Mary Anne Gruen - The House of Red

It was three o’clock in the morning and Virginia and Wolf had been in Manhattan two weeks.

Wolf was sleeping soundly in the bedroom, doing this strange little growling snore. Virginia was sitting alone in the livingroom, curled up in the new leather recliner bought with Magic Beer money, holding an old sweatshirt of her father’s.

During the last week and a half she and Wolf had done the whole Manhattan tourist thing. They’d gone to the Statue of Liberty and the top of the World Trade Center. They’d even gotten into one of those hot dance clubs where you need to dress unusual or be a celebrity in order to get in. In this case it had been Wolf’s tail that had gained them entrance. They’d seen scores of movies. They’d gone to the museums. And Wolf had devoured an endless number of very rare steaks.

It had all been fun, but only to a point.

Virginia’s unpleasant parting from the Grill, and her clash with her grandmother had left her feeling lost. Before her trip to the Nine Kingdoms, she’d dreamed of opening her own restaurant someday. The money from Magic Beer gave her the chance to do that now. But somehow, she wasn't interested in anything so mundane anymore. When she’d been running from trolls and murderous huntsmen, she’d wished deeply for her old quiet life. Now, in just two weeks time, she was already bored with it.

How do you go from a land of magic where you’re a heroine, to a world of stark reality where you’re very nearly invisible? Also, she was filled with fears for the future of her little wolf-child. How was he going to fit in on this side of the mirror?

And then there was Wolf. After their first week, he’d begun to act restless. The only time he seemed half way contented was when they walked through Central Park.

“You’ve got so many beautiful castles here,” he’d said. “Such beautiful lights. But so little space. Why don’t they put in more trees?”

She remembered when they first met, how he’d said it was inhuman to put a wolf in a place where he couldn’t bound and could only see a piece of the sky. Wasn’t she putting him back in prison by expecting him to live in an apartment?

When Wolf hit his “time of the month” Virginia very wisely rented a car and drove them both up to the Adirondack mountains at the top of New York State. Wolf complained profusely about the four and a half-hour drive, but it was the right thing to do. There were tons of acres of forest up there. And when they arrived, he bounded out of the car as if he’d just been freed from prison again.

They hiked to one of the smaller peaks, where the Hudson River was said to have its source. She made camp by a small pond while he ran through the woods and hunted for deer. From the way he acted she thought he preferred hunting wild game over cornering chickens in a hen house. He was so invigorated by the challenge and talked heatedly of the excitement of the chase.

When dinner was done, they made love under the stars, with a passion even greater than any they’d enjoyed before. She fell asleep in exhaustion afterwards. But he returned to the woods and didn’t come back till she’d just started cooking bacon for breakfast.

Without warning Wolf dived out of the woods and tackled her to the ground, making it quite obvious that he had his mind on things other than eating.

“What about breakfast?” she asked.

“Wolves do not live by bacon alone,” he growled playfully in her ear.

It was the first time she’d ever known him to let bacon burn. But it didn't seem to bother him later. He ate it anyway with nary a complaint.

“So, what did you do last night?” she asked him as they ate.

“I met a bear, not far from our camp,” he had said between bites. “I warned him not to get too close while you were sleeping. But he didn’t want any trouble. He just moved on without a fight. I think he was scouting out spots to hibernate. I saw a bobcat too, chasing a rabbit down the mountain by a stream. And I smelled moose. I tracked it for awhile, but that’s all. It takes more than one wolf to bring down a moose. I can’t wait till our son is old enough to go hunting with me.”

Virginia remembered his words and thoughtfully rubbed her stomach. It didn’t seem that either Wolf or their son would like living permanently in Manhattan. And her? Well, truth be told, she wasn’t quite sure where she belonged anymore either.

She walked over to the window and peered out into the night. The electric lights glowed on the other side of Central Park. Everything was quiet except for the occasional sound of a passing bus.

“Oh, Daddy,” she said, putting her head in her hands, “What am I gonna do?”

That was when the magic singing ring on her finger began to hum.

When she’d first put the little engagement ring on her finger, she’d laughed at it. And then, it had started to annoy her because it commented on every little thing. But finally she’d realized that it was just lonely from being cooped up in a ring box for so long. In the last two weeks it had quieted down and they’d begun to get comfortable with each other. She even liked the little habit it had of humming them to sleep at night. And when she had been alone in the woods while Wolf hunted, it had been comforting to have it on her finger.

“Don’t you know, it’s time to roam,
If this is no longer home,” the ring sang, lifting its little pearl head up.
“It seems to me, you cannot see,
which way is your destiny.”

“You got that right,” Virginia said.

“From the pain upon your face,
It seems to me, you’re out of place.
Return to the mirror and you will find,
That home which you have left behind.

“It calls to you and if you’re true,
You’ll know just what you have to do.
There is a Queen there, proud and vain,
Her Kingdom she will not maintain.

“One by one, they will all fall,
Unless they hear your bugle call.
There are secrets from of old,
And it's time they should be told.”

“Another Queen?” Virginia said. “What is it with that place?”

But the ring wouldn’t explain. It merely repeated,

“Don’t you know, it’s time to roam,
If this is no longer home.”

“But we can’t just go back,” Virginia said sensibly, “Somebody has to be on the other side to turn the mirror on.”

The ring sang again,

“If you hear, and now will start,
The magic then will do its part.
For though it’s late, not all can sleep,
And to the mirror, down they’ll creep.”

“You mean somebody’s there to let us back in?”

“If you hear, and now will start,
The magic then will do its part.”

Virginia didn’t wait to hear the song again. She ran into the bedroom and shook Wolf. “Wake up,” she said. “We’re going home.”

“Hmm, what?” Wolf said, sleepily. He’d devoured an especially big rib roast the night before and it had made him very tired.

“We’re going home,” Virginia said.

“I thought we were home. Is it breakfast time?”

“No. We’re going back to the Nine Kingdoms. You can have breakfast later. The ring says we’ve got to go now.”