I took a breath. My chest squeezed up and I got on my knees. My hand was burning. Chicken pawed my hair. The hot was on top of me. It shoved and shoved. A heavy blanket. Chicken bit at my dress and my lacy sweater and tugged. Something crashed and clanked. Big people yelling. Maybe Gloria.

Then I felt strange. Nice strange. Like the trick Rowan showed me before he was gone. He made me stand in a doorway and push the backs of my hands into the sides. I did it as hard as I could. Then, after I let my arms down, they went up by themselves. I knew if they weren’t stuck on they would’ve floated away.

Wind moved around me. I was rushing somewhere. But I couldn’t stay no more. The lid was off. I twirled down inside the box. There we were. Me and Rowan. One big wolf and one tiny wolf. But still two wolves together.

Part Three

ROWAN

He came to see me at Gran’s house. He said his name was Detective Aiken, and we went into the living room and closed the glass doors. The carpet was bouncy under my feet and the cushions were soft. I noticed things like that now. I sat in a rose-colored chair. Gran peered in through the door. The detective saw her and shook his head ever so slightly. Gran stepped back.

“How are you doing, Rowan?”

That was a big question. How was I doing? I’d spent six nights in the hospital being treated for a concussion, malnourishment, and smoke inhalation. My grandmother, who had not died after all, visited me every day. When I was released she brought me to her house, back to the same room I’d stayed in when I was a little boy.

Besides that? I’d been eating tons, watching a lot of television, and sleeping in as long as I wanted. Sometimes when I woke up, though, it took me a while before I realized where I was. Before I recognized the pillow under my cheek or the sun on my skin through the clean window. With my eyes still closed my fingers would reach out to tap the cement wall, and when I found nothing, a hollow threat would arrive in my body. As though, outside of that confined place, the security of limits had vanished. The sensation of being locked in was still locked inside of me. I didn’t know how to find the door that would let me get out. To get past it.

“Okay,” I said. “I’m good.”

“I’m glad to hear it. And your sister?”