Then I looked at Orin, and Weylyn. These were not my personal, animated dolls to play with. These were living creatures, with every right to their own will. I had stopped them from killing each other. That was okay, justified even. But now I was just toying with them, for the pure thrill of power. And enjoying it.
And that, I knew in my heart, is really, really... not good.
I closed my eyes again, exhaled completely, and let go. I felt the high roll back, felt the buzz of power melt away, and came back down to earth. Thank the Goddess for Brann, I thought. If I’m ever going to keep myself under control, he’s going to be my sober sponsor.
I took a deep breath, and opened my eyes. Relaxing. I looked over at my two darlings…
They were gone.
A different buzz was now burning my every nerve: panic.
I shouted as loud as I could. “Orin! Weylyn? Come! Come back!”
But they didn’t come. My control was gone. They were off, into the night... And the only answer the night offered was two long, eerie howls, echoing from the woods. Baying at the moon in bone-chilling, and totally inhuman howls...
They’ll be back, I told myself. They just needed to go out, run off some energy. They’ll come back when they’re ready.
Maybe. Maybe when the moon sets, and the sun comes up again, and they were once again in control. Then they could return to human form. Only that would be too late. Because we had to get the hell out of Dodge before sunrise. Before this whole island goes AWOL again, and all of us with it.
That made me remember the Donn. I’d left him in the cave, with Weylyn to stand guard over him. But Weylyn must have left him… left him alone, to come after Orin and me. Would the Donn stay put? Why should he? In a panic, I started toward the slope, but stopped. Just at the last second, I remembered my pack. I checked inside – the Bone Knife was still there, still safe. I shrugged the pack on, and started back...
The cave was deserted.
I tried not to let fear take over, but a terrible dread was settling in. Maybe he’s nearby, I argued to myself. I bet the Donn heard all that howling and fighting, and he ducked out for cover, just to be on the safe side.
Yeah, right.
And maybe the three Flying Assholini Brothers decided to move to the Jersey Shore and open a pizza parlor.
I was fucked.
But no matter what else went wrong, I knew one thing. I had to make my way through the forest, and get my ass down to that beach. Alone. In the dark. Without the twins, and their superhuman noses, to find my way. But I had no choice. If I didn’t get back to our world, with the Bone Knife, humanity was finished, and Darkness would rule.
I had to survive. No matter what, I had to get back to that boat. How long would that take? An hour? Two? What time was it now? That nice big watch was now wrapped around some hairy wolf paw.
Best guess, it took me an hour to reach the beach. At the cost of a slightly twisted ankle, a barked shin, assorted cuts and bruises, and some very itchy bug bites. More than once, I slipped on mud, and my feet shot out from under me. But in spite of being mottled with bug bites, mud, welts, and bloody cuts, I kept going. I had to. Finally I stumbled out of the vegetation, and onto the sand. I looked up and down the shore, and saw that I was (best guess, again) about half a mile from where I could see our boat.
That was a pain in the ass, but it was also good – because at least I could see the boat. It wasn’t even hard to spot, because it was illuminated by two glowing orbs. Katie, I knew. She was wading around in the shallow water, with the lights floating near her. She might be a one trick pony with her magic-orb-of-light thing, but her one trick was what Brann and Keegan needed. They were inspecting the boat’s hull, trying to work. Doing goddess knows what, but I figured they must have a damn good reason to be waving a light around. At least, a better reason than to attract the unwanted attention of the three evil incarnations of shititude.
As I got closer, Katie heard my feet crunching through the pebbles and ground up shells along the shore. She whipped around, startled, but the instant she laid eyes on me, she cried out “Keira Danielle Morrigan!” and splashed her way back to shore. “I’m so happy to see you,” she said, throwing her arms around me. She was dripping wet from head to toe, her curly ringlets now dripping salt water, soaking me in her soggy hug.
This wasn’t enough to stop her from employing her usual critical evaluation of me. “I do have to say though, Keira. You look like somebody dipped you in pig shit.”
“Boy, have I missed you,” I said, deadpan. Then I nodded toward the boat. “What are they up to?”
“Right now, we’re fiddle-fucking around in the dark,” Keegan said, as he and Brann splashed their way over to us.
“Shut your gob, you tosser.” Brann punched Keegan in the shoulder, then called out. “Keira! Thanks be to the Goddess Brigid you’re okay.” But Katie was peering over my shoulder into the empty darkness, already sensing bad news. “Where are the twins?”
“Gone,” I said, my voice breaking. “So’s the Donn.”
“What happened?”
I pointed to the sky, and they all followed my gaze, looking up at the huge full moon. Unbidden tears rolled down my cheeks.
“Tell us, sugarplum,” Katie said, showing her real heart.
And I did.
“Lycanthropy,” said Brann when I’d filled them in.
“What’s that mean?” Katie frowned.
“They’re off on their own until the moon goes down.”
“Another weird legend proved
