Grace of a Wolf by Lenaleia

Chapter 172: Grace: Theories

By the time the tow truck comes and goes and I’ve made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for all the adults (only to find out Caine likes grape jelly like a psychopath), I’m calm again.

We’re out. It didn’t happen to us. And right now, that’s my focus.

Besides, despite having lucked out onto a wide shoulder like this, I’m still a little worried a car’s going to crash into us. With our current streak of luck, it isn’t a baseless concern.

Andrew dangles a piece of crust in front of Sadie, who’s been sitting in front of him with begging eyes since he first started eating. He seems both nonplussed and enthralled by her.

At first, it was weird. But then I thought about it. Wolves never get to spend time with dogs, so they’ve never had the Sadie experience.

Her tail swishes against the floor as she gingerly snatches it from his fingers, only to then scarf it down like a feral beast.

Then he gets a second bit of crust out, dangling it in front of the dog.

"Don’t feed her that!"

Andrew freezes mid-motion, the crust hovering between his fingers and Sadie’s expectant mouth. "Why not?"

Sadie’s eyes lock with mine. Her tail stops wagging. I’ve destroyed her doggy Christmas.

"Because we don’t know what’s up with her." I take another bite of my sandwich, chewing slowly as I frown at the dog. She’s cute, but knowing there’s something strange about her... it’s hard to see her as just a big, loveable ball of fur.

But so far, aside from her lack of fear, she’s just... a normal dog.

Too normal.

home? Why is she so comfortable in a stranger’s car? And now she’s going in and out of

and drops the crust anyway. Sadie’s tail resumes its happy rhythm as she snatches the

just a dog,"

any sort of threat, and might actually be helpful. How a dopey golden retriever’s going to somehow help our

like her. So I guess there’s

no explanation about what happened to Archie and Doris—just reiterated Owen’s

I’m coming to think of this as the App Phenomenon. Anything under its purview is

I still don’t understand why an old couple who like to

Caine’s been no help with dragging information out of Lyre. I’d thought he’d be pushier, demand answers, but the moment the magic words came out of her mouth, he was done. It just took the one phrase: "They have nothing to

the children, it’s not my concern right now," without even a flicker of discomfort over saying a line I’d read out of a

out to be something strange and dead-but-not-dead. In my world, we call those zombies, thank you very much. And zombies

you mad at Sadie?" Sara asks, popping up by my elbow. I blink, realizing I’ve been

my bite. "I’m

keep staring at her like

"More like she’s trying to decide if Sadie’s secretly plotting world

dog. I could always fill him

For him, anyway.

she is,"

to approach Sadie, running a hand over her golden fur. "Look! She’s such

duck his head into the camper, filling the doorway. His eyes sweep the interior, cataloging all of us in his

Sadie is an alien," Jer pipes up from where he’s sprawled on