The forest is a dangerous place.

The hunter’s words rang true. Dark trees and brooding shadows hugged her sides. Whispers ran through the underbrush from creatures unseen.

She could see hope ahead—the forest floor cleared out and she could see sun in the distance. At the clearing, her road would fork into two paths—The Way of the Spider and The Way of the Snail. She struggled to remember her conversation with the hunter outside the forest…something he had said…

She pushed on.

* * *

The hunter was as tall as he was striking: raven hair shorn at his shoulders, crystalline blue eyes and black-gloved hands concentrating on stringing the bow in front of him. Red approached him where he leaned against a tree on the edge of the forest.

“You should think twice before you go into the forest alone.”

She stopped, not having expected him to speak first. He finally looked up to meet her gaze. A kind and quick smile came to his face and he set the bow down.

“What’s your name?”

She told him that people called her Red. It came from a red riding hood that she always wore, and after a while, it just stuck. She told him that her mother was an herbalist, and had moved into the forest, building a cottage by the river some time ago to get closer to the potent ingredients inside. Red now felt herself old enough to make the journey to finally visit her mother.

The hunter’s face grew concerned. He ran his thumb over his gloved fingertips. “I was serious about what I said before. The forest is a dangerous place. They tell stories about the dangers that lurk in there. I believe some are true. I’m sure you’ve heard tales about the creature they call the Wolf.” He caught her gaze in his crystal eyes. “A pretty lady like you doesn’t belong in there.”

Red smiled playfully and shook her head. “I don’t believe in fairy tales. It’s just a forest.” She started to move down the path, her scarlet cloak catching the cold wind. She made it thirty feet when the hunter called out to her, “If you won’t take my advice at least take this: Don’t take the Way of the Spider!”

* * *

Red broke out of the brush and into the clearing she had seen ahead. It was like walking from night into day and her eyes squinted as she burst into the sun. She knew where she had to go to find her mother’s house. It was here that the path split—a sign hung loosely on a tree, pointing an arrow to the left down the Way of the Spider, and to the right the Way of the Snail.

“Both ways will take you where you want to go, though where you want to go is not always where you need to be.”

Red spun around hard. She hadn’t seen the figure crouched in the shadows on the side of the trail. Sitting on his haunches on an embankment where the trail led out into the clearing, he ended up eye level with Red.

She gazed at him for a long moment, taken aback with the ease in which he had concealed and then revealed himself. He was finely dressed, with laced and billowed sleeves and a brown jerkin, but strangely disheveled. His silver hair was wild, almost untamed. His eyes were inhumanly radiant, swirling with green and gray. He seemed wild, dangerous, and feral, but he exuded some aura from which she couldn’t tear away.

Red talked to him. She told him about her name. She told about her mother and her mother’s house along the river in the forest. She told about— I’m sure you’ve heard tales about the creature they call the Wolf. The hunter’s words burst into her brain. She jolted as if waking from a trance, feeling like she had just gotten over a fainting spell.

“I’m…I’m sorry about all that. I usually don’t talk to strangers.”

The crouching figure had a strained voice. “It happens.” He paused. “Well…if you want to find the river, both of the ways will lead you there. But I’ll tell you the secret. Take the Way of the Spider. It’s a shortcut through the forest.”

Red listened to what he said. She had lingered too long and was surprised by what had come over her earlier. She wanted to go, now—even if it meant taking his advice.

He watched as she walked away, blonde hair flying in the wind. The Way of the Spider curved aimlessly for miles, winding through mud and rocks. It would take her hours before she came through to the other side. He took off down The Way of the Snail, the faster way, the easier way. A house by the river, she said…

Red made it to the river just as dusk fell. Disheveled and travel-worn, she looked upstream. Her mother’s house was close. Quiet. She opened the door slowly. A long table greeted her covered in a feast fit for a king. A plate at her end was arranged with steaming meat, soups, and red wine poured. The rest of the table was covered with more food than any person could possibly need. At the far end someone sat in the shadows.

“Come sit and eat, Red.”

She listened to her mother and slowly sat down. She picked up her glass to sip the wine. She paused, and then set it back down. Something wasn’t right with the wine. Or her mother’s voice. The figure across from her leaned into candlelight for the briefest instant. She stiffened at the cold pit in her stomach. She knew who it was now.

She stared at the dinner prepared for her. The hunter’s words came to her again: I’m sure you’ve heard tales about the creature they call the Wolf.

She spoke quietly but determined. “Mother, I should have brought cosmetics. Look at how long your nails are.” She had to buy time.

The shadow at the end froze. In a cloying sweet voice: “All the better to pick herbs with. Now Red, eat your dinner.”

Red reluctantly cut the meat on her plate, keeping a firm grip on the table knife. “Mother…how bright your eyes are.”

The figure stayed motionless. “All the better to see in this dark forest, my dear. Eat up.”

Red slowly brought a piece to her mouth. She stopped before it reached her lips. Her tone let him know that she knew. “Mother…how big your teeth are.”

The shadow snarled. “All the better to eat dinner with!”

It ripped off the cloak it had been wearing. The silver hair and burning eyes shone in the near-dark. “You’re smarter than she was.”

She kept the knife in her hand. “What are you?!” But it was obvious what he had to be.

His feral grin widened. “Don’t let appearances deceive you. There are many dangers in the forest. They come in many shapes, and many guises.” He motioned to his clothes, and his almost human appearance. “Some clean up better than others.”

Red stood up suddenly. “There was a hunter at the edge of the forest. He saw me come here. He’ll come looking for me.”

The Wolf snarled and spat out the words. “The hunter.”

Red hid the knife in the folds of her scarlet cloak. “Then what are you waiting for?”

The Wolf shook his head. “Nothing in this forest is what it seems. If I let appearances deceive me, I would look at you as just a helpless girl. But helpless girls wouldn’t have even stepped foot into the forest. There’s a fire in you. You haven’t given up yet. You could give me the fight of your life, and you might come out on top. And that is the only reason I haven’t tried to kill you yet.” He started to pace. “You think the hunter is going to save you? Don’t cry to me. If he cared about you, he would be here with you. You think he’s your white knight? He’s not what you think he is.”

He froze. A look of fear came over his face before it turned into a roar and he leaped across the table.

Before Red could move, the hunter flashed past her and tackled him mid-air. Almost before they hit the ground they were back up and fighting. The hunter checked his opponent and took the second he gained to shove the bewildered girl towards the open door. She had one last split-second look of the hunter ripping off his black gloves to face his silver-haired foe before she slammed the door home.

It was a war of noise as she tried to imagine what was happening inside. The roars intensified as she heard glass breaking. Almost as if in counterattack, Red heard part of the table give way. A flash of silence and then a sickening thud as something hit the inside wall. A piece of mortar fell away from the outside of the house, and the roars began anew. After several minutes more, it was silent again. It was over.

She stepped back inside to see the hunter standing over the slain creature. He didn’t turn to face her as he tightened the ebony gloves around his forearms. “He would have eaten you if I hadn’t gotten here just in time.”

The hunter’s back moved up and down as he fought to catch his breath. He sighed heavily and combed his gloved hands through his hair. Instead of falling back down, the hair stayed wild, like a black mane about his head.

Red gazed around the ruined room. Something felt wrong. The more her rescuer paced the more agitated he seemed to become. “But you killed him. You killed the Wolf.”

He stopped pacing for a minute. “No…no, he wasn’t the Wolf.”

Red stepped back. The hunter’s face was strained, as if switching between rage and frenzy and back again. “How can’t he be? Just look at him! I saw him, he was the Wolf!” Red slowly started backing towards the door. She began to understand. The creature had already told her the truth over the dinner table…

The forest has many dangers.

Some clean up better than others.

He’s not what you think he is.

The hunter started his pacing again in place, tensing his muscles from foot back to foot. His voice dropped an octave. “You saw what he wanted you to see. There are so many deadly creatures in here, Red. You don’t think some try to imitate the deadliest of them all?” He suddenly squeezed his eyes tight as if they were hurting him. When he opened them, they shined crystalline blue in the night.

“Come on, Red. If he was the Big Bad Wolf as the tales say, how could I possibly have killed him if I was just a human? Because you know...”

He took a swig from a wineglass that had survived the fight and threw it against the wall.

“Wolves are stronger.”