#i totally forgot to update the relationship tag yesterday whoops

[stormingfrost]

Wonders of the Invisible World 

Tags: Body horror, major character death, Implied/Referenced child abuse, original characters, pitch/sandy, Katherine/nightlight

summary: 

Through hundreds of years of strange things happening all over the world, finally someone sees. The Bennett family is now at the forefront of every children's tale - except, now, they learn that these tales are not only real, but much, much darker than they first thought.

For @rotg-halloween day seven: howl

Read it on AO3

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chapter seven: howl

under cut

Jamie stared at the TV screen. Mom was pacing. 

“That’s him?” He asked again. Mom nodded. 

An escaped convict. Caleb and Claud were supposed to be over tonight but because of his dad’s escape, their parents wouldn’t let them over. The news told everyone his crimes. That he was dangerous. 

Seeing his father, the one he didn’t remember, was surreal. Seeing the crimes knowing that they were about Jamie, but some other version of him. Seeing his mugshot but never recognizing the man who he shared his DNA with. 

He knew that his father was in his life for a long time. He only left last year. 

And now, apparently, he was out. Joyce hadn’t let either of them out of sight. 

“Do you want me to pull another tooth out and get the Tooth Fairy to beat him up?” 

Mom shook her head. 

“I don’t want her to make you forget again.” 

She looked out the window again, a frown on her face. 

“Okay,” she said. “I can’t wait here like a sitting duck. Let’s go to Vivian’s.” 

The road was dark. He looked out to see the outlines of trees. The river was near. The roads were dark and winding, pot holes making the drive extra bumpy. There was howling, each howl getting closer to the road. 

“Shit!” 

He looked up to Mom, seeing as she served. Someone was in the middle of the road. 

A man. He was beaten up and bruised, holding his arm. He looked into the car, smiling when he recognized them. 

It was his dad. 

Mom blared down the car horn. 

“No, no, no!” 

Their car went off the road. 

Jamie watched as the world around them focused into a single tree, and then they smashed into it. 

Everything was dark for a moment. 

Mom breathed, gasping as she lifted her head off the steering wheel. Sophie was crying, holding her head. Jamie’s head ached, and his nose felt weird. The howling stopped. 

The man, his dad, slammed something on the front of the car. Mom screamed. 

He threw a rock into the windshield. 

Glass flew around them, Mom yelling to get down. 

The man was laughing. 

“It’s all your fault. You are here for a reason.” 

“You are crazy!” His mom shouted.

Jamie looked to his Mom and then to Sophie. He unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the door. 

“Jamie!” 

The night was cold. They didn’t have time to grab their winter gear, so only his thin pajamas provided warmth from the cold. 

The stranger grinned at him. 

“What? Did you miss me?” 

“You aren’t scary.” 

“Jamie!” Mom tried to open the door, panicking when her door was blocked by the tree. She crawled to the other side, opening the door and running to Jamie. 

“You did this to me!” The man shouted. “You little bitch.” 

Jamie stared calmly at the man. He knew that everything would be alright. He wasn’t sure how. 

“It’s a full moon,” he said, looking up. 

Mom pulled him behind her. 

“I should’ve killed you. I went to jail anyway, right? Why not actually deserve to go?” The man walked towards them. 

Jamie looked to the side, into the darkness of the woods. He gasped. 

A large wolf stared back at him. He was sure that wolves weren’t supposed to be that big. Its eyes seemingly glowed in the dark. 

It howled, and his Mom and the man looked towards it. 

“Get back in the car and get down,” the wolf said. 

Mom blinked, but dragged Jamie back and sliding in the back seat and pulling Jamie and Sophie down.

“What?” The man asked. 

The wolf howled again, and Jamie peaked out of the window. 

The wolf growled. The man held a rock, aiming towards it. 

“You hurt a child,” the wolf said. “For that, you will die.” 

The wolf pounced on the man, who screamed and tried to fight it. 

Mom pulled him down. 

“What is that?” Jamie asked. Mom shook her head, her eyes distant and tired. 

There was screaming, desperate and painful. Mom held Sophie and him closer, closing her eyes and whispering a prayer. They weren’t religious, but there she was, praying to every god she knew the name of. 

Jamie leaned against his mom, listening to the howls that were far too close. He glanced out of the back window, seeing more wolves circling around them. 

And then the screaming stopped. The howling stopped. Everything was quiet. 

There was a gentle knock on the door. 

“I’m sorry for that,” the wolf said. Jamie looked up, seeing the wolf transform into a man. He wiped blood away from his mouth.

“My name is Shadowbent. We have to get you to safety. He is not the only thing out to harm you.” 

Mom held them tighter. 

“Mom, it’s alright,” Jamie said. “He’s good.” 

Mom looked down at him. She was scared. Jamie smiled. 

“He’s right,” Shadowbent said. “We protect the innocent. If you want those kids to be safe, you and your family need to come with us.” 

Mom silently let them go, opening the door and stepping out. She looked around to the wolves. 

“I promise they won’t eat you,” Shadowbent said. “Evil tastes best after all.” Jamie grabbed Sophie’s hand and followed his mom outside. 

“There were two others, right?” Mom nodded. 

“Yeah, yeah there was,” she said numbly. “My siblings.” 

Shadowbent nodded. 

“I would like to apologize for how your night has gone. Now, we’re going to have to go on foot. Would you like a ride?” 

He shifted back to a wolf. 

“We got some time to go.” 

Jamie approached Shadowbent. 

“On your back?” 

“Yes, my boy. It’ll be faster, and safer, this way. You all can fit, but the others will have to ride on my second in command.”

He climbed on, holding a hand out to his mom and Sophie. Sophie grinned. 

“Like a horsey!” 

“Not quite,” Shadowbent replied. 

Mom slid on last, holding tightly to the wolf’s mane and making sure her kids were seated in front of her safely and securely. She looked back to the body of his dad.

“Let’s go,” she said. 

Then they were off. The wind brushed against Jamie’s face, the adrenaline rushing through his body made him laugh. Shadowbent jumped across the frozen river, howling as the wolves followed him. 

Jamie glanced back at the distant lights of Burgess, growing farther and farther away. The darkness of the woods enveloped them.