Before leaving, I took one last look at Max, Melanie, Dana, and Daggett fighting Master.
Please stay alive, I prayed. Please be breathing when I return.
Chapter Forty-Six
CORA
I sprinted as fast as I could, and in doing so, repeatedly slid across the snow, yet somehow stopped myself from falling every time. In the distance, Priscilla screamed my name. “Cora!” she yelled. “Wait for me, you dipshit!” I slowed down and let her catch up to me, and she panted heavily when we ultimately made it to the hedge maze. “What the hell are we doing?”
“Do you remember how to get to the shed?” I asked.
“The shed?”
“Yes, the shed. Where we found the axe.”
“Uh…yeah, maybe? I don’t fucking know. Daggett said to follow the wall.”
“Yeah, but which wall?”
“The one that goes to the fucking shed.”
I rolled my eyes. “Come on, Priscilla. They could be dying right now, we don’t have time for sass. My head was messed up when we came in here, so I need you to remember which way we went.”
Priscilla took a deep breath and then pointed. “I think it was left,” she answered. I wasted no time and booked it into the hedge maze. Priscilla ran right behind me, and reminded me it was her that had to lead the way. I let her go in front of me, and I anxiously followed. My hands and legs were trembling so bad, and I tried to blame it on the cold, but I knew better. It terrified me to think of what we were missing out on back in the castle, and I was desperate to return to them.
Five minutes later, Priscilla whispered, “I think it’s down this way.” Thank God. We took a sharp turn to the left, around the edge of a hedge, and I bumped right into Priscilla, who had unexpectedly stopped moving in front of me. It was like she hit an invisible brick wall, and something or someone had paralyzed her with fear.
I peeked over Priscilla’s shoulder and was greeted by a set of yellow, vibrant eyes and a hanging mouth full of dripping wet teeth. The werewolf growled as it stood on its hind legs, reaching somewhere around six feet tall, and its hands were drawn in close to its chest. This dark figure of hair, long, coyote ears, and a stature bigger than either of us was so horrifying I almost pissed my pants.
“Cora…” Priscilla trembled. She looked to me to do something, but I was at a loss. During the frenzy of everything at the castle, I had completely forgotten about Max’s warning of the third werewolf. Be on the lookout, he said.
Well, here it was.
“Cora, do something,” Priscilla said through gritted teeth.
“What the heck am I supposed to do?” I whispered back.
“You’re the expert on these things.” Expert? The only thing I was an expert at was getting lucky and not dying. But I had to do something.
I made the sacrifice and slowly and cautiously stepped out from behind Priscilla, pushing the werewolf’s focus away from her and onto me. Its eyes were sharp like daggers and I swallowed hard. I put both hands out and shushed the beast. “It’s okay, puppy. We’re not here to hurt you.”
Priscilla scrunched up her face and confusedly mouthed the word puppy like it was the dumbest thing I had ever said. It wasn’t even in the top twenty this month.
“I don’t know if you’re a person under all that or an animal or what, but please don’t hurt us. Please find it in yourself to fight the impulse.” If this was a natural-born werewolf and not human-turned, it wouldn’t understand me, and all I accomplished was sounding like a nut. But I had to try. “It’s okay, puppy. It’s okay,” I echoed tenderly. The werewolf dropped onto all fours and tilted its head inquisitively at me. It was acting like a dog more than a bloodthirsty beast, and call me crazy, but I felt like my voice was calming it.
“Oh my god, kill it,” Priscilla said through tightened lips. She was afraid to even move her facial muscles.
There was no killing it, though. We were two stupid humans with a couple of knives in our pockets. Knives neither of us felt confident in using. In order to kill this thing, we’d have to get up close and personal, and we’d have our heads bitten off by the time we could get a stab in.
No, I had to persuade this thing to leave us alone.
Moving as quiet as a mouse, I bent my knees and retrieved a fallen branch from a pile of snow. It was as small as an ordinary stick, around thirty inches long, and I waved it back and forth through the air. The werewolf’s eyes latched onto the stick, following my slow movements. I took the deepest breath imaginable and then launched it down a pathway to our right, all the while hoping for the best. I couldn’t believe it, but the werewolf chased after it, immediately disappearing into the darkness.
I let out the breath I was holding. “Holy shit, that actually worked?” If only Max were here to see this. I knew this trick would take one day!
Priscilla ran like a bat out of hell, and I followed. It didn’t take long for us to find the shed again, and instantly we broke down the door. Once inside, Priscilla slammed the door shut and pressed her back against it, panting. “What the fuck was that?”
I rummaged through the belongings inside the shed. “I can’t believe I just played fetch with a werewolf…and it played along.”
“Our lives are so fucked, Cora. I think I’m over it. Can we cancel this shit?”
“After we kill the vampire.”
She exhaled dramatically. “I can’t believe
