Page 19

Chapter 19

Alex

P anic clawed at my heart as I fell to my knees beside Donovan. He’d gone alarmingly pale, a fine sheen of sweat coating his skin despite the freezing air.

“Donovan!”

“What happened? Is he okay?”

Raina and Camille’s panicked cries went in one ear and out the other, my sole focus on Donovan. He didn’t look at me, his eyes unfocused and his pupils blown wide. Hands shaking, I tugged at his jacket, searching for any signs of injury and finding nothing. I moved further down and I felt it before I saw it.

A jagged tear ripped through the thick fabric of his pants, high up on the back of his thigh, just out of sight. When I shifted him enough to look, I found a ragged wound slashed into his leg, oozing blood onto the snow. The edges were raw and red, the skin inflamed.

Then Ori was there, kneeling across from me, their fingers brushing the wound. They whispered a low curse, but not in any language I recognized.

“We need to get him back to town now ,” they said and for the first time, there was genuine fear in their voice.

“What’s wrong with him? It’s just a cut, right?” I whispered, pleading.

“It got him with its tail. It must have been venomous.” Ori scrambled up. “Help me get him to the car. We don’t have long.”

My heart in my throat, I stumbled up and between the two of us, we got Donovan upright. Raina and Camille led the way, rifles at the ready, but nothing came for us as we staggered to the car. We’d been so close when the thing attacked us, less than half a mile.

I was sweating by the time we made it and Donovan’s breathing had grown shallow and thready. As carefully as we could, we laid him down in the back seat and I handed Ori the keys. There was no way I could focus on the road, not now.

“My car is parked just a little ways down,” Ori said to Raina, tossing her a set of keys. “Drive it back into town and I’ll get it later.”

“No fucking way. We’re coming, too,” she snapped. Her dark skin had gone ashen with fear and tears streaked her cheeks, but she held it together.

“Fine, but we’re not waiting,” Ori said, nodding for me to get in the car.

“We’ll be behind you,” Camille called, and the two of them ran around the bend in the road to get Ori’s car. I sat backwards in the passenger seat, facing Donovan as Ori pulled out onto the road. Donovan’s eyes had gone unfocused, his blinks sluggish and heavy, growing slower every time.

“Can you help him?”

“I’ll do my best,” they said tightly. “A creature like that shouldn’t exist. I don’t even know exactly what it was, so I don’t have anything to counteract its venom specifically, but there are a few things I can try.”

Nothing else mattered, then. All the questions I’d had, the fear, everything fell to the wayside and Donovan became my sole focus. I didn’t take my eyes off him as we tore down the county roads way too quickly to be safe. I reached between the seats to steady Donovan with one hand, the other holding onto the bar above my seat. If we got in an accident, I was as good as dead, but I couldn’t turn away. If I did, I might miss a critical sign and I’d lose him.

“Nearly there.”

I didn’t know or care where we were going, only vaguely aware of trees around us, surrounding the road. Ori finally came to a stop, gently enough to not jostle Donovan, and all but flew out of the car. A few seconds later, I heard the screech of tires as Raina and Camille pulled in behind us.

“Run ahead, the door’s unlocked. Tell her we’re coming,” they ordered and the girls didn’t question them, just did as ordered.

“Donovan, you’re going to be okay,” I whispered, reaching back to stroke his damp hair off his forehead. His eyelids drooped and this time, he didn’t open them again.

“We need to get him inside,” Ori said and together, we got Donovan out. He was dead weight in our arms and his feet dragged behind him as we staggered up the steps of some kind of log cabin.

Inside was pure chaos. Raina and Camille stood by the door while a woman darted around the small house.

“Kitchen!” she ordered, her voice thick with an unfamiliar accent. She ran ahead, holding a small pillow in her hands. “Put him on the table so I can see the wound.”

Camille and Raina had to help Ori and I, but together we got him settled facedown on the table. The wound on his thigh had gotten worse during the drive. Red lines radiated from it, his jeans hiding how far they spread. Green pus clung to the deeper side and my stomach churned. I swallowed it back and averted my eyes, determined not to leave his side.

“What do we do?” I asked and even I could hear how close I was to crying.

The woman glanced at me, blue eyes shockingly bright against her dark skin. “Stay by his head and hold his hand. Stay out of our way.” She said it gently but firmly, leaving me no choice but to obey. Camille and Raina joined me, pressing against my back as I held onto Donovan’s hand.

Ori disappeared the moment we’d gotten Donovan settled and returned now with a tackle box. “I have antivenin, but it might not be enough. The tail looked like a scorpion.”

“It can’t hurt,” the woman agreed. “Slowly, though. I will try a poultice to draw out the poison.”

While she did something at the kitchen counter, throwing herbs and things I had no name for into a flowered mixing bowl, Ori pulled an IV bag, of all things, out of their tackle box.

“Alex, get his jacket off of him,” they said, eyes focused on whatever they were doing with the bag and an uncomfortably large needle.

“Pants, too,” the woman called. “There is a blanket on the couch to keep him warm and covered. Settle him and wash the wound.”

Raina steadied Donovan while I unzipped the jacket and peeled it off, trying not to jostle him. Dropping it on the floor to deal with later, I got his jeans off, wincing at how far the lines of red had spread across his leg. Donovan didn’t react at all, and his lips had taken on a blue tinge. Camille ran to the living area, coming back a moment later with a plaid blanket in her hands.

“Oh, God,” she whispered, voice shaking when she got her first look at the wound.

“He’ll be fine,” Raina said. I might have believed her if there hadn’t been tears in her eyes. Still, she took the blanket from Camille and draped it over Donovan’s hips, allowing him a modicum of modesty.

“If you have a weak stomach or hate needles, look away now. You’re not going to like this.” Ori’s firm voice cut through the fear and Raina immediately turned away. I desperately wanted to, but I refused to leave Donovan. Still, when Ori touched the needle of the IV to the side of Donovan’s neck, my stomach churned alarmingly and I had to close my eyes.

“Done,” they announced, and I hesitantly opened one eye, trying not to gag when I saw the needle inserted in the vein there.

“Why there?”

“It was that or the bottom of his foot and with antivenin, the closer to the heart, the better.” They slid the bag onto what looked like a folding tripod, modified with a hook.

“That means he’ll be fine, right? It’ll stop the poison and he’ll be okay?” I hadn’t let go of Donovan’s hand the entire time and I squeezed it tighter now, hoping for some kind of response, but his fingers were limp in mine.

“I wish I could say. I don’t know what that thing was and we’re just doing the best we can. I’m sorry.” Ori grabbed a kettle off the stove as they spoke, pouring the hot water into a basin and grabbing a cloth, immediately setting to work cleaning the wound.

“Move,” the woman said, nudging Ori out of the way with her hip as soon as they finished, the bowl balanced in one hand. The concoction within was a dark green mess of herbs and smelled like a swamp, making my eyes water. She nudged the edge of the blanket up to expose the full length of the wound. It looked a little better now that it was clean, but his skin was still red and swollen and the lines had spread down to his knee and up to the small of his back.

Without hesitation, she reached into the bowl and smeared a thick layer of the mess across the tear from end to end, then added another handful, covering it completely.

“With any luck, the poultice will draw out enough poison to allow the antivenin to neutralize the rest,” Ori murmured.

“How long will it take to know if it’s working?” I asked.

“The IV will take roughly an hour to administer. Once it’s done, we can reevaluate.” They went to a small dining table tucked against the wall and grabbed a chair, sliding it up behind me so I could sit by Donovan’s head.

“Thank you.” The adrenaline crash hit me like a tsunami, washing away every bit of energy I possessed.

“I should call Will,” Camille murmured. “I don’t know what to tell him, though.” Now that the immediate emergency had passed, she was looking a little white around the gills, shock settling in. Raina didn’t look much better, slumped against the wall and holding Donovan’s jacket.

I glanced up at Ori and found them watching me.

“They saw everything,” I confirmed, and they sighed.

“I assume Will is Detective Dodd?”

I nodded.

“And I assume he knows about you, too, and you’ll be telling him about this as well?”

I nodded again, too exhausted for more words.

With the sigh of the overwhelmingly put upon, Ori turned to Camille. “Call him and have him come here. I’ll explain once and once only. Don’t tell him Donovan was injured yet, though. No need to cause a panic.” To me, he said, “I need to get in touch with Jean and the others to make sure Landon got home safely. Then I have some calls to make about that creature. Donovan is in good hands with Lelo. Come find me if anything changes or when your friend arrives.”

They patted my shoulder, did one more quick check on Donovan’s IV, then left, leaving us alone with the woman, apparently named Lelo.

“I… I’m going to step outside and call Will. I need some air,” Camille whispered. Raina glanced at me and I nodded, knowing she wanted to support her girlfriend. She probably needed some space to breathe, as well.

Then it was just the three of us in the kitchen. Lelo busied herself with covering the half-empty bowl and washing up, leaving Donovan and me in a little bubble of silence. He hadn’t moved, his breathing still too shallow and rapid, but he didn’t seem to be getting worse. That had to be a good sign.

“You can fight this, Donovan,” I whispered, resting my head on the edge of the table beside his. “I need you to come back to me. I can’t do this without you.” I kissed the back of his hand, his skin clammy beneath my lips. “Don’t leave me alone, Donovan. I love you.”

***

An eternity passed before anything changed. Really, it was less than an hour, because the IV bag hadn’t emptied, but it felt like forever. Donovan’s breathing had settled into a more regular rhythm at last. It was still shallow, but the steady in and out lulled me into a daze once Lelo left us alone, and the sudden sound of voices was too loud after the quiet.

I recognized Camille’s voice, then a deeper voice. Will had arrived. I couldn’t make out the words, but she must have been warning him, because the sound of their footsteps halted, then one person broke away, running the short distance into the kitchen and freezing in the doorway.

Blinking tired eyes, I looked over my shoulder to see Will standing there, grasping the door frame to steady himself as he took in the sight of his partner on the table, half-naked with an IV in his neck.

“What…”

“Raina, could you grab him a chair?” I asked, and she hurried to grab one identical to mine, putting it beside me. Will crossed the two steps to the table and collapsed into it, almost as pale as Donovan.

“You guys were just supposed to help find Landon. How did this happen?” he asked faintly. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Ori promised to explain once we were all here,” Camille said. She stood behind her brother, a hand on his shoulder. She still didn’t look great herself, but she was trying to be strong for her brother. Both twins’ eyes were a little glassy with shock and in Camille’s eyes, I saw the same fear and confusion I felt in myself.

“Ori?” he repeated blankly. I’d assumed Donovan had been filling him in on everything, but I guess not. It looked like Will was the only one of our group who wasn’t up to date and if I had space for anything besides worry for Donovan, I would have probably felt guilty about that.

Thankfully, Raina and Camille gave him a quick rundown for me, basically explaining how Ori had been helping me learn to use my ability. He didn’t seem any less confused afterward and, on top of it, he was clearly overwhelmed.

“So, where are they? I’d like to know what happened to my best friend.”

“I’m right here,” Ori said as they came through the door, eyes glued to the phone in their hand as they texted someone. “And for the record? I don’t owe any of you any kind of explanation.” They sent off their message, then took a moment to look each of us in the eye. “I’ll explain, but in return, I need your word that you won’t keep digging.”

“What does that mean?” Will’s eyes narrowed, lines of tension bracketing his mouth when he frowned.

“There are people in this town with unique abilities, like Alex. Most of them prefer to have as little to do with law enforcement as possible, for reasons I hope are obvious. It means I need your word that you won’t go searching for them and digging into their private business. After all of you leave here, you will go about your regular lives and keep what you’ve learned to yourself.”

Their tone, hard and unyielding, was guaranteed to start a fight and, sure enough, Will sat up straighter, squaring himself up to argue.

“Will, please.” That got his attention on me and off Ori for a moment, at least. Maybe it was the sight of Donovan laying unconscious beside me or maybe it was Camille silently squeezing his shoulder in support, but after a tense moment, he backed down.

“Fine. You have my word,” he grumbled. Ori just waited, not saying anything, until Raina, Camille, and I also agreed. Even then, they took a moment to check Donovan’s IV bag before pulling up another chair and sitting down across from us.

“I am only telling you this because you’ve personally seen things that you shouldn’t have,” they began. “We’ve survived this long by staying hidden and telling anyone who isn’t one of us is dangerous, let alone four of you.”

I assumed they included Donovan in that number, but not me.

“I’m still not entirely sure what I saw,” Raina murmured. She held Camille’s hand so tightly her knuckles had gone white. Like Camille and Will, her face was ashen and I saw the same shocky look I’d seen in myself after a ghost encounter. They’d accepted ghosts because of me, because they loved and trusted me. Even I was struggling with this new information, though, so I shouldn’t be surprised they were, too.

As I said, there are people in this town with unique abilities,” Ori went on. “Something about this area draws us here and has for centuries. No one has been able to fully explain why, only that there’s a higher concentration of us here than anywhere else in the country. It’s always been known simply as ‘The Crossing’, until James Lowery tacked his name onto it. When the area became more settled, some of the original inhabitants withdrew deeper into the woods and the mountains, but some chose to integrate into the new community that formed.”

Despite the unholy combination of worry, fear, and exhaustion weighing me down, I found myself drawn into the story. I knew part of it already from talking to Ori before, but not the details. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Raina and Camille grab the last remaining chair and settle in to listen, with Raina in Camille’s lap.

Will, though, wasn’t inclined toward patience. “What are we talking about here? A coven of psychics living in a commune in the mountains or something?”

I couldn’t blame him for his frustration, but I still winced at how he showed it. Unlike the rest of us, he was being bombarded by all of this at once, with no time to acclimate. Camille’s steadfast belief in spiritualism and magic seemed to be helping her take this in. Over the years, her beliefs had rubbed off on Raina. They’d also seen the shifters change before their eyes and we’d all seen that monster. I had no choice but to accept it, since I was an involuntary member of this ‘other community’, and Donovan stood by me no matter what. Again, only Will had been inadvertently left out and had to deal with all this new information at once.

“Will, just let Ori tell it,” Camile murmured to her twin. “Trust me. Please?”

Will’s jaw clenched, but he nodded. “I’m sorry for interrupting,” he mumbled to Ori, who thankfully didn’t take offense. At least, not openly.

“Early on, some of those who integrated with the settlers attempted to show their true selves, usually with people they’d formed romantic relationships with.” Ori cast a quick glance at Donovan and me. “As I’m sure you can imagine, it didn’t go well and led to the persecution of the community as a whole. For the sake of simplicity, we’ll call it the paranormal community.” Their distaste for the word was obvious. “Humans fear what they don’t understand, and these people were no different. Some few chose to remain and hide who they were, while the rest found safety with those who had already hidden in the mountains. And to answer your question, Will: no, it is not a ‘coven of psychics living in a commune’.”

Will had the grace to flush, lowering his head when Ori looked at him.

“The people in the woods… they were some kind of shapeshifter,” Raina said quietly, though it sounded more like a question.

Ori nodded. “Yes, there are members of the paranormal community who are shapeshifters of varying kinds. They fully retain their human minds and thoughts when in their other form, unlike werewolves. Yes, they are real,” they said when three jaws dropped. I guess there were still a few things that could surprise Camille, after all. “They are also very dangerous. Weres have no control when the moon forces them to change and they are deadly. They are, thankfully, few in number and kept under control during the full moon to prevent them from harming others.”

“So, what was that thing that attacked us?” I asked. My voice cracked, weariness bleeding into every syllable.

“That was something I had never seen outside of a book before, which is not something that occurs often.” Ori slumped forward in the chair, resting their elbows on their knees. “I made some calls and from what I could gather, we think it was a manticore.”

“A manticore?” Will repeated faintly.

“Like from mythology?” Something about it had tickled the back of my brain, though I hadn’t realized it through the sheer terror of the fight, and now I knew why. I’d devoured mythology as a teenager, delving through old Greek myths before leaping into mythologies of the world.

“Yes. Even in the paranormal community, they’re myths. No one has ever seen one and I spoke to several people who have been around for quite a long time.” They didn’t expand on that, I noted, which made me wonder exactly how long they’d been alive. “According to the myths we found, manticore translates roughly to ‘man-eater’.”

“In the stories I read, they have scorpion tails, but they had human heads and the body of a lion,” I said with a frown. “This looked like a giant cat with lizard legs and a scorpion’s tail.”

“And those wings,” Raina whispered, swallowing hard in remembered fear. Will just looked gobsmacked, staring at us like we’d gone crazy. Maybe we had. It was starting to feel like it.

“It looked almost like someone took a manticore and added parts of a bat or something.” The word my mind wanted to supply was ‘dragon’, but that was not something I could mentally handle at the moment. “Wouldn’t that make it a chimera?”

Ori blinked, their eyes going unfocused for a moment as they thought. “You may be right,” they finally said. “Either way, no matter what it is, it shouldn’t exist, and yet it clearly does. I’ve reached out to some people who may be able to help me track it down and find out where it came from. This is where your promise comes in. Especially you, Alex.” Ori stared me down, unblinking. “I need you all to let this go. We will handle it.”

“You’re the one who helped me realize I can find more than just the dead and now you want me to not use that ability?” I protested immediately, sitting up straight. “I can help you find it before it hurts someone else!”

“That thing nearly killed all of you today. Even two strong shifters like Anjeli and Dane only survived because it was already injured. If we are unable to find it, then we can attempt to use your ability. Until then, I need you to stay clear. If it has any sort of human cognizance, there’s a good chance it will try to target you for hurting it. I’m asking you to stay safe and not draw its attention to you. You’ve seen what it can do.”

I turned back to Donovan, his hand still held securely in mine. He hadn’t moved beyond the slow rise and fall of his back as he breathed. The poultice on the back of his thigh had grown dark and a thin trickle of blood had dried on the inside of his leg. One cut from it had nearly killed him. I didn’t want to think of what would have happened if Ori and the others hadn’t arrived.

“Fine, but only if you swear you’ll let me help if you can’t find it,” I said.

“Agreed.”

“I definitely don’t want to see that thing ever again,” Raina said with a nod. Camille just nodded, as well, wrapping her arms tightly around Raina and hugging her close.

“This is insane…”

“Will, I know this is a lot to take in, but—”

“A lot to take in?” Will repeated incredulously, staring at Camille. “It’s one thing to believe in ghosts and psychics.” He stumbled over the last word, gesturing at me. “I leave you all alone for two hours and suddenly there are shapeshifters and chimeras and werewolves and who knows what else? Yeah, Cami, that’s ‘a lot to take in’.”

“We wouldn’t lie to you,” Raina said when Camille seemed at a loss for words.

“Well, you clearly haven’t had any trouble keeping things from me,” he snapped, and I flinched from the truth in his words. Without meaning to, we had been keeping things from him whenever one of us didn’t take the time to tell him what had been going on.

“No one has tried to keep anything from you. It was an accident,” Camille whispered. She reached for her twin, but he pulled away.

“That doesn’t help like you think it does.” He got to his feet and took a breath. “I’m going to call the captain and let her know Landon has been found, since I doubt any of you reported he was safe?”

“I contacted my side of the community,” Ori shrugged. They seemed unfazed by the drama unfolding in the small kitchen.

“Wonderful.” Will’s voice was drier than the desert. “I’ll let her know to call off the search. I won’t tell her the volunteers have been wasting their time wandering in a snowstorm for the last hour.”

“What are you going to tell her about Donovan?” I hated to ask, but Donovan loved his job and I didn’t want him to recover only to find he’d lost it.

“Don’t worry, I’ll come up with a good lie. Seems it’s been going around lately.” Then he was gone, the kitchen door swinging shut behind him.