Page 108 of Found in Obscurity

Lorin was too paranoid for that.

“Did you see that?” Lorin asked.

“What?” his grandma asked, eyes sharp.

“Just there,” Lorin said, pointing.

There was nothing there anymore.

Sjena cawed from her perch on the front seat, flapping her wings, and Grandma rolled down the window, allowing her to fly out.

They parked up on the side of the road and they watched Sjena circle around with bated breath. A dark smudge against the gray and white sky. When she came back showing no indication she’d spotted anything, Lorin sighed, not knowing whether he was relieved or not.

She swooped gracefully back inside the window on a gust of wind that buffeted the inside of the car. Lorin shivered and felt Kit abruptly stiffen against him, drawing in a sharp breath.

Lorin rubbed his arms and back to stave off the chill as he asked his grandma, “Can you shut the window?”

“There’s someone,” Kit mumbled to himself, sounding half delirious.

“Kit?”

But Kit was already shifting away from him, all elbows and knees in disjointed angles that dug into Lorin as he sought to free himself from Lorin’s grip and move across the space toward the door. “I need… There’s something…out…out…”

“Kit, wait—”

Lorin couldn’t keep a hold of him, in the same way he couldn’t when Kit was in his fox form, and Kit pushed out into the winter air. He stumbled onto his hands and knees on the damp, snow-speckled pavement, shaking and breathing heavily.

Lorin followed him in panic, crouching and trying to get him up while his grandma emerged from the creaky driver’s seat.

“Kit? What is it? What’s wrong?” Lorin asked, cupping the back of his head, searching desperately for the reason.

People began looking their way, whispers traveling, and his grandma bent down too. “We’re drawing a lot of attention, boys.”

“I know,” Lorin said, keeping his gaze focused on Kit. Another frigid breeze swept through the streets, bringing a few debris and snowflakes and Kit suddenly sprang upright like it had revitalized him. He began sprinting toward the alleyway Lorin had spotted the shadow in.

“KIT!” Lorin scrambled to his feet and chased him down with his heart in his throat. He heard the doors of the other car opening behind them. He couldn’t check to see if the elders were following though. “Kit, wait!”

They ducked between the two buildings and Kit paused, looking around them wildly and sniffing the air.

Lorin grasped his hand, out of breath. “Kit, please talk to me!”

“I thought…” Kit murmured, voice still faraway as his confusion over his own actions grew. “I thought I smelled…”

“What?” Lorin asked, squeezing his hand tighter like that could anchor them together. “The coven? Were they here?”

“No…no, no, no.” Kit shook his head, clutching his hair. “Confusing. The spell is dragging me. Everything else is lost. I can’t think. I can’t think!”

“It’s okay. It’s okay.” Lorin laid a kiss on his forehead as he eased his hand from his hair. He still didn’t understand, but he didn’t want Kit hurting himself. “Which way does it want you to go now?”

Kit pointed into the woods behind the buildings. The trees there were densely packed together, a gathering darkness even though there were hardly any left with leaves on them. They were nothing like the vibrant evergreens at home, welcoming and warm. These seemed to shift and move like they were alive. Lorin shuddered, repelled by the sight. The urge to run far away entered his mind.

Maybe we shouldn’t go there after all. It would be better to leave. Leave and never return…

“Lorin! Kit!” his grandma called from the entry to the alley, knocking Lorin from his thoughts, the sensation taking over his mind receding. The other elders were behind her, their expressions concerned.

Lorin urged a reluctant Kit over to the group and his grandma grasped their arms tightly. “Don’t look back at those woods.”

Lorin frowned, immediately alarmed. “Why?”