Page 101 of The Tracker's Revenge

“You’ve been out for an hour,”Jake said. “You have to snap out of it. DO IT NOW,”he repeated even more forcefully than before.

An hour?! Fucking witchlights! That meant my senses would be out for almost three days, and what if they didn’t return? I’d never remained in my trance for more than ten minutes.

I know it goes against every fiber in you, Red, but you have to listen, I pleaded.Just this once. I’ll never, ever, ask you to submit again. I swear.

Her resistance died by degrees as she saw the sense in my request. Slowly, her will and strength melded with mine, and suddenly, I knew I had the strength to break free.

I woke up with a jolt, confusion washing over me as I tried to get my bearings. My body was upside down. My stomach was pressed against something hard, and a tight grip kept my ankles in place. My arms dangled from side to side as my entire body jostled up and down, each jolt pounding against my gut.

It took several beats for my brain to grasp what was happening. I was moving, being carried on someone’s shoulder as they ran.

“Jake!” I exclaimed desperately. “What’s happening?”

But if he replied I didn’t know because I couldn’t hear anything and, now, instead of nothingness, I felt only the battering of what felt like a desperate escape attempt.

Witchlights! They had found us.

* * *

THE NEXT THING I KNEW, I was flipped over and thrown down, none too gently, in what felt like a bed or couch. My head hit something hard, and I groaned and rubbed it, wincing. Someone grabbed my legs and moved them aside. They sat next to me. Awkwardly, I struggled to a sitting position.

A slight rumble started under me. I pressed a hand to the surface where I’d been deposited. It felt smooth, like leather. We lurched forward, then I slammed back into what must be the seat of a car.

The rumbling underneath me grew more intense, and I realized we were driving. Fast. Over a very bumpy road.

A hand twined with mine. I recognized it immediately. Rosalina.

After a brief squeeze, she released me and spelled the letters C-A-R in my palm. I nodded my understanding.

“Did they find us?” I asked.

She tapped my hand once.

“Shit!” I tried to calm my breathing, which was ragged.

My mind raced as I tried to process our situation. Jake had said that I’d been under for an hour, which meant he and Eric had been gone at least that long. Had they been spotted? Or had they fled before being noticed?

“Are they chasing us now?” I asked.

Two taps on the back of my hand. No.

I exhaled in relief, then something else occurred to me. “Where’s Blaze?”

No response from Rosalina. It was the stupidest thing to worry about, my cat, but I couldn’t help it.

“We left him?” I asked.

I felt Rosalina’s fist on my chest as she moved it in a circular motion.

Sorry.

She was apologizing.

No one had thought of Blaze as we ran out of the cabin.

I pulled away from her and grabbed my head. I felt awful, disoriented, panicked, lost. Why was this happening? Why, no matter how hard I tried, did my life not settle into a semblance of normalcy? I hadn’t asked for any of this. I just wanted to be left alone and live my life like everybody else. Instead, a deranged werewolf, an ancient vampire, and a Midnight Witch were after me.

And I couldn’t even keep my cat safe.