She felt a warm thrill run through her body, hoping beyond hope that maybe, just maybe, it could happen.
She looked over in time to see Polly toss hers and she watched as it sank down to the bottom. It landed tails-first. The hopeful expression on Polly’s face collapsed into one of despair. Caitlin felt terrible for her.
“Don’t worry,” Caitlin said, hoping to console her, “I’m sure it’s all just an old wives’ tale. I’m sure whatever you wished for will come true no matter what.” But Polly looked crushed. “No it won’t. It landed tails-first.” Caitlin came over and put a reassuring hand around Polly’s shoulder, not knowing what to say.
“What did you wish for?” Caitlin asked.
As she looked at her, Caitlin could see that Polly was nearly in tears.
“I wished to be together with your brother, forever. That was all I wanted.” Caitlin felt a chill run through her spine at the seriousness of Polly’s tone. She had never heard her sound more serious about anything since she’d known her. She could hear in her voice how much she loved Sam, how much it meant to her to be with him.
Caitlin didn’t know what to say. This was the first she’d ever heard either of them express their love for each other.
As she was thinking of something to say in response, suddenly Taylor rushed over, with an alarmed expression.
“Where’s Scarlet?” she asked, dread in her voice. “And Ruth?” Caitlin’s heart stopped, and she suddenly spun around wildly, searching for them. They were gone.
Caitlin couldn’t understand it. Just a moment before, they had been by her side. Now, it was as if they had completely vanished. She had no idea where they could have gone in this empty landscape.
Caitlin’s heart started pounding.
“Scarlet!” Caitlin screamed, hearing the desperation in her own voice Suddenly, dark clouds covered the sun, and a cold breeze ripped through the lake, blowing the snow more strongly.
And as it did, Caitlin had the sudden feeling that she would never see Scarlet again.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Scarlet skipped along the open meadow in high spirits, Ruth at her side. While everyone had been standing around making their wishes, she’d decided that she didn’t want to make a wish after all: everything she could ever wish for, she’d realized, had already come true. She was away from that horrible, awful foster parent who had beat her in London; she was safe and sound with Caitlin and Caleb; she had new parents who she loved; and she also had Ruth, who she loved like a sister. There was nothing else Scarlet wanted in the world. So she decided she’d leave the wish-making for grown-ups.
Besides, Scarlet couldn’t just stand around with everyone else, wasting time; she had important work to do. She took her role of Flower Girl seriously, and since no one was telling her exactly what to do, she figured she would decide for herself. A flower girl, she decided, had a duty to go out into the fields and find the very best flowers that the world had to offer. She had the duty to harvest them, to collect them in a basket, and to keep them safe until the day of the wedding. Scarlet didn’t want her mom to have just any old flowers when she walked down the aisle: she wanted to go out and find her the very best. The most beautiful and unusual flowers anyone had ever seen. That was, she decided, her job as flower girl.
Scarlet had even brought along a special basket for this purpose, although none of the grown-ups, caught up in all their excitement, had even noticed. When they were all standing around, staring at the lake, Scarlet had seen, off in the distance, an open meadow, with some of the most beautiful, bright flowers she had ever seen. She had turned and, without thinking, had rushed off. And Ruth, of course, had followed.
Now Scarlet was in the middle of that meadow, waist high in wild flowers, picking all sorts of incredible varieties and putting them in her basket. She was already overjoyed with what she’d found. She had found red and yellow and purple and white flowers. She didn’t know the names of them all, but she knew that some of them were wild roses, others were daffodils, and others were tulips. She marveled at all the different lengths and shapes and sizes, and felt proud of herself as her basket filled up.
She was skipping along, grabbing flowers left and right, when she looked up and noticed a forest in the distance. Inside the forest, she could see, were even more flowers, and some varieties which were even more colorful. They were the most beautiful things Scarlet had ever seen, and she was determined to get them for her mommy.
Scarlet hurried through the meadow and into the forest, Ruth by her side, following the trail of flowers. As she entered the canopy of trees, it suddenly grew dark; but as Scarlet wandered deeper into the woods, but she was barely aware of this. She was making incredible discoveries, and her basket was soon overflowing as she explored deeper.
Scarlet heard a noise, and stopped in her tracks. She looked all around her, at the thick and darkening wood, and suddenly felt an awareness of her surroundings that she didn’t have before.
She realized that maybe she had made a mistake coming this deep into the woods, so far from her Mommy and the others. She turned about in all directions, and suddenly felt a bit unsure about precisely which way she had come from. And she couldn’t see the way out, either. All she saw, everywhere, were trees.
The noise came again, and Scarlet stiffened, scared. Several branches snapped, and Scarlet spotted motion in a clump of bushes about twenty feet away.
The noise was followed by a deep, guttural snarl.
Scarlet want to turn and run, but she was frozen in fear, too afraid to move, and not knowing which way to run. The snarl grew deeper, and suddenly, she saw several huge shapes appear from behind a bush. Her heart nearly stopped.
It was a pack of wolves.
These wolves looked nothing like Ruth. They were huge, enormous, twice her size, nearly the size of bears. They also looked skinny, famished, and their lips were curled back in vicious scowls.
Their eyes gleamed yellow, and they held in them nothing but death. There were a half dozen of them, and their eyes all locked on Scarlet.
Scarlet felt paralyzed in their sites, and had no idea what to do. She realized instantly that she could never outrun them, and that she had made a big mistake in coming here alone.
Beside her, Ruth snarled back. It was a loud, vicious warning noise, a scarier noise than Scarlet had ever heard Ruth make before. Ruth took several steps forward, standing in front of Scarlet, protecting her, snarling back at the pack. Scarlet was grateful for her protection. But not reassured.