During the days that she read Luna often forgot to eat. Sometimes the wolves would bring her food or she'd just eat whatever stale bit of bread came to hand. She had been reading for days and had fallen asleep with her father's journal on her chest. There was only a quarter of the volume left, but there was a scent of roasted meat in the air. It was a dreamlike smell and for a moment she thought she was having a vision.
But the pups, Amber and Midas, were stirring too. The three of them prowled through the woods. They crept up on an old hunter roasting a haunch of venison over an open flame. The pups shifted back slightly, wary of another human. Luna glanced at them but the smell of the meat was too enticing and she slipped from the brush.
The old man looked surprised but pleased. He patted a spot on the log next to him. Luna was surprised a man as old as he was out hunting - and had taken a deer. His skin hung in loose wrinkles even around his wide flat looking eyes. But his voice was sharp and clear.
"What's a young thing like you doing out here all alone?" he said; smiling with a mouthful of yellowed teeth and doffing his very crooked cap.
"I live out here with my uncle." she hesitated as the old man's face twisted sharply.
"There's nothing up this way but a nasty pack of wolves!" he snapped, then with a clear effort he smoothed his features.
"You come sit with old Jebediah. We'll eat a bit and I'll see you back your uncle safe and sound. Keep those nasty wolves away from you."
Luna took a half step back and the hunter rose to his feet.
"Come here, girl!"
For the first time Luna realized his eyes were too wide - unblinking. There was something in the way he moved - it was wrong.
A sudden commotion behind her drew Luna's attention. It was Helia leaping past her to knock the old man down.
"Nothing but nasty stinking beasts!" He cried, those flat eyes locked on Luna, and then fell silent as Helia's teeth closed on his throat. The wolf jerked her head, and there was a sharp crack.
Helia moved away from the body growling at Luna and started shouldering her back to the pups. Her teeth and jaw were covered in dark blood - dead blood. The smell of cooking meat couldn't hide the stench of rot, Luna moved away quickly, reminded of the bodies hanging from the battlements of her father's castle. Once all three were together the cowed pups turned for home with Luna, shaken, following them. She glanced back and saw that the darker form of Magnus had joined Helia in dragging the hunter's body into the fire.
That night all the journals were lined up on the mantel and Luna sat with her head on her knees staring at them. It had taken hours for the stench of burned and rotten meat to fade from the air.
Serena had been engaged to her uncle. Luna tried so hard to wrap her mind about that but she had no idea how that horrible woman had become her stepmother.
She needed the rest of the journals for that. And the only way to get those was by waiting for Jaeger.
There was nothing to do but wait now.