Ruby Hood and Mayor Wolf

A retelling of a classic fairy tale that takes a completely different path over the river and through the Wood...

Ruby Hood and Mayor Wolf

EXCERPT from 
"Ruby Hood, A Twistedly True Tale"
By Aspen Hite

Before she closed the front door, her eyes scanned the street. All was well. In fact, there was nothing at all. Not a neighbor or a cat or a kid on a bike. No sign of the mayor. Yet. She closed the door behind her and turned to take the suitcases upstairs.

Ruby.

Dylan? Ruby jumped.

“It’s the mayor, the voice clipped. “Jedidiah Wolf.”

You can talk to me in my head, too? Ruby almost screamed in reply.

Under emergency duress, an aligned Beast and Protector can communicate in closee proximity. I’m on your porch.

Setting the luggage down, Ruby pulled the front door open, “I just looked out here.”

“Evening, Miss Hood,” The mayor’s tall lean build stood before her. He was cool and aloof with his hands in the pockets of his trench, but jaw was set, and his eyes were sharp. He was ready. “I tend to be stealthy.”

“How’s Kellan?” She blurted, even though she knew she should ask about whatever duress had brought him here.

“Stable. For now, and we will talk about that more. But first, I’m here because my nurse, Mary, is worried. She senses something off, so I thought it best to check things out, especially with the arrival of your guests.”

“Are Lily and her father in danger?” Fear shot through Ruby.

“At the moment, I don’t think so, in fact, while not necessarily convenient, your houseguests are not terribly inconvenient either. Innocents, and witnesses, can be a deterrent,” the mayor said, “at least, I hope.”

“Um, I’m not really okay with using my best friend and her dad as a shield,” she said, barely able to control rising anger. If anything happened to them because of this Otherly Natural world…

Then a sudden strangeness overtook the mayor.  With his nose pointing straight up to the sky, he sniffed, long and deep. “I’m afraid, we have any even bigger problem.”

“What’s that?” Ruby’s jaw clenched.

“I’m not entirely sure. Yet.” He said then walked around the porch and out to the street, stopping to sniff longer in certain places. When he returned, his shoulders shuddered, and his composed demeanor returned. “There is the tiniest whiff of unnaturalness lingering nearby. And there’s something else, something I can’t quite put my finger on.”

Until next time...

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