Aspen County

Louve begins to meditate.

A week after we talk to Keene in the dream, she's still trying to follow his advice and get closer to the voice in her head. It's been an odd adjustment to find her with her eyes closed and hands together almost on the couch every time that I walk into living room. At night, we agreed to have practice at night every three days so that we have two nights in between to rest and recover. Thus far, I’ve needed more recovery than she has as she is mentally stronger from having spent months building psychic resistance. It's admirable but a bit annoying that she keeps throwing me around.

When I walk out of my room, as expected, she sits cross-legged on the couch, her long lashes resting on her cheeks. However, today, she opens her eyes when she hears me enter the room, and she smiles over at me. "Going somewhere?" she asks innocently.

"Yeah, I was going to go see if Keene wanted to hang out for a while. Want to tag along?"

"No, but I'll walk with you. I think I'm going to go see Egeria."

I nod, glad that she's at least getting outside; she hasn't left the hut in three days. We take off through the village, being stopped every so often to talk to someone. We separate at Keene's house, and I watch her wander off towards Egeria's home in a daze.

I look at Keene's house and do a mental coin-toss between pursuing my original destination when leaving the house or following my sister and seeing what she's really up to. I finally give into my curiosity and follow her silently, keeping a few huts between us. Rather than going towards Egeria's as she had claimed she was going to, she walks in the direction of the forest. Growing nervous, I continue silently trailing her. After a little while, she sits down in a small circle created by bushes and trees. She closes her eyes and crosses her legs again, and I'm convinced that she's just going to meditate again.

Relieved that she's not doing anything suspicious, I shake my head, mentally scolding myself for being stupid and not trusting her. She's 17 now, and we're in a colony of werewolves. I need to stop being so paranoid. I turn to walk away, and make it a few steps when she begins to talk. I look back and see her eyes are open, but they're not looking at me. They stare past me, distant and glazed like they were when we were presented to the villagers.

"You asked me to go somewhere to talk to you—what do you want?" She closes her mouth for a few minutes, her features solemn. I'm confused for a second before it clicks that she's talking to Monique. "I'm not doing anything to fool you." She pauses. "Yes, I know you can't lie to me." Another pause. "But you'd know if I was lying to you." This silence continues longer than the others, and Louve looks more distressed as she quietly and patiently listens to the voice in her head; I can't believe how calm she was in the hut when she was lying right to my face about going to see Egeria instead of going to talk to the voice in her head. "What could I possibly be hiding from you?" she demands, growing angry. "You're always in my head! There is nothing on the face of this planet that I could possibly do without you knowing about it! I don’t know what you could do about your insecurities, but stop trying to blame me for doing something that I'm innocent of!"

When she stops talking to listen again, I move to take a step forward, deciding to end this madness. However, before I can interrupt, a hand grabs my arm as another covers my mouth and nose. I turn around to see Keene standing behind me. He shakes his head and gently tugs my arm. I try to silently nod towards my sister, hoping that he'll understand that I have to protect her from this voice thing, but he just shakes his head and pulls on my arm again. Finally, I roll my arms and comply.

When we get out of the forest and a little closer to his grandmother's house, he releases my arm and lets me walk freely next to him. "Why did you do that?" I demand, still walking beside him but glaring into his calm brown eyes. "You saw what was going on. I was just trying to protect her."

He leads me past his grandmother's house, remaining silent as we weave through the other huts. When he finally leads me into his home, very similar to my own, and closes the door, he finally responds. "I understand what you were trying to do just as I hope you'll understand why I had to stop you. You must allow them to communicate. I believe that the more they do, the better a feel Louve will get when the entity is within her and the easier it will be for her to determine at times when it is convenient for us. We must trust Louve to be stronger than the entity within her."

"But she sounded so scared. I just wanted to help her."

"And you are a wonderful brother and protector for it, but you know as well as I do that she is growing up. You cannot always be there to protect her. Bad things will happen to her, and you will be helpless to stop them. You can only help her to pick up the pieces once they do occur."

"How did you even know to find me?" I ask suspiciously.

Keene chuckles. "I saw you walk past my window, and I could sense that you were behaving questionably. I was intrigued."

I sigh and sit on the couch, my head in my hands. A sympathetic glint in his eye, Keene sits next to me and waits for me to talk. "I don't know when she became this way." I look up at him. "I mean, I know when that voice thing appeared, but I was too wrapped up in myself to notice any changes in her. And now she needs help. I don't care what it takes and if I have to give my own life, but I'll do whatever I can because I'm her brother, and that's what my father told me to do."

Keene smiles approvingly and claps a hand on my back.