Greykin Valley

| 54 | Reiner Manor

⥐ ⋞ ☽ ⋟ ⥐

| Jackson |

These wolves were different. They didn't move like a pack; they moved like a unit, and they used military words and commands that Jackson didn't entirely understand. Every time they spotted cadejo, they navigated around them without a sound, guiding Jackson as he followed the two silver wolves. They knew what they were doing, and the hope that they'd be able to help him save Damon, Wilson, and the pack was increasing.

He could see the tree line ahead. The early morning sunlight barely cut through the thickening fog, but as they got closer, Jackson could make out tall, black iron gates connected to stone walls.

"Stay close," one of the silver wolves said; it was hard to tell them apart.

Jackson nodded and trailed behind them as Raphael led the pack out of the woods and towards the iron gates. There was about twenty feet of open space between the walls and the trees, and because Jackson couldn't see very far beyond the murk, he could only assume that the forest surrounded whatever lay beyond.

The sound of creaking stone snatched Jackson's attention. As the pack stopped in front of the locked gates, he looked around for the source of the scraping, and when he set his eyes on one of the stone gargoyles sitting on either side of the gates, a shiver of trepidation danced down his spine.

It was looking right at him. The statue had eyes as black as night, and they were staring into his soul. He hesitantly looked away and glanced at the other statue, which was also glaring at him.

"Sentries," one of the silver wolves said to Jackson.

After a few moments of shifting their black eyes from all the wolves, the stone gargoyles returned to their static poses, and the iron gates clicked and creaked open.

When the wolves headed inside, Jackson followed them past the gates and along a wide path between two small marble walls. He spotted several hedges and trees different to those the forests were made up of, as well as a fountain; the frozen water glistened and reflected the sunlight, and the snow shimmered like stars in a white sky. A certain serenity hung over the place, and it was quiet in a way that made Jackson feel relaxed instead of his usual anxiety.

He stared ahead at the silhouette of a huge house, and when he was close enough that the fog didn't obscure his view, his eyes widened a little in awe. He'd seen his fair share of luxury homes, mansions, and manors, but he'd never seen something as majestic as this.

The mansion looked like something out of a history book; its dark bricks and tall arched windows gave the place a gothic feel, and the several castle-like towers had high, sharp-tipped roofs, which cast long shadows across the grounds. The ten-foot-tall front double doors were black and decorated with gold metal swirls, and an empty brazier stood on either side. Stone gargoyles much like those back at the gates sat here and there on the walls surrounding the large balconies and patios above, and the building was so huge that it stretched far beyond what the fog allowed his eyes to see.

Once they reached the front doors, everyone stopped, and the wolves shifted into their human forms. Jackson glanced at each of them; the two silver wolves became tall, broad silver-haired men who looked exactly the same, but one of them had a star-like shape around the pupil of his right eye. Raphael was a little shorter than the twins, and his orange hair was jaw-length and tousled. The rest of the pack looked like normal people, save for the woman with a scar over her eye and the man with a tattoo of a new moon on his left wrist.

Raphael pushed the left door open and led the way into the house. Most of the pack broke off and disappeared down the left corridor; the twins and Raphael continued straight forward and walked through a doorway under the grand staircase. They emerged into a large lounge, where a few people were sitting chatting or staring at phones and laptops. And above the burning fireplace was a huge gold-framed family portrait, and one of the men in it was Lord Caedis, who—like all of the men in the picture—was wearing a dovetail coat with a poet shirt and a jabot; they all looked like they were out of a history book.