, and he wants to sleep, not teach me about being a wolf.

"Margaret?" Jeffrey asked, snapping her out of her internal argument. "Are you okay?"

"Hm? Yeah, I'm fine." Margaret said, massaging her forehead.

"You were muttering." Jeffrey stated.

"Was I? Oh...I was thinking." Margaret explained.

"Hm. You know I love the moon on a clear night." Jeffrey said with a sigh.

"Yeah. It's so entrancing." Margaret agreed as she looked up at the waning moon. It would be full in a couple of nights, and she was already feeling a little twitchy.

Margaret and Jeffrey fell into a relaxed silence and eventually they both fell asleep in the moonlight.


Margaret opened her eyes and saw a butterfly sitting on a blade of grass in front of her nose. She sat up and stretched, enjoying the warmth of the sunlight on her body. All of a sudden she realized where she was and why.

"Jeffrey! Jeffrey, wake up!" Margaret cried, shaking the teenage wolf awake.

"In a moment." Jeffrey mumbled before rolling over and curling up again.

"Jeffrey! Get up!" Margaret pleaded, hitting Jeffrey with all her might.

"Okay, okay, I'm up." Jeffrey surrendered. He sat up and looked at her groggily. "Where's the fire?" he asked.

"In the sky!" Margaret exclaimed, pointing at the Sun.

"That's the Sun, Margaret." Jeffrey explained with the air of someone explaining that two plus two equals four to an overly excitable toddler.

"Yeah, it is! And my parents are going to kill me!" Margaret yelled as she ran up the hill. Jeffrey slowly got up and sauntered up the hill after her.

Margaret ran all the way to her neighbourhood, where she slowed down to think about her battle plan. 'Cause she was going to need one. Unless...unless she didn't see her parents. If she didn't see them, they won't see her, and if they didn't see her, they couldn't yell at her. She took a detour through several back alleys and climbed the drainpipe on their house to get to her bedroom window, which she never locked for reasons such as this.

She lightly placed each foot on the floor, trying to avoid as much noise as possible.

"Care to explain where you were all night, Margaret Catherine?" Wolf asked from the doorway. Margaret winced at the ice in her father's voice. She slowly turned to face her father, and stared him in the eye.

"I went out hunting with Jeffrey." she said defiantly.

"Jeffrey? The boy from the inn? He's a wolf." Wolf said.

"Yeah. You think with your wolf nose, you'd be able to figure that out." Margaret accused, crossing her arms. he father visibly paled at the statement.

"Virginia!" Wolf called at the top of his loud voice. Margaret's mother came into the room, saw Margaret, and fixed her with an accusing stare.

"Wow, don't I feel victimized." Margaret said with a large amount of venom in her voice.

"Don't you talk like that to us, young lady." Virginia snarled.

"No. She's not a young lady. That's the problem." Wolf said.

"Are you saying I'm a man?" Margaret retorted.

"You be quiet. Virginia, I believe it's time we sent our daughter to Wendy." Wolf said.

"You're going to send me to the castle!" Margaret exclaimed.

"Yes. That seems like quite a good idea. You can learn to be a proper lady there. Not a vagabond shepherdess." Virginia agreed.

"You're going to send me to live with Grandpa and Wendell to learn to be a proper lady!" Margaret cried, her eyes filling with tears.

"Yes, we are. You need it. We'll send off word to them right away. You are to stay here." Wolf said, looking Margaret right in the eyes. Wolf and Virginia left the room, locking the door behind them.

"I hate you." Margaret spat at the closed door.

-LittleCrazy1