Page 17

Chapter 17

Alex

“I feel like an idiot.”

Donovan leaned in and kissed my cheek, his hand resting on my shoulder. “Do you want me to go to the kitchen?”

“Would you mind?” I looked up at him, wincing.

“Let me know if you need me,” he said, simple as that, and gave my shoulder a little squeeze before retreating to the kitchen with his coffee, out of sight of the living room.

With no idea exactly how I’d appeared to Ori’s friend Rian that day in the bookshop, I was doing my best to recreate it. Thanks to our afternoon nap, it was now just after midnight, and Donovan and I were both awake.

The snow that had pounded Lowery’s Crossing all day was slowing, but fat flakes still drifted by the window, illuminated by the pale light of the moon. With the drifts shin-deep and temperatures below freezing, there was no guarantee of a search for Landon DeVor, so I had to try to do my part.

Focus, Alex.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to call up some of the meditation techniques I half-remembered from my earlier attempts. Fortunately, the breathing exercise I’d learned to stave off panic attacks as a teenager also worked best for helping me focus. In for four, hold for four, out for four. I counted out each one, letting myself fall into the rhythm.

In. One, two, three, four. Hold. Find Landon. Out. One, two, three, four. In. Find Landon. Hold. Find Landon. Out.

Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the world around me faded, narrowing down to each measured breath and the thought of Landon. The pictures Donovan had showed me took shape in my mind unbidden, the still images slowly shifting, becoming clearer. I’d seen Landon around town, but in my memory he’d been younger, not the tall, awkward teenager he was now.

Just as quickly as his image appeared, though, it shifted again, from a smiling kid posing for a picture to a scared teenager, blond hair tangled, blue eyes wide with fear. Then he was moving, running, darting through trees and looking at something over his shoulder. Something crashed through the underbrush behind him, chasing him. I couldn’t see what it was, but I felt his fear.

No, not fear. I felt his pure terror . Whatever was behind him wanted him dead. I felt it just as clearly as he did. Snow hampered his steps, slowing him down, and the thing behind him drew closer, nearly nipping at his heels now.

Landon’s entire focus was on the thing chasing him. Fear blinded him and he never saw the ledge coming up in front of him. Desperate to escape whatever was chasing him, he ran right over the edge. I felt it when his stomach dropped, when he put his foot down on nothing but empty air. The fall seemed to last an eternity, but only a few seconds passed before he crashed to the ground and a loud crack echoed through the narrow gully he landed in, followed a moment later by a cry of agonized pain. I saw him from above now, saw the way his leg twisted at an unnatural angle, clearly broken.

Whatever chased him heard his cry, too. I couldn’t see what it was, but Landon did, his eyes going wide when he looked up. He was easy prey now, unable to run, and it knew it. Landon scrambled backward, desperately searching for somewhere to hide. I could only watch as he cast around, finally spotting something just as the person or creature or whatever chased him jumped off the ledge.

Crawling, dragging his injured leg behind him, Landon pulled himself across the frozen ground toward the dubious shelter he’d found. Calling it a cave was beyond generous. It was more like a narrow divot formed by fallen rocks, not nearly big enough for a person to hide in, not even a skinny teenager. It was, however, just big enough for an adolescent coyote to squeeze into.

As I watched, Landon shrank in on himself, a thick coating of gray and brown fur pushing through his skin. His body twisted, bones popping and shifting in a way that had to hurt, but if it did, his fear of whatever chased him dulled the pain. In seconds, a lanky coyote pup pushed into the narrow opening in the earth and disappeared from sight.

A furious snarl echoed through the trees when the hunter realized it couldn’t reach its prey. I still couldn’t see what had chased Landon, its shape nothing more than a shadowy blur, but whatever it was, Landon and I both knew it would kill him if it reached him. It settled on the ground in front of Landon’s hiding spot in wait, like it knew he had to come out eventually.

The images in my mind began to blur, the edges going dark until it disappeared and I opened my eyes to see my ceiling fan above me and my fat cat looking down at me from the arm of the couch, judging me with pale gold eyes.

“Donovan,” I breathed, numb and dazed. I don’t know how he heard me, but a moment later he was there, sitting on the floor beside me and taking the hand I stretched out for him.

“Any luck?” he asked. His thumb stroked across my knuckles, soothing, giving me something to focus on. He paused after just a few seconds, though, frowning. “You’re cold.”

A shiver snaked down my spine, chasing away the numbness and leaving behind a chill I was far too familiar with. No ghost had come to me, but my body didn’t seem to realize that and wrapped me in the cold armor of shock to blunt what I’d seen.

“It’s fine. It’s not that bad,” I promised. Compared to other times, this was nothing. “I think I know where Landon is. Kind of.”

“Come here.” Donovan gently tugged me up and into his lap, hugging me tight and chasing away the worst of the cold. Only then did he ask, “what did you see?”

“I think it was real. I don’t think I could make up something like this.” Even knowing what I did about paranormal beings existing alongside us, it seemed too crazy to be true. “Something was chasing him through trees. It looked like it was right up near the foothills.”

“Some thing ?” Donovan repeated. “Not some one ?”

Trust a detective to immediately pick up on that. “That’s right. I know it sounds crazy, but it didn’t feel like a person.”

He kissed my temple, hugging me a little closer. “I trust you.”

“I love you,” I murmured, then continued. “He was running and he fell off this ledge. He broke his leg, but he found somewhere to hide. Whatever was chasing him didn’t leave, though. The last I saw, it was sitting there waiting for him to come out.”

“So he’s been trapped in the woods for a day and a half with a broken leg? If it was a wild animal, it probably would have lost interest and left by now.”

I shook my head. “It didn’t feel like an animal, either. Not a natural one, anyway. I don’t know what it was, but Landon was terrified. He can change into a coyote.” I still struggled to process that one, but the more immediate danger made that detail somehow the less important thing. “There wouldn’t be any animals in this area that he’d be too scared of, I bet. This was something else.” Even just thinking about the shadowy thing chasing Landon made my skin crawl. “Donovan?”

He hugged me closer. “Yeah?” I could see the questions in his eyes, but he kept it in check and I loved him even more for it.

“I’d… I’d know if the thing got him, right? I wouldn’t have seen him like that if he were…” I couldn’t say the word. It was like saying it would manifest it, make it real.

“We’ll find him,” Donovan promised, and I didn’t miss how neatly he avoided answering my question. Then again, I wasn’t altogether sure I wanted a straight answer.

“I should call Ori and let them know. I got a text earlier saying they hadn’t found him, either.”

“I’ll call Will and let him know what happened, if that’s okay? I’ll find out if he’s heard anything about a group going out in the morning, but with this snow, it’s not likely. I’m guess you want to go out and look, anyway?”

He knew me so well.

“Yeah. I think I could find it. I’ll tell Ori to bring some help in case that thing that was chasing Landon is still there.”

As much as I wanted to stay in Donovan’s lap until the last of the cold dissipated, finding Landon was more important. I hadn’t expected to actually see anything with whatever this ability I had was, but I couldn’t waste this chance. With one last kiss, more to embolden myself than anything, I got up and helped Donovan to his feet. He went to the kitchen and I went to the bedroom in search of my phone, each of us getting to work to find Landon as fast as possible.

***

Looking back, I should have known better than to stop at Buns ‘n’ Roses for food and coffee.

Ori had immediately agreed to come help us look, promising to bring backup. Knowing Landon had fallen off some kind of small cliff, we reluctantly decided to wait for sunrise before venturing out.

Donovan and I spent a few hours adding things to the backpack of supplies Donovan had readied yesterday, then he’d just held me in his arms on the couch as we waited for the first weak traces of sunlight to appear on the horizon. It’d taken awhile for the shock to wear off, but curling up against Donovan had gone a long way toward helping. It’d also given us both some time to come to grips with the reality of what I’d seen. Hearing from Ori that shifters were real was one thing. Seeing it happen to Landon in excruciating detail was something else entirely.

Now I stood at the front counter of Buns ‘n’ Roses, staring down my best friend and rapidly losing ground.

“I asked you a question, Alex,” Raina said, eyebrow raised. Ashley and Rachel, catching the tone of her voice, had quickly made themselves scarce. Well, they’d ducked over to the other end of the counter, pretending to be busy organizing the coffee machines. Hopefully, they were out of earshot.

“Technically, you asked me two questions,” I reminded her, risking life and limb in an attempt to throw her off the scent. “You asked why we were here so early and why we needed six coffees to-go.”

“Do you have any idea how lucky you are that I love you?” she asked. She crossed her arms over her chest, fully prepared to wait all day. I couldn’t even pretend I was holding up the line to move her along. This early, with snow blanketing the town, the dining area was deserted.

“Alex, we have to hurry,” Donovan murmured in my ear. “Let’s just tell her so she’ll let us leave.”

Donovan clearly had no idea who he was dealing with. He was right about one thing, though: Raina wouldn’t let us leave until she knew everything.

“Fine.” I leaned in closer, motioning for her to do the same. “I was able to use my ability and find roughly where Landon is. He’s still alive,” I added quickly when her eyes went wide. “But we’re going to meet up with some people that can help us get to him before it’s too late.”

“I’m going,” Raina said immediately, just like I’d known she would, but instead of being prepared with a clever comment to keep her here, I replied with the very worst thing I could have possibly said. I blamed it on the shock of everything that’d happened.

“No, you should stay here. It’s too dangerous.”

I wanted to recall the words even as they were leaving my mouth, but it was too late. Raina’s dark eyes narrowed and I quickly leaned back, hoping to dodge the worst of her wrath.

“It’s dangerous,” she repeated. “And yet you’re going out there anyway, probably completely unarmed.”

“Not completely,” Donovan protested, but she shushed him with a quelling glance.

“Who else is going? There are six cups here, so clearly you trust someone to go with you.”

“Fuck,” I whispered. We were supposed to be meeting Ori soon, and we were running out of time. I shared a look with Donovan, silently asking what we should do. The likelihood of whatever had chased Landon still being there two days later was small, but not impossible, and I didn’t want to put my best friend in danger. On the other hand, Raina had latched on now and wouldn’t let us leave easily.

“Don’t you need to run the shop? I don’t know how long we’ll be,” Donovan said.

“Rachel,” Raina called, and the barista looked up from the cups she’d been organizing. Obviously she’d been trying to listen in, because who wouldn’t, but I didn’t think she’d gotten close enough to hear anything.

“What’s up? Need me to cover the front for awhile?” she guessed, eyes darting between her boss and me as she put the pieces together.

“If you think you and Ashley can hold down the morning rush, I need to run an errand.”

Rachel glanced out the window, where the snow drifts almost reached the glass. “Yeah, I don’t think we’re going to be too crazy today. We can handle it.”

“Great. Thanks.” Raina smiled at Rachel, then leveled a glare at me. “Don’t you dare walk out that door.” She disappeared into the back, probably to grab her coat and change from her work shoes into boots.

“Think we should run for it?” Donovan murmured.

As tempting as it was, I shook my head. “She’ll just follow us, and then she’ll ban us from here for at least six months. Maybe we can convince her to stay in the car.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

We both knew there was no chance, but we waited in silence while Rachel filled up our to-go order and handed over eight coffees in cardboard carriers. I didn’t question the number, but Donovan frowned in confusion right up until the kitchen door swung open and Raina walked out with Camille, both of them dressed in winter gear.

“Rachel, all the baking is done and cooling. Ashley knows what to do,” Camille said as she tugged on her gloves. “Thank you for taking over.”

“Any time. Don’t do anything too crazy.”

Camille just smiled and ushered us out the front door of Buns ‘n’ Roses. Arguing with her would be pointless, so we just let it be.

“Should I call Will to come, too?” Camille asked as we headed outside and she detoured around the building, to the side entrance that led to the apartment they shared.

“I talked to him and told him you’d seen something. He’s going to cover for me at the station in case we don’t get back before shift starts.”

When I quickly glanced at Donovan, he gave the tiniest shake of his head, which I took to mean he hadn’t told Will everything . I literally trusted my friends with my life, but Landon’s secrets weren’t mine to share, and I was already pushing it with Ori by bringing Donovan. Already, I was trying to figure out how we’d peel away from the search before the girls saw a coyote crawl out from under a rock and change into a teenager.

“I’ll be right back,” Raina said and hurried up the stairs.

“I wish you guys would stay,” I said honestly to Camille. “In my vision, something was chasing Landon. I just want you guys to be safe.” She was more reasonable than her girlfriend sometimes, but I wasn’t too surprised when she shook her head.

“We’re your friends and we love you. We’re not letting you go alone.”

When Raina returned a minute later carrying two big hunting rifles, I nearly dropped the coffee carrier I held. Logically, I knew just about everyone in the mountains kept a rifle, mostly to scare off any wild animals that got too close, but I hadn’t expected her to come down armed.

“Alright. Let’s go,” Raina said, handing one to Camille.

“Those can go in the trunk until we get there,” Donovan said, accepting that this was an argument he wouldn’t win. He locked the rifles in the trunk, then we all piled into his car and pulled out.

A few stray flakes of snow swirled around us when we arrived at the meeting place. No other car was in sight, yet Ori stood there with three other people, all of them looking quite impatient. It was plain to see that Ori wasn’t thrilled I’d brought more people, even after I whispered to him that they didn’t know. The peace offering of coffee helped a little, and all four quickly drained their cups.

When we’d pulled in, Donovan informed us that one of the men with Ori was Jean DeVor, Landon’s father. I didn’t recognize the other two, another older man and a woman roughly Donovan’s age, and they didn’t offer their names, leaving the eight of us to push our way into the trees in silence. Neither of them looked particularly comfortable with Donovan’s presence, even out of uniform, which made me think they were probably like Landon.

Even in my head, it felt so strange to think of them as shifters. That wasn’t a term I ever thought I’d use in real life. Shapeshifters and werewolves were the stuff of fiction, like the books I secretly binged at the shop. Now here I was, wandering through the woods with three of them and whatever Ori was. They’d still never told me how they were part of the mysterious community they talked about.

Donovan grabbed my arm, catching me when I tripped over a fallen log, and I put aside my deliberation of the politics of the paranormal community to focus on where we were going.

“Thanks,” I murmured, ducking my head. I could feel the judgment in the woman’s eyes without even glancing at her. The three of them were completely at ease traipsing through the frozen woods, despite only wearing light jackets more suited for a spring day. Donovan, Raina, Camille, and I were bundled up to our ears, only our eyes visible between scarves and hats.

“Did we really need them to come?” the unnamed man asked Ori, not bothering to lower his voice.

“Yes,” they replied, sounding like they’d had this discussion before. “Alex is the one who saw where your nephew is, remember?” I’d told Ori what I’d seen and they must have passed it on to the other three.

“Barely,” the man scoffed. “Telling us it’s by a ledge isn’t very helpful.”

“Excuse me, I’m standing right here. I can hear you,” I protested. “I’m doing the best I can, okay? I want to find him, too.”

“And we weren’t letting him go out alone,” Camille chimed in and Raina nodded in firm agreement.

“Everyone, can we focus?” Ori’s sharp voice cut through the mutterings of their companions. “We are going to work together to find Landon. Beyond that, I don’t care if you never speak to each other again. Now, Anjeli.” They looked at the woman. “You said you had an idea of where it might be?”

She nodded. “Possibly. My cousin had an accident as a child and the area sounds similar. It’s far off the beaten path, to the northwest quite a way. We’ll have to hurry to get there before the snow starts again.” The up and down look she gave the four of us wasn’t a kind one. She knew we would slow her down. Was she a shifter, too? Would they make better time without us? But then, what happened if she was wrong?

“Shouldn’t we be concerned about what we’ll find there?” Raina asked as the group resumed walking. “Alex said someone was chasing Landon. What if they’re still there?”

“We will deal with it,” Jean said shortly. He picked up the pace, along with Anjeli and the man. Ori kept pace with us, falling into step beside me.

“Did you have to tell them about that part?” they asked quietly. “Did you tell them everything ?”

That caught Donovan’s attention, from the way his shoulders tensed, but he kept his eyes on the trail like he hadn’t heard. Neither of us liked keeping the information from Raina and Camille, but he understood why I didn’t say anything.

“They’re my best friends and they’re following me into a potentially dangerous situation. I had to tell them something,” I whispered back.

“I appreciate that they want to be by your side, but you shouldn’t have brought them. Any of them.” Their eyes shot to Donovan and while there wasn’t quite the same level of vitriol I’d seen in the other three, Ori’s distrust shone through. Even with my assurances and Donovan’s promise, they were still wary of Donovan simply because he was a detective.

I wasn’t going to argue, though. Now wasn’t the time. “Well, they’re here, so let’s just focus on finding Landon right now, okay?”

“Fine, but once we get close, they need to leave. You, as well.”

The last I’d seen of Landon, he’d still been a coyote. His fur had hopefully been enough to protect him against the cold, so he would have been smart to stay that way. Not to mention, if the thing that hunted him lingered, that meant he hadn’t been able to change back at all. Either way, I hadn’t told my friends about that part and it wasn’t a discussion I wanted to have in the middle of the woods as the tailing edge of yesterday’s snowstorm threatened.

“Agreed. Now, can we please just focus on actually finding him?”

Ori gave the others one last look, then nodded and sped up to join their friends. The group wasn’t quite leaving us behind, but we’d have to speedwalk to keep up.

“What was that about?” Donovan asked as soon as Ori was out of earshot.

“Ori is pissed that the girls are with us. They were worried I’d told Raina and Camille the full truth. I told them I didn’t, but…” I shrugged helplessly. “Plus, they still don’t trust you.”

“Honestly, after everything I’ve been learning and the way Ori is acting, the feeling is kind of mutual.”

I couldn’t tell if he actually meant it or not, but now wasn’t the time to figure it out.

The further we walked, the more difficult the way became. Landon must have been exhausted by the time he hit the ledge after running this deep into the woods. How long had that thing been chasing him?

“Here,” Jean said suddenly from ahead of us. He’d veered off to the left and stood looking at something on the ground. The other group hadn’t gotten too far ahead of us and it only took a moment to join them, peering down at what he’d found.

I knew absolutely nothing about hunting and tracking, but even I couldn’t miss the obvious signs of something large passing through. Branches hung off bushes, torn and trampled by something large as it pushed through. From the corner of my eye, I glimpsed Anjeli lifting her head and sniffing at the air. Could she smell Landon, even as a human?

“We can take it from here,” Jean said. He didn’t even look at the four of us, as though we were beneath his notice.

“We’re not leaving until we find him.” Donovan’s tone brooked no argument, eyes narrowed as he waited for one, anyway.

“Guys,” I cut in quickly. “We’ll go with you until we find the ledge, so I can show you where he went. After that, we’ll head back. Okay?”

Jean glanced at Ori with a slight deference I hadn’t expected, and Donovan’s words echoed in my mind. Who, exactly, was Ori Castellos?

“Agreed,” Ori said.

“Very well,” Anjeli agreed before Jean and the other man could protest. She clearly didn’t like us, but at least someone in their group could be the voice of reason. Without waiting for her companions, she set off into the trees, following the trail of destruction and leaving them with no choice but to follow her.

“Let’s just hurry,” I said and followed after them. My friends had questions, and I owed them answers, but not now. Thankfully, they trusted me enough to simply follow my lead for now, but once we got back home, all bets were off.

“Hey, Alex?” Raina asked after we’d trudged about a mile through the underbrush. “You said someone was chasing this kid, right? Are you sure it wasn’t some thing ?”

My stomach dropped at the frown on her face. “What do you mean?”

“Well, my dad was into hunting and he took me out with him sometimes when I was younger. I’m not an expert by any means, but it just seems like this is a pretty wide path for a person.”

She wasn’t wrong. The trail of broken branches and slashed earth was wide enough for two people to walk abreast with a few inches to spare. No human could have made those marks in the frozen ground, either. I shuddered to think of how sharp and long the claws that made them were.

“I can’t say for sure,” I hedged. “I couldn’t see what he was running from. It was literally kind of a blur. I don’t even know how I saw that much, if I’m being honest. I didn’t even know I could do any of this.”

“It’s a good thing we came prepared, then,” Camille said, adjusting the strap of the rifle over her shoulder. “My guess would be a black bear, from the size. They’re not usually aggressive toward people, but if it was hungry or sick, it could attack someone.”

“If that’s what it was, it’s probably long gone by now, right?” Donovan asked, neatly steering them away from considerations of what else it could be. I fucking loved that man.

“Probably. Landon was smart enough to hide, from what Alex said, so a bear would’ve looked for easier prey.”

While Raina and Camille took up the job of educating Donovan on the bears so common in our area, I tuned them out and focused on where we were going. I’d only seen flashes in my vision (and even calling it that in my head just sounded so wrong), but it possibly looked familiar. All trees pretty much looked the same to me, but a few landmarks began to stand out and I realized we had to be very close. There, off to my right, was the large rock Landon had dodged as he ran. There was the gnarled root he’d tripped over.

Barely a minute later, the trees abruptly thinned out and we stood on the ledge where Landon had fallen. It was easy to see how it happened. There was no warning before it appeared and in a blind panic, running for his life, he’d never have been able to stop, even if he had seen it. This was no gentle slope, either. It looked like the land had been sheared away, leaving a vertical drop to the ground twenty feet below.

“This is it?” Ori asked, and I nodded in confirmation.

“He’s not far. This isn’t the exact spot, but it’s close to where he fell.”

“Then you can leave. We’ll handle it from here,” Jean said, a hint of a growl in his words.

“We haven’t found him yet,” Raina protested, echoed by Camille. They looked to me to join them, but so did Ori.

This was going to go over like a lead balloon.

“I promised we would leave it to them once we found the ledge,” I said to my friends, wincing in apology. “Landon is the priority, and this is his family. They’re telling us to leave. Ori will call me once they have him secured.” I glanced over at Ori, but it hadn’t been a question.

“I will,” they agreed tightly. “Now let us deal with this, please. The snow is getting worse and we need to get him home.”

I took Donovan’s hand and met his eyes, silently begging him to help me. Despite knowing what we did and that we needed to protect Landon’s secrets, I knew it was hard for him to walk away this close to the end. It went against his nature to leave when someone was still potentially in danger. His grip on my hand tightened as he wavered back and forth, but finally, he nodded.

“We’ll be waiting for that call,” he said to Ori, but he never took his eyes off me. Raina and Camille stared at the two of us in shock. They knew even less than him about any of this, and this was their first time seeing my ability in action. I could see the questions building, ready to break free, but first we had to keep our word.

“Come on. Let’s go home.”

I felt their eyes burning into my back with every step I took away from the ledge.