Wolf & Witch III: Oracle's Path

Ch. 11

Much of the remaining snow had melted under the bright sun, turning the trail that had been frozen hard into slushy mud. It would all freeze up again in a few days, as soon as more clouds moved in and the temperature took another plunge.

The form that stalked alongside the trail towards Slade's trailer wasn't going to wait for that.

What the white wolf did wait for, was making sure the coast was clear before going up to the door. He didn't want anyone randomly driving past or jogging by or something to see him there. Once he was convinced no one would, he approached the door, shifted, and knocked.

"I got it!" announced Rex, who was all too willing to be the helpful one since Slade was in the shower and Nate hadn't emerged from his room yet. However, Rex's polite smile faded into a look of mild horror when he opened the door and was met with Axel. "O-oh. Hi, Axel," Rex's voice cracked and the teen cleared his throat immediately.

"Hey," the older wolf said, inviting himself inside. This was actually the first time he'd seen the interior of Slade's trailer since they were little kids just popping in for an ice-cream bar or something on a particularly hot summer day. The place hadn't aged well. "Is Nate here?"

"Yeah! I mean, I think so. Um, I think he's still in his room." Rex fumbled over the words about as gracefully as he back peddled when Axel stepped inside and the younger boy was forced to quickly make room for their guest and the door while trying not to get in the way of either.

"Which is where?" Axel asked, lip curling slightly into a look that bordered disgust as he took in more of his surroundings. It wasn't that anything necessarily looked dirty, aside from the fated mini blinds. But it just looked so old and worn out. The shag carpet, for instance, looked vacuumed, but there were stains that were probably permanent, and it was so trampled down in all of the highest traffic areas that there didn't appear to be a single bit of 'shag' left to it. The light fixture above the dining table looked super dated, as did... well, pretty much everything. The whole place smelled of cigarettes and cheap soap.

Rex could tell Axel wasn't exactly thrilled and, given the history between their fathers, the younger wolf felt it was likely his fault. To avoid making himself look any worse in front of the white wolf, Rex kept his mouth shut and just pointed at Nate's door. Then he beat a hasty retreat back to the kitchen counter where his toast and jam were still waiting for his return.

Axel considered knocking, but changed his mind, and just opened the door instead. There wouldn't be much he would be interrupting mid-morning. Or at least, that's what he figured.

Nate's room was a mess. It appeared that the culprit wasn't a lack of organization, but rather a lack of space for everything. Much like Kaiden, Nate's love for rock was displayed by band posters plastered across his walls along with a fair amount of horror movie posters.

Clear plastic totes and drawers lined the space instead of actual furniture, and each was crammed full of what looked like dated electronics and art supplies. Everything that Nate had, looked like it had been given to him second hand or had been taken apart and put back together at least two times, then covered in graffiti composed of duct tape, stickers, and sharpie. The room smelled heavily of Nate, and of some incense that, according to the box next to the burner, was called dragon blood, whatever the hell smell that was supposed to be... Axel knew it had nothing in common with blood or reptiles.

Nate, himself, was in the center of the small room, the only place, besides his bed, that was large enough for any activities. He was in an old black t-shirt that had some edgy skeleton image printed across it and a pair of boxers, surrounded by two old laptops that looked like they had spontaneously exploded around into a debris field radiating out around him. With a set of tiny screwdrivers in hand and headphones on, Nate was working away like a mad scientist and only looked up when the door opened.