Louisa's POV
When I walked out of the yard, I saw Darren sitting on the ground next to the fences. I approached him and asked, "Darren, may I... have a word with you?" "I don't want to talk, Lisa." He said without looking at me. His voice was still calm and reserved, but I knew he was mad. "Darren, please look at me," I said. He covered his head with both of his hands. "Go away, Lisa," he said. "Darren..." "Go away!" He raised his voice. I sat on his side and said, "I won't go away, because friends don't walk away from each other." "I'm not your friend, Lisa. Why don't you understand? Why don't you just treat me like a slave like everyone else does?" he said. "Darren, please look at me," I pleaded. Darren shook his head, "No. I don't want to see your eyes. I see nothing but pity. I know my life is miserable. But I don't need anyone's sympathy, especially not from you." I held his headLouisa's POV When I woke up the next morning, I felt it was a bit hard to breathe. Then, I saw it. A white fur ball on top of my face. It was Mr. Weasel. He was sleeping on my face and snorting! I picked him up and put him softly on my bed. He grumbled something and smacked his mouth. I guessed he was having a feast of ducks and chicken in his dream. I stretched my back and walked toward Will. He woke up as well, busy putting the sheet over his head. I stopped him. "Let me wash it for you," I said, "You can stay in the room for a while." Vincent walked into the room. He looked much refreshed after a whole night of hunting. I frowned when I looked at his dirty cape. "Please take off your cape, Vincent. I'm going to wash them for you," I said. Vincent said, "You're very kind, young lady. Thank you for your hospitality. But I have to take Will away when it's still da
Louisa's POV "I'm sorry... Where's Jack?" The young man who stood at the entrance was in his early twenties. He had a fair complexion, with cropped crew-cut brown hair and a pair of charcoal black eyes. He was holding a toolbox in his hands and looking around. When he saw the two giant salamanders, he jumped up while shouting, "Zowie guacamole! What is that?!" Then, he threw his toolbox and ran out of the yard. ... Darren and I looked at each other and felt very confused. "Who's that guy? Who's Jack?" I asked. Darren picked up the toolbox, opened and checked. "I guess we can ask him when he comes back," he said. "Are you sure he's coming back?" I asked. Darren nodded and said, "Yes. These tools are very expensive." Then, we heard a trembling voice from outside - "Sir, could you please throw the toolbox out for me? I'll be on my way as soon as I get my toolbox." I walked
Louisa's POV The whole yard became very quiet almost instantly. "Darren, please pull Colt out of the water before he drowns to death. Ms. Salamander, I know it sounds weird but you look pretty inside out. You're welcome to our place but you ought to promise me that there will never be fights again in our yard. And I need you to release your brother because I kind of need him to help me repair the watermill. And you, mister..." I paused because I shifted my sight to Colt, who had just regained consciousness after being half pulled out of the water by Darren. He looked very confused and... gratuitously hot. His shirt was damp and wrapped very tightly over his perfect pectorals. OK. He looked like a drowned rat. Indeed. But he looked like a damn good-looking rat in his damn revealing shirt. I took a deep breath and continued, "Well, you, mister. You need more buttons on your shirt and..." Darren pulled all of him out of t
Louisa's POV "OK, I like boys and there's nothing to be ashamed about," Colt said and flung his arms open. "Oh, no!!!" I heard Ms. Salamander wail. Mr. Salamander said, "Come on, sis. You're a salamander. If he wasn't gay, he would still be way out of your league." "I will never ever fall in love with anyone again in my life!" Ms. Salamander said. "What happened? Why are the salamanders hissing like that?" Colt asked. "Nothing. They're just goofing around." I said and passed him the bowl of porridge and said, "Were you close to Jack?" He sipped the porridge and nodded. I saw tears in his eyes. "He was very kind to me. All the other people in the village hate me, but Jack would stick up for me all the time. He wasn't gay, but he encouraged me to be who I am. We enjoyed each other's company. We practically built this small cottage together. Now that he's dead, I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Maybe I should l
Louisa's POV "You're a werewolf, aren't you?" I asked Colt as we were walking in the forest. "Yeah, but I didn't tell anyone in the village about it. Mountainside is a very conservative place. The villagers have already been put through a really hard time to finally accept the fact that a queer is living in their neighborhood. I don't want to push their limit by telling them I'm that type of queer who can shift into a giant beast and growl at night." "Did you use to live in a tribe?" I asked. "Yeah. It was a long time ago. I was kicked out of my tribe for obvious reasons." Colt lowered his head and said, "My tribe didn't need me, no matter how skillful I am and how hard I worked. I begged them for me to stay, but they just wouldn't listen. There're other ways for a wolf to make a contribution to the tribe other than reproduction. Human beings understand this, but somehow wolves don't." "I'm so sorry to hear that," I said. Darren was walking in front of us, but I knew he
Louisa's POV Colt smiled and said, "Don't worry, Mrs. Flynn. I guess there are some strings inside the bird that needs to be fine-tuned. I'll take a look at it for you in the future." Mrs. Flynn gently nodded her head and said, "OK. Do you want to stay here for lunch? I can cook some meat pies for you." Colt walked the old lady into her yard and said, "You're very kind, Mrs. Flynn. I've just had a big breakfast. I have to go to the village and run some errands." "OK. But please come back for some meat pies later," Mrs. Flynn insisted. "I will. I will," Colt waved at her and walked out of the yard. "What was that? You've made that intimidating iron bird for the old lady?" I asked. "I sure did," Colt smiled proudly and rubbed his nose. "But isn't that a bit dangerous...?" I frowned. Colt curled up his lips and said, "Well, talking about real danger, you should see the way her nephews asked for the lease of her house." I tightened my lips. "Do they want this old l
Louisa's POV Having spent an hour in Colt's studio, I became overwhelmed by the large volume of his innovative ideas and his great craftsmanship. Colt's really a man of extraordinary talents. He was able to bring basically everything in his mind to life through the dexterity of his hands. At the same time, I had to admit that I didn't see any of them could be put to use in real life, though. I wasn't sure if people would buy a pair of scissors that couldn't cut anything or a pair of roller skates that couldn't roll. I knew they could sing beautifully to you when you're alone and help you clean the floor faster than ever, but still... The only thing I was sure of was Darren looked much more comfortable when he was around Colt. I could even see sparks of amusement in his eyes when Colt was showing off his designs in front of him. That was definitely a good sign. Anyway, the enthusiasm in Colt's eyes made me wonder if I was being too s
Louisa's POV As we were walking out of the village, a giant girl walked towards us and blocked our way. "Colt, where are you going? You've promised to help me fix the chimney in our house today," she said. "Sorry, Ms. Dumbarton. My friend's sick and I'll have to take her to the doctor." Colt pointed to me and said. I hid my face behind Darren's neck. I had to pretend to be sick. The giant girl folded her arms and said, "The doctor? We've got a doctor here in our village." Colt explained patiently, "Ms. Dumbarton, we don't have a doctor in our village. All we've got is a vet. Vets aren't supposed to treat people." The giant girl thought for a while. I could literally see her brain running at full speed for a while before it jammed. "OK... So, when are you coming back? We can't cook with a blocked chimney," she said. Colt said with a sparkling smile, "Why don't you move the stove in the yard and cook in the open air?"