Chapter 28
Halloween — Part Three
“What did you do?”
Those words barely slipped out before every primal instinct bubbling just below my consciousness pulled at me to run, just as Mosavi had warned. It didn’t matter where, but running was all I could think about as the terrible aura smothered me from all directions.
“You came. It’s my big night,” he said, his voice now normal again, though much deeper. “I can do what you do now, but I can do it better.” He turned to Austin, gently raking his claws down the werewolf’s chest. “Tell me what I want to hear.”
Instead of glowing silver, his eyes turned solid white. Austin cried out in pain. He tried to speak but only managed a whine.
“Oh well. I guess he doesn’t need to talk anymore.”
“You’re hurting him!” I shouted, stepping closer.
“What are you talking about? I’m making him happy. This is what he wanted you to do to him. Remember?”
“Not like this. Have you lost you’re fucking mind?” I pointed to the huge werewolf, now hanging sprawled on the cross. “Get him down from there!”
“He likes the pain.” He looked up at Austin. “Don’t you?”
Austin nodded reluctantly before turning away.
“We need to go,” I whispered as rustling danced from tree-to-tree beyond the light of the fire. I held out a trembling hand to Adam. “Please.”
“It’s so peaceful out here.” His voice was no longer his own, rather the multitude of crone-like chanting I’d heard earlier. “Do you not feel at peace?”
I took a step back, but the werewolf took two steps forward until I felt the heat from his body.
“They want this,” the voices said. “One wants power and the other wants to be free from the prison of his past. We’re not evil, Cody. We only want to give those gifted with our master’s essence a life of bliss.”
“That’s not how this works, and I’m not stupid enough to believe in a life of bliss. It always comes at a price.” I clutched the stone I’d taken from Roscoe earlier and cautiously stepped toward the cross, hoping whatever this was could protect me.
“Don’t touch him,” Adam shouted in his own voice as he lunged forward, pinning me to the ground. “They want to help us.”
“No, they don’t. They don’t care about us. They just want to use us.”
He traced his hand down my arm until sharp claws scraped against my numb fingers. “They can’t welcome us when you’re holding that.”
So that’s why they hadn’t come out of the shadows. It seemed as though Adam’s body acted as a barrier protecting them from whatever magic was in this stone.
“Get off me,” I shouted, struggling, but werewolf Adam was a lot stronger.
“Come on,” he whispered in my ear, his tongue sliding along my neck as he tried to pry my fingers open. He was no longer gentle, claws stabbing into the flesh of my hand. I cried out, but that didn’t faze him. He seemed almost hollow—like a doll. “They just want to meet you.”
It didn’t matter how much this hurt—I couldn’t let go. Even though he spoke in his own voice, he was obviously under their control. I struggled to calm my thoughts, but the vironoct was harder to use under pain and distress. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t clear my mind.
“I could rip your hand off, Cody,” Adam said with a sickening smile. “I could do it easily now.”
“Then don’t,” I pleaded, still struggling for control. “Do you really hate me that much?”
There was a momentary flash of amber in his eyes, and his ears flattened against his head. It didn’t last; his eyes regained their bloody appearance.
“I despise you,” he snapped, removing his hand from mine before raking his claws across my face, slicing into my left cheek. “Everyone loves Cody, and everyone treats me like the kid who’s in the way.”
“I’ve tried to be your friend, but you’re the one that always fucks it up!”
“You didn’t even want me to live with you. I’m just a pest, aren’t I?” He leaned in until his snout touched my nose, his sharper teeth grazing my skin. “I’m not pesky little Adam anymore. I bet I could make you my pet, too.”
Adam jerked as the witches tried to wrest control.
“Stop telling me what to do,” he shouted at nothing, his eyes turning pure white like they did earlier. “Be my pet, Cody.”
An obvious weakness opened up, and I was finally angry enough to exploit it.
Whatever magic he gave off did the opposite of what he expected.
It only heightened my senses and resolve.
The world around me turned silver as the vironoct finally surfaced.
Adam was a werewolf now, and even with whatever power they’d given him, he had no defense against it.
A death-like chill rushed in from the wind around me, and screams echoed through the trees, as Adam’s eyes faded to an empty blue.
“Ingratus! Wretched!”
“Untie Austin,” I said calmly, pushing Adam away.
“We won’t let you leave.”
The crow-like voices screamed louder in my head and all around.
“You’ll never find your way without us. These woods are ours.”
“Shut up!” I screamed, grabbing handfuls of hair as Adam freed each of Austin’s limbs.
“Let us help. Let us please you. Any wish we will grant.”
Though I held tightly to the stone, it did little to silence what had taken residence in my head. The brush rustled even louder from all around us where the light of the flames couldn’t reach, and all the sounds melded into a familiar voice I hadn’t heard in years.
“A real mother would never abandon her child to a cold and heartless world.”
Though my own mother would have never used those words, the way she spoke was so convincing, like a knife through the heart. There was nothing I could do but bear the full brunt of their manipulation while struggling to hold onto my resolve.
“My sweet baby boy. I know I’ve made mistakes, but nothing you could ever do would make me love you less.”
Tears streamed down my cheeks as Adam and Austin stared, eager for my next order.
“Come on,” I said, waving them after me. “Stay close.”
“I watched you grow into a handsome young man. I’m so proud of you.”
The more she spoke, the more everything around me dissolved into a dream-like void. That voice wasn’t my mother’s, but I wanted it to be.
We wandered farther from the fire before the embers disappeared.
The trees heaved as though they were breathing, but I put one trembling leg in front of the other.
As long as I held the stone, the witches couldn’t get me, and if the vironoct didn’t break, they couldn’t manipulate Adam.
That was what I was most afraid of, and I kept glancing back to make sure he was still following.
“I’d never let the world hurt you. You’re safe in my arms.”
Every step was like walking through a waist-deep mire, the ground sapping what little strength I had. Ahead, a gentle purple glow caught my eye. It flitted and sparkled, and a slender, womanly figure emerged from it.
“Stay with me, Cody. Don’t leave me all alone in the cold forest. Don’t abandon me.”
There was genuine terror in her voice as I drew closer to the source of the light. She didn’t want me to see it, or was this a trick? I slowed my pace and looked back at the blackness. The trees had morphed, reshaping and melting as though made of liquid.
“Cody,” Willa’s voice called out from the light.
“Come home.”
The woods took the shape of a cozy cottage I didn’t recognize and the silhouette of a woman with flowing hair welcomed me with open arms.
“Come home, Cody.”
A hand fell on my shoulder, and I screamed.
“It’s me, dear,” Willa whispered, taking my hand. “We need to get to the beacon now before it disappears.”
“Our fallen sister will lead you to destruction.”
My feet didn’t move. It became harder for me to trust my own senses. Was this really her, or was it another hallucination?
“What do you see?” Willa asked.
“My mother,” I said, wiping away the tears.
“Throw the stone at the vision.”
“They’ll get me.”
“Not if we run,” she said, shaking me out of my stupor.
“But I can’t pull you all out of here while you hold it.
It affects me just as much as it does the coven.
” She looked back at Adam and Austin. “Tell them to run to the light, and when you throw the stone, follow them and don’t look back, no matter what you hear. ”
I nodded, pointing to the way ahead. “Both of you run.”
Without a word, they sprinted ahead, and I reared back, ready to throw the stone.
“Cody…”
The voice let out a heartbreaking cry.
“I’m so sorry for everything.”
“Throw it!” Willa shouted. “You have to throw it!”
I squeezed my eyes shut and tossed the magic stone at the vision, and I heard my mother scream before the forest collapsed inward.
“Come with me, quickly.” Willa’s voice brought me back, and she pushed me forward. I nearly tripped over my feet as I scrambled toward the fading purple beacon in the distance.
“You’re hurting me. Please look at me.”
I started to turn, but Willa pushed me again.
“Don’t look back,” she shouted while more of the forest collapsed inward, hounding our steps like a crumbing bridge. As the light grew brighter, I flew into nothing. Time froze, and I floated through a formless, silent void.
Everything returned to normal when I hit the ground hard, the impact knocking the wind out of me.
“Aw shit,” Roscoe said, pulling me to my feet with his massive hands. “Are you okay?”
After catching my breath, I nodded. “Where’s Willa?”
“Right here,” she said from behind without even a hint of breathlessness. “That was impressive control.”
“What do you mean?”
“The way you resisted their calls. Not many can do that, especially on the full moon.”
“They almost got me,” I said, my breathing returning to normal. “They’re in my head.”
“Not anymore.” Willa tapped against something invisible at first, but it rippled with violet light similar to a rock falling into a pond.
“Cody?” Adam said, touching his face with his hands, almost shocked that he was a werewolf now.
“We’re okay,” I said, turning to Austin, who hadn’t returned to normal. “I’m letting you go. We’re not doing this to you anymore.”
He didn’t respond.