Chapter 36

Roger dug around in his 'bag of tricks' as he called it and pulled out five small flashlights.

He handed them out and said, "The batteries are good for about five hours, but we'll be back outside again long before that."

Once inside, the flashlights came on and their beams played about the dim interior of the big house.

Tell tale footprints in the dust showed where they had gone the last time they had visited the house, so it was decided to explore the other parts hitherto unseen.

Anita and Freya chose to go up the grand staircase and explore the second story.

Roger struck out on his own while Anna led Josephine through the areas they'd already seen.

He had descended into the basement and was examining the ancient boiler and furnace.

Idly, he noticed that area was quite clean and free of dust.

"This is odd." he muttered to himself, "The dust down here should be quite deep."

His flashlight beam swept across a set of paw prints in a dusty area, a wolf's paw prints, except they were positively enormous.

He rounded a corner and his beam fell fully onto the enormous gray furred body of a gigantic wolf.

Three things happened all at once, he screamed, "Holy shit!"

The wolf growled and the tiny blonde girl standing there screamed, "Roger? Is 'at ye?!"

Moments later, the huge wolf knocked him down and was frantically licking his face while the tiny blonde was crying happily, "Roger! It's sae guid tae see ye again mah mukker!"

When he was able to get back up again, Roger exclaimed, "Dena?! Sasha? What're you guys doing here? When did you get here and when's the last time you both ate?"

He found himself getting glommed onto by the tiny wood wife and he picked her up and held her closely while she happily kissed him several times square on the lips.

Dena was clearly not caring a whit about their size difference or what Freya might think.

Dena happily snuggled in his arms while he bent over and picked up his fallen flashlight.

He played the beam over Sasha's gaunt flanks and muttered in concern, "When was the last time you had a good meal, girl?"

His hand could feel her ribs beneath her deep fur as he spoke.

Roger looked both of them over, they were clearly travel weary and could use a good meal and a warm bath or at least Dena could use a bath, Sasha needed a bath and a brushing.

They heard footsteps approaching, saw a flashlight beam moving about and heard Freya's voice calling out, "Roger? Whaur ur ye? Whit war 'at screamin' Ah heard? Ur ye aw right?"

Roger called out, "I'm all right and I'm right here with a couple of friends!"

Freya and Anita rounded the same corner he had, but this time there was no screams of surprise, only an exclamation, "Sasha?! Dena? Whit ur ye daein' here?"

Freya caught Dena as she leapt into her arms and threw her arms around Freya's neck while Sasha pranced about, wanting her greeting too.

For the second time that day, Anita cried, "Ohhh, My Gawd! You guys are sooo cool!"

Her voice carried well because Anna's voice could now be heard calling out, "What's going on down there?"

Roger said cheerfully, "C'mon you guys, I want you to meet the owner of this house you're hiding in."

He turned and bellowed, "We're all good, we're coming up now!"

They quickly made their way back to the staircase and climbed up to the ground floor once more.

Emerging from the dark of the basement, Roger blinked slightly at the sudden increase in light and smiled at Anna and Josephine.

He said cheerfully, "You'll never guess who I found in your basement!" and stepped aside.

Emerging from the doorway was Freya carrying a large doll, while walking besides Anita was an immense gray wolf, a gray wolf she could easily ride if she so desired.

Josephine cried out, "Oh, my goodness! Is that a wolf? I didn't know they got so large, will it bite?"

Dena turned in Freya's arms and cried indignantly, "Sasha wullnae bite ye, dinnae be concerned!"

Josephine gaped while Anna guffawed and said happily, "Josie, you have nothing to fear from that wolf. She is a guardian wolf and the 'doll' is a wood wife, if I'm correct!"

Anna smiled at the two of them and said graciously, "Of all the trespassers I could have found hiding in my basement, I think I would welcome you two the most. Welcome to my home!" she said and bowed slightly towards them.

Roger suddenly asked, "Has anyone been in the kitchen here? I need a large bowl."

Anna thought briefly and remarked, "I walked through a kitchen, everything seemed to be still there, although I didn't look in any of the cabinets."

She paused and said suddenly, "I'll be right back!" and trotted off into the gloom with the dancing flashlight beam preceding her slender form.

Roger in the meantime, got out his lunch and cheerfully gave it to Sasha, who equally cheerfully, gobbled it up.

Freya, Anita and Josephine quickly followed suit and by the time Anna, carrying a heavy porcelain bowl had returned.

Sasha had eaten all their lunches and belched appreciatively.

Roger took the bowl and after wiping it out with his hand, he set it down and emptied his water bottle into it for Sasha to lap up with little dignity remaining.

Seeing her thirstiness, the rest quickly joined in, adding their own water to the bowl until the last of the water was gone.

Once Sasha's hunger and thirst were partially sated.

Roger rounded on them and demanded, "Why did you come down here? When did you get here?"

And "Are you crazy? What if you had been seen!"

Finally, "Jeeze, don't scare me like this!" he raved.

Dena, with a look of utter innocence replied, "We hud tae come, Sasha missed ye sae an' Ah missed ye tae!"

She grinned, "We got haur twa days ago an' started cleanin' in th' basement ay thes hoose."

Raising one adorable eyebrow, she commented, "Us gie seen? By maur men? Hah!"

Dena climbed down from Freya's arms and strode up to Roger, she reached up and Roger stooped to pick her up while she snuggled into his arms.

In front of everybody, Dena planted a doll sized kiss on his lips and said, "Ah ne'er intended tae scaur ye Roger hen, Ah jist wanted tae be near ye an' Freya. Aam sorry if Ah upset ye."

He smiled at her warmly and replied gently, "I forgive you little one. It's just that you guys really surprised me and we really don't have a good place for you to stay, just yet."

Roger looked squarely at Anita and Josephine and said politely, "I would appreciate it if you two kept quiet about these two, at least for now."

Anita grinned hugely and replied cheerfully, "Are you kidding? These two have given me some great ideas for a story, I'm going into hiding to write this all down!"

She slowly reached out and gently scratched Sasha behind her ear, earning a lick in appreciation and causing the small girl to squeal in delight.

"That tickles!" she cried happily as the enormous wolf gently nudged her for more attention, which she happily doled out with yet more ear scratching.

Josephine stood quietly watching all this until she asked, "So, what kind of a wolf is she and why is she so big?"

Roger cleared his throat and replied, "Sasha is a great guardian wolf, her kind and the wood elves crossed over the Atlantic with the Jotuns when they left northern Europe. Freya here, really knows far more about this than I do.

"I can say with some confidence that Sasha's kind were likely the inspiration for the Fenris story, the giant Wolf of Ragnarok fame."

Josephine mulled that over for a few moments then remarked, "So many beings out of legend coming out of hiding. What else can we expect to see? It's almost too unsettling in a way."

Her further musings were interrupted by a charming little melody that suddenly began without warning.

"Oh!" she exclaimed and laughed, "That's my alarm!"

She looked at Anna and declared firmly, "We have to get back to get ready for tonight's book signing!"

Josephine was now in charge and she urged them to leave the house and head back to Roger and Freya's house without further delay.

This time, they had a giant gray wolf and a two foot tall wood wife returning with them.

Anna was whisked away by Josephine while Roger rummaged around in the kitchen and scrounged up more food for Sasha and Dena to eat.

Freya and Anita teamed up in the kitchen and whomped up a delicious supper for all of them, while Roger took off to get more food for Sasha.

Anna reemerged, freshly bathed and dressed in an appropriate Goth-loli outfit.

She managed to cadge a few bites of their cooking before Josephine with gentle persistence, hustled her out of the door and off to Carlson and Turner books.

Freya then built a cheery fire in the living room fireplace while Sasha stretched out on the oriental rug to snooze.

Dena had disappeared for a little while and returned with a hand towel wrapped around her tiny self, looking freshly scrubbed and quite pleased with herself.

Anita was sitting there quietly with her pale blue eyes almost shimmering with happiness, she had spent most of the day hanging out with her favorite author exploring a huge, old house.

She'd met a giant wolf and her tiny elf companion and realized that her really tall classmate was not a freak of nature.

She was a being out of mythology and she talked funny because English was not her native language and she normally wrote in runes, rather than the English alphabet.