Some of the calls came from farther away, and the words were impossible to understand, but the tone of entreaty was clear. Underneath the words was a message, wheedling at the edges of my mind. Join us, they said. Help us, save us. I felt like, if I could just get a little closer, I could make out what they were saying. We’re cold, we’re frightened, it’s so dark… Help us…
I could help them. I could save them. I could bring them back here, where it was warm and safe…
Cole grabbed my shoulder, pinching a nerve cluster hard enough to make my entire arm go numb, and only then did I realize I was halfway across the clearing. Pain in my wrist made me look down, and I found my arm encased in Duke’s huge maw, the dog holding me with enough pressure to stop me, but not enough to draw blood. I had no memory of having crossed the distance. “Whoa, big brother.”
The moment I heard Cole’s voice, fog around my brain seemed to clear. “That is… so not cool.”
“Tell me about it.” Cole showed me his own left hand, the clear mark of the dog’s teeth visible. Duke hadn’t broken skin, but it was going to bruise bad. “Mutt bit me.”
“Thank him.” Duke, deciding that he had done his duty by me, released my wrist, and I patted him on the head. “Good boy.”
“How are they doing that? I hear them say things, but it’s like they’re tugging at me.” Cole frowned at the hidden serenade. “It sounds like… like a bunch of TVs left on, y’know? All on different channels.”
That was exactly what it sounded like. In fact, once he pointed it out, I recognized a few of the phrases from commercials. One of them called out, “It cleans up in the dishwasher” and I finished the sentence under my breath, “And breaks down for easy storage.” Hey, I watch a lot of late-night infomercials.
“I don’t know what it is, but I think we should get back inside.” Standing only a few feet from where Cameron’s consecration spell ended was making me twitchy. What if Cole hadn’t grabbed me in time? “Maybe keep watch in pairs.”
“Hey… where’s Marty?” At Cole’s puzzled question, I turned to look back at the cabin, at the now empty front porch.
The creatures called from the night, mocking. “Being a good neighbor.” “What a fashion faux pas!”
“He was right there… maybe he went back inside?” Nausea curled in my guts. “Marty? Hey, man, you there?”
At some unspoken signal, my brother and I bolted back toward the house, thundering up on the porch and through the door to find exactly what we dreaded. No Marty. I was back outside in a heartbeat.
“Marty!” My own voice bounced off the mountain and back to me. The insidious calls were my only answer. “Martin Shane Wallace! Answer me!”
Cole stood beside me, both of us holding our breaths, so scared we’d miss a telltale sound, a rustle in the brush, a cracking twig. Even Duke was tense and silent; his shoulders bristled as he scanned the tree line.
And then it came, the sounds of breaking limbs. “There!” Duke beat me off the porch, but only barely, and the pair of us had left Cole behind by the time we hit the edge of Cam’s magic barrier. Both of us barreled through without a thought, crashing into the forest at full speed.
11
Y ou don’t think. You react, you move, you run. But you don’t stop to think, “Hey, I just ran into the deep dark woods full of man-eating whatsits and gorilla yeti demons.” Because that’s your friend out there. Your best friend.
I lost Duke almost immediately, the mammoth mutt outdistancing me in huge bounds, but I kept running, trying to follow the crashing ahead despite the fact that I could barely see the trees in front of me.
The branches and bushes lashed out almost like they had minds of their own, catching me across the face, and I could spare only one arm to protect my eyes. My other hand held my sword, and if running into the woods was stupid, then losing my weapon would be insane.
The cabin and its light and safety were long out of sight when I jerked to a halt, straining to hear anything that wasn’t my own heaving breath. The voices had stopped, and the freight train that was Duke had fallen silent.
The night rendered all things in shades of gray. Shapes were meaningless. That tree over there could have been one of the creatures, standing still. That reaching, grasping arm in front of me could be the limb of an old oak, knocked loose by simple age and weather, or it could have been a filthy, grimy claw, just waiting for me to walk within reach.
I relaxed my vision, let my senses search for movement instead of shape. There was nothing. Not even a night breeze coming down off the mountain. The only thing living out here was me and my heartbeat, thundering too loudly in my ears.
That wasn’t true. Duke was out here, and Marty. If I could just find them.
The screams, when they started, sent ice stabbing through my heart, and I was off again before I truly registered what they meant. That was Marty out there, screaming, and over that, the big mastiff’s bellow rang out. Duke had him, and I thanked whatever deity might be listening.
I dodged trees more by sense than sight, hurtled deadfalls without thought for what might be waiting on the other side. I know I ran a hundred yards over rough terrain before I was forced to stop again. Forced, because the screams had stopped, and silence reigned again.
Dammit, Marty, don’t do this… I couldn’t go back. Even if I knew where the hell the cabin was and how to turn my ass around to get there, I couldn’t go back without him. I couldn’t leave him out here if there was any chance at all.
“Marty, answer me!” That was Cole, tracking somewhere off to my left. “Jesse!” Through the trees, I could see a white circle of light bobbing as Cole searched with his flashlight. He’d gone back for it, genius that he was.
Marty wasn’t answering us for whatever reason, but Duke… maybe Duke would. “Duke! Here, boy! Duke, come!”
Immediately, there was a whine to my right. Cole heard it too, because the flashlight came bobbing in my direction. Ten yards through the trees, and we found them.
Marty was sprawled on the ground, Duke planted firmly on his legs, and for a gut-churning moment, I thought they’d gotten to him. Then he moved, shoving vainly at his dog with one hand. “Gah, get off, you big dork.”
I’d never admit it to the guys, but I actually felt a bit weak in the knees for a second. Relief, I guess. “Good boy, Duke.” The mastiff grumbled and finally got up.
Cole arrived with his flashlight, playing the beam across our friend’s face. My blacksmith looked pale and sweaty under his beard. “You all right, Marty?”
“Yeah, just messed up my ankle. Tripped over a goddamn tree branch in the dark, trying to get away from this big doofus.” He roughed Duke’s short fur to show he wasn’t angry with the dog. “Thought he was a bear.” Only then did Marty glance around with a frown. “How the hell did I get out here?”
“Still working on that.” They were out there. I knew they were. Why hadn’t they pounced on Marty the second he crossed that barrier? The way they’d gone after Zane, the way they’d massed to my presence earlier, I figured fresh meat would be too much to resist. But there wasn’t a peep, not a rustle. Nothing to betray their location. “Where are you?” I muttered.
“Come on, we’ll get you to Will. He can patch you up.” Cole reached for him when the voices came again.
“Mom, have you seen my sneakers?” It was right behind me, and I whirled, sword at the ready. Nothing. Not even a twitch of movement. Cole’s light shone over the brush without revealing anything.
Duke growled softly. “Cole, grab him before he runs off. Get Marty on his feet.” There was motion behind me as they followed my orders. I kept my attention on the trees around us, waiting for whatever came next.
“Hey, take the trash out when you go!”
My head snapped around hard enough that I saw spots for a second. The voice, a woman’s, came from my left, only a few yards away. And for a heartbeat, one second of eternity, it sounded like Mira.
It wasn’t. I knew it wasn’t. After a moment to think about it, I could hear the differences, the slight change in
