Chapter 1 #2
The silver gleam of the suspended droplets distracts me from my task, and I pause to examine the eerie, almost tangible strands that have suddenly invaded my garden.
They coalesce into a cloud, erasing anything beyond the property gates from my vision, and my hand cramps around the gardening scissors.
The porch light switches on.
“Max?” Kerri calls from the house.
I’ve been trained to flee first and ask questions later, but the apparition is strangely appealing and calming. The murky air lulls me into a daze. Swirls of mist dance along the skin of my arms, the gray cloud swallowing me whole.
I’m blind.
“Max, get inside!” Kerri shouts.
I jolt awake from whatever spell I’d been put under and dig the balls of my feet into the leaves, the dry crunch echoing in my ears. The sharp light of Kerri’s cell phone pierces the veil of fog, moving rapidly up and down as she runs up to me, and I stagger toward it.
“Are you alright?” she asks.
I open my mouth to speak as the mist thins just long enough for me to glimpse a tall, elongated apparition stalking toward her.
By the Darkness and all its whispers…
The thing wears no clothes, nothing to hide the emaciated silhouette of something that might have been a man, once upon a time.
An eyeless mess stands in lieu of its face, showcasing sharp and uneven angles, as if its bones were beaten into submission until nothing human remained.
A clear yellow jewel shines where its heart should be, eight curved metal insets clawing out of its thorax and holding it in place.
“Kerri!” I squeak, my pulse swirling.
The Fae narrows her eyes at the monster. “Get inside! Now!”
I spin around to find another faceless man waiting behind me, cutting off my escape path. Two other silhouettes detach from the fog. We’re surrounded by four—maybe five—of them, with who knows how many more still hidden in the mist.
The creatures don’t snarl, growl, or speak. Their mouths are sewn shut, leaving them eerily silent, their wide-flared nostrils sniffing the air, grime filling every crevice of their thick, leathery skin.
Kerri starts to shift. I haven’t seen her change forms in years, and the snaps and pops of her bones bring acid to my mouth. Soon after, a black wolf stands in her place. She extricates herself from her torn pantsuit and crouches in a defensive stance, baring her lupine teeth.
The faceless men emit a series of excited, horrible clicks in response to her sudden transformation. They’re not as fast as Kerri, but surprisingly in sync. They move as one and reach for her, textured bumps running along the joints of their fingers, the ends tipped with long, claw-like nails.
Kerri slams the one standing between us and the house to the ground, her powerful wolf jaw making quick work of its neck, but the thing doesn’t bleed. Doesn’t scream. It just goes limp, and the others prowl forward.
A newcomer cuts us off from the house, shoving me aside on his way to Kerri. I hit the ground hard, the air punched from my lungs, but none of them even glance my way. They circle her, suffering her bites with slow, careful patience, as though waiting for the right moment to seize her.
I dig my nails into the earth and crawl to my feet, grab the shovel leaning against the side of the shed, and ram it into the back of the closest monster. A low squelch echoes in my ears as the weapon pierces flesh, the skin of the monster crumbling like cardboard.
The thing collapses inward with a wet crunch and falls to its knees. I hold my breath—one heartbeat, two—but he drags himself upright again, the yellow jewel set in his chest flaring brighter. One by one, his companions turn their eyeless faces toward me.
Fuck. I’ve got their attention now.
I strike again and again, my blows landing wild and useless, until one bad swing gives the monster the opening it needs to rip the shovel from my grip.
It considers the gardening tool with a tilt of its head before snapping the shaft in two and letting the pieces fall at its feet.
Now that the shovel is out of my hands, they all return their attention to Kerri, who managed to tear a couple down, only for three more to stalk out of the mist. The way they move—surgical, perfectly trained, unfazed by the strikes—makes me think they feel no pain, no emotion, nothing beyond the cold drive to complete their task.
A desperate roar builds in my chest. “Leave her alone, you freaks! What do you even want from us?” I yell.
The wind rises, thinning the mist. A silhouette looms just beyond the iron gates, a dark shape highlighted by the golden glow of the street lamps.
A terrible bite of power—the likes of which I didn’t know existed—slithers under my skin.
It feels similar to Mabel’s magic in its all-encompassing strength, but it’s much, much colder.
And darker. The icy flare sinks deep into my chest and sparks a numbing ache.
The phantom’s clothes are torn, but a smooth, white geodesic mask covers his face and mouth, with no holes whatsoever.
“Bring the girl to me.”
The words are loud without being spoken aloud, and the glacial voice is hoarse, as though it hasn’t been used in a long, long time.
Mist presses in from all sides, seeping into my hair, my lungs, my nose—marking me as a target. It’s clear now our attackers are only acting on their leader’s orders, his proximity increasing their strength and speed.
Beyond the gates, the phantom paces the street with the impatience of someone who can’t wait to tear us apart. For whatever reason, he can’t come to us himself, so he’s playing fetch with his minions instead.
They reach for me, but I leap out of their grasp, launching myself headfirst into the overgrown plant bed.
A series of growls and whimpers tells me Kerri isn’t faring much better.
I claw at the earth, scrambling away from the gates. The snapping roots of the rare, stubborn plants I’ve spent most of my life caring for twist my stomach.
I dart between the bushes until I burst onto the limestone path leading back to the well-lit porch. I’m between Kerri and the house now, and the black wolf retreats. Lacerations in her fur ooze dark, burgundy blood.
Kerri keeps her eyes locked on our attackers as she inches backward, closing the space between us, but for every step she takes, they bridge the gap. She’s too far away.
My jaw clenches before I rip the metal rod holding up the birdhouses Nick and I painted when we were younger out of the ground. Half-mad, I charge forward to spear the monsters—anything to buy Kerri enough time to flee.
She finally spins around, but one of the faceless men detaches from the mist and sucker-punches her from behind.
Kerri’s hide melts away, revealing her human body—naked, trembling, drenched in cold sweat. The hand of the monster bursts through her abdomen, clawing its way out.
Blood sprays from her belly, pooling at her feet.
“Kerri!”
Her mouth opens, forming a big ‘O,’ before she breathes, “Run.”
A desperate cry tears out of my lungs as I spin around and run, my heart beating wildly in my throat. The creature simply…ripped her open. Just like that.
As I reach the three wooden steps leading up to the porch, long nails sink into my ankle, shackling me. I crash forward, landing flat on my face. The French doors sway in the wind, inches away.
A sickening chill washes over me. A tingling sensation tickles my toes, ankles, and knees, as though a swarm of frozen insects is crawling over my skin.
I glance over my shoulder, but there’s nothing there.
Only the monster who stopped my escape, sprawled on the ground in much the same predicament I am.
The lights in the house flicker wildly.
A nasty bruise blooms on my bottom lip as I crawl forward, dragging myself up the stairs.
The claws of the monster tear at the tender flesh of my calf.
Lady crouches into a fighting stance on the porch, hissing and roaring at my aggressor, her fur spiking.
She launches herself at the creature, raising all hells, and I break free.
Mabel always said the house was the safest place to be in a crisis. An unintelligible curse tears out of me as I push myself past my limits until my upper body crosses the threshold.
An outraged meow echoes in my ears, followed by the rush of paws thundering inside and up the stairs.
Lady tried her best.
Claws squeeze my hamstrings. I kick the grimy hand preventing me from escaping to no effect, the creature slowly dragging me back outside, inch by inch, like it’s got all the time in the worlds.
I grab the leg of a nearby display table for purchase and knock down the potted plants and heavy bronze lantern that were set on it.
The solid antique lantern is the only weapon at hand, and I ram it over the head of the faceless man. Its stained glass panels shatter, and a flash of blinding light floods the porch. The pressure on my leg relents.
White spots dance in front of my eyes, but I manage to scamper all the way inside the house.
I crawl to my feet, holding myself against the wall, eyes wide, my breaths coming in short bursts. My lips are swollen, my lower leg flayed and gushing blood, but the monster stops his approach, unable to cross the rowan threshold.
A shard of blue-stained glass from the broken lantern is embedded deep in my palm, and I wince at the depth of the cut. My heart is in tatters. The shrill whistle of the forgotten kettle anchors me back to reality, and I hobble to the stove.
The click of the gas switch shudders through me as I risk a glance back outside to where the creatures still lurk. Their faces are angled toward me, skeletal arms hanging limply at their sides, like a bunch of robots put on hold.
The phantom’s cold voice thunders in my mind once more. It doesn’t even sound remotely annoyed, just amused, as though my escape provided welcome entertainment in an otherwise easy fight.
“Come, my reavers. Bring the witch. The girl is out of our reach for now.”