Chapter 49
Chapter
Forty-Nine
Mason
Mason awoke, gasping for air, his heart crashing against his ribcage and his body covered in sweat. His skin felt like it was on fire—like he was being burned alive. A strangled cry escaped from somewhere inside of him as he began to thrash. Someone held him down, but he only fought harder. There was a voice, deep and indistinct—the words impossible to make out. But gradually it became louder, clearer, higher in pitch—until finally, he recognized it as Ama’s.
“Mason. Calm down.”
He closed his eyes and tried to tune out the internal chaos, focusing on the rhythm of his breathing. The fire fizzled out, leaving an unpleasant tingling over every inch of him. There was a twitch over to his right—Kai stirring with a groan, though the girl was still unconscious. Kai’s eyes shot open, and he sat up, his hand unlocking from Miya’s just as Mason let go as well. They looked at each other, then doubled over, lurching to the side and vomiting violently. Both men were shaking, their fingers digging into the cracks of the floorboards.
“What the hell?” Mason hacked as he spat out the acrid taste in his mouth.
“It’s all right,” Ama said, rubbing his back. “When you let go of her hand, the connection between the three of you was severed a little too quickly. Your bodies are just catching up.”
Mason took a deep breath and nodded, staring at the adjacent wall as he recuperated.
Kai also finished emptying the contents of his stomach, plunking back and breathing heavily. Only then did they notice that Miya wasn’t moving.
“What’s wrong with her?” Kai asked as he cast Ama an accusatory glare.
The woman with white hair knelt next to the comatose girl and placed a hand on her forehead. Mason joined her, checking her vitals to ensure she was at least physically unharmed.
“She’s stable,” he told them. “I don’t know why she’s not waking up.”
“She’s lost,” said Ama, standing up again. “Don’t move her,” she warned as Kai stepped forward to pick her up. “Her body needs to remain undisturbed if she is to find her way back.”
“Why did we wake up then?” Kai demanded. “Aren’t we anchoring her?”
“She’s gone far deeper than I expected,” Ama replied. “At this point, she has no anchor. She’s doing this all on her own.”
For the first time, Mason saw concern crack through Kai’s stony facade.
“And what if she can’t get back?” Kai asked tightly.
“We have bigger things to worry about right now,” Ama replied, her head snapping towards the window.
Kai kissed his teeth and strode over to her, keeping flush with the wall as he peeked outside.
“Fuck, they’re back.”
“It’s because you left those bodies outside,” Ama sighed, her callousness unnerving Mason.
“I wasn’t going to bury them,” Kai barked. “It’s not like they’re dead.”
Their argument was cut short by a knock on the door.
“Open up, or we’ll burn the whole place down!” a man shouted. The threat seemed disproportionately severe, sinking Mason’s heart as the worst-case scenario unfolded in his mind. Mob mentality was in full effect.
Mason looked at Ama and Kai, both of whom were glaring at each other unflinchingly. After several moments of complete stillness, Ama moved towards the door and opened it. Outside were about half a dozen villagers, all sporting guns, crowbars, axes, and baseball bats.
“Whose property is this?” demanded the leader. He was at least six feet tall and built like a grizzly bear, his arms crossed over his chest as he peered down at Ama. She was no taller than five foot six, yet she glowered at him like a brewing thunderstorm.
“You’re not wearing a badge, nor do you have a warrant,” she replied coolly. “I’m not obligated to entertain your vigilantism.”
The man faltered, clearly not having expected her to defy him. “We’re looking for—”
“Jesus Christ! Jake! That’s him!” It was the axe-wielding logger whose friend lost an ear.
The leader, Jake, quickly glanced around the room, his eyes first landing on Mason. “This guy, Ryan?”
“No!” Ryan shouted, squeezing himself next to Jake so he could see inside the cabin. “The one in the corner!”
He was referring to Kai, who was standing protectively in front of Miya.
Jake quickly unstrapped the rifle from his back and pushed past Ama, roaring at Kai, “So you’re the freak who’s been messing up our town!”
“He’s the Dreamwalker’s!” Ryan pleaded. “I saw his eyes flash red, man! He’s not human!”
“You piece of shit,” Jake muttered as Mason froze, watching with bated breath as the bear-like man raised his rifle. But before he could aim, Ama grabbed hold of the gun with an iron-like grip and pushed the butt of the weapon straight into the man’s chest. He tried shaking her off only to find himself overpowered, the rifle’s stock digging deeper into his torso.
“You’re not welcome here,” she spoke in a low growl and bared her teeth at the intruder.
“She’s one of them too!” a woman shouted from the crowd outside. “They’re all wolves!”
Panic seized Mason as the villagers stormed through the door. They flooded into the cabin like a black swarm, their eyes wild. Without rhyme or reason, they raised their weapons and began swinging at anything that came up in front of them. They smashed the table, threw the chairs at the walls, and pounded at the cupboards with their crowbars and axes. Even the men with guns appeared to have forgotten how to use them, batting them around like cavemen with sticks.
Mason ducked, a glaring light alerting him to a flashlight being thrown at his head. He fell to the ground as someone struck him hard on the back, nearly knocking the wind from his lungs. Concerned Miya would get caught in the crossfire, he turned towards her prostrate form, only to find Kai locking one of the villagers in a vicious chokehold.
“Behind you!” Mason yelled as someone jumped on Kai.
But the man with wolf’s blood was a force of nature. He stood with his attacker dangling from his back, lifting him off the ground and flipping him over his shoulder with little effort. The villager leapt up again, but Kai was quicker. A flash of silver emerged from the back of Kai’s belt—a hunting knife—pristine for only a split second before it was plunged into his attacker’s leg. Kai tore the blade through the man’s thigh, bringing him to his knees. His eyes glowed with an eerie red hue as he stared his victim down, the murderous aura around him almost palpable.
Mason was transfixed until something whirled right by his face again. Ama had thrown one of the crowbars right past Mason’s nose to take out one of the nearby rioters. He felt utterly incompetent, useless as he scrambled about. If not for Ama, he would have been attacked.
The madness was louder than the screaming. Ama had levelled several people, but more kept trickling in—reinforcements who’d heard the commotion. There was no end to them, and the more Kai and Ama fought to protect Miya’s unconscious body, the more chaotic the townspeople became.
Only then did Mason notice it was hard to breathe; the smell of smoke assaulted him, his lungs filling with noxious fumes. He looked around, but everything was swirling in fog. He felt sick to his stomach, the burning odour overpowering as he searched for its source. Mason gasped as he struggled to get back to his feet. He focused his attention on Miya, wanting desperately for her to wake from her otherworldly coma. But what he saw when he looked her way had him stumble back and trip over one of the concussed villagers. He fell onto his behind, his breaths quick and raspy as he tried to make sense of what he was perceiving.
There, in front of him, was a girl in the midst of flames.