Grace of a Wolf by Lenaleia

Chapter 42: Grace: Lyre’s Strange Behavior

When Lyre slides into the chair across from me, I lose track of the strange cat. It disappears as if it was never there at all.

"White?" Lyre asks between bites, completely unconcerned as I tell her about a bizarre cat only I can see.

"Yeah."

"Don’t worry, it’s harmless."

Andrew’s out there now; I watch through the window as he sniffs the air, turning to shrug his shoulders at me through the glass. He must not smell anything.

Having a stalker is annoying, but hey, if he wants to brave the strange and mysterious for me, I’m not going to complain. If I have to suffer through his constant unwanted presence, I may as well get something out of it.

I nibble at a French fry, enjoying its salty potato goodness as I watch her eat. "What do you mean by ’harmless’?"

Lyre shrugs, her slitted eyes narrowing slightly as she takes another monstrous bite of her burger. Ketchup dots the corner of her mouth. "Exactly what the word means."

She’s already halfway through her meal, and she’s only been sitting here for a minute. My stomach growls in response, my appetite suddenly returning now that Lyre’s here.

The burger’s greasy and generic, but for some reason its flavor rivals the food the pack offers. Freedom is the best seasoning.

"Our plans are going to be messed up, though," she muses between chews, staring out the window. Andrew paces a few more times, nostrils flaring, before he heads back to the entrance, presumably to come back here.

"What do you mean?" Mustard gloops out the side of my burger, and I wipe at it with a napkin. It isn’t that I dislike mustard, but too much of it is just... well, too much.

"It means what I said." Her tone borders on patronizing, as if I’m asking a stupid question.

I blink, waiting for elaboration that doesn’t come.

"Well, that’s why it’s always best to expect the unexpected." Lyre’s voice comes out languid, lazy almost. She stretches in her chair, leaning back as she finishes the last quarter of her food. "We won’t go far tonight. I’d rather have a comfortable place to stay."

thousand questions bubble to my lips, but I swallow them down with another bite of burger. Who am I to argue or complain? Lyre’s a free spirit, willingly bringing me along at her own expense. If

silence between us isn’t uncomfortable, exactly. Just... weird. At least on my end. Lyre seems perfectly content to exist in her own bubble of certainty while

even halfway through mine. While I continue to eat, she plucks fries from the container between us, scrolling through her

as she huffs. "Damn it. If I’d known we were going to camp properly tonight, I

nature, a reflexive response. Somehow, I feel responsible for this inconvenience, even though camping tonight is news to

snaps up. "Why

French fry dangles in midair as I blink at her. "I don’t

shakes her head and clicks her tongue. "Stop apologizing when there’s nothing to apologize for. It makes you

isn’t like I’d ever considered myself strong, but being looked down on is never a great

comes another sigh, deeper than the last, as if the weight of the entire world rests squarely on

weak," I say automatically,

have to be strong. Just

eye twitches. "You want me to

don’t know you’re doing this on purpose. Be strong of mind, Grace. Don’t lower your head for just

blink. Her strange behavior aside, the lines she’s spouting now belong on some sort of TV melodrama. "You’re being

table with a clatter. She scratches at her head with both hands, completely mussing her rainbow-colored hair until it sticks up in

she says, sounding utterly

jerks her head up, glowering at me with her unsettling slitted eyes. "If you appear weak, then

my hands. "Did you major in saying things without any context whatsoever?

She grimaces. "Just hurry up and

the chair beside me, a scowl etched into his face. "There’s nothing out

I study the strange woman across from me. Her hair looks like a rainbow exploded on her head, especially now that she’s messed it up, and looks kind of like a young, rainbow-colored

tonight?" I ask,

a little place about twenty minutes from here. Nothing fancy, but it should

very far," Andrew observes, straightening in

We ignore him.