Chapter 16
Monday Evening, January 10th
Harper stared out the window at the blowing snow and the mass of dark shapes beyond it. Most of the shapes crouched on all fours, but some of them walked on two legs. Occasionally, the light from the outdoor lights of the house would glint off of something among the shapes, and Harper knew that the light was glinting off of the metal of weapons. His sense of dread deepened.
“There are so many of them,” Cole said standing next to him.
Harper turned to face his nephew and asked him, “Can you see them? I mean, can you see details?”
Cole looked at his uncle and nodded. Harper heard some of the others stand up from the couch and move toward the window. He ignored them for a moment as he looked back outside. His vision was far sharper than most humans, but even he could only see a few of the shapes in detail.
“How many do you see outside, Cole?” he asked as he looked at his nephew again.
Cole scanned the darkness for a moment before he answered, “I see thirty of the demons, and another twelve that look human.”
“Forty-two of them?” Tina whispered from the couch.
Harper looked back at the couch and saw that she was still sitting on the couch with Billie and Louis, who had both fallen asleep. The last he had noticed, they had both been wide awake, but that was the way of young children. They could fall asleep in almost any situation.
“Don’t worry, Tina,” Harper said to her with a reassuring smile. “The entire house is protected by powerful spells. There’s absolutely no way that they can break through them, which is why they’re just standing there and not attacking.”
“Are you sure that they can keep so many away?” Tina asked quietly. She didn’t want to wake either of the children.
“I’m positive,” Harper said. “My sister placed many of the spells around the house, and I added many more when I first moved in.”
Jason moved over to sit next to Tina on the couch. He put his arm around her and she leaned against him. “He’s right, Tina,” Jason told her. “I saw the symbols when we drove up to the house tonight. They’re everywhere.” He never would have admitted such a thing just a few hours before, but considering everything that had happened that night, he didn’t see any point in keeping it to himself. And he wanted to reassure Tina.
“But it also means that we’re trapped,” Tina said as she looked around at everyone.
“And it means that dad will have to get through them when he comes home,” Vaughan said as he stood next to Dinah.
Dinah reached over and put her arm around her younger brother’s shoulder. “He’s right, Uncle Harper. How are we going to warn dad? Did you get a hold of him earlier?”
Harper shook his head, “No, I tried calling him twice and it went straight to voicemail.”
“Did you try calling Larry’s cell phone?” Dinah asked.
Harper looked back at her with a blank expression on his face. “To be honest, I never thought of that,” he said sheepishly. He knew that he must have been preoccupied if such a simple alternative had slipped his mind.
Harper pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Larry’s number. It rang twice before it was picked up.
“Yes, Larry, it’s me,” Harper answered after a second. “Larry, I’ve been trying to get in touch with Jeremiah, but he’s not answering his cell phone. Is he near you?”
Harper waited for a moment before continuing, “I’m sorry to bother you at work, brother. But something’s happened and we need you at home.” He was quiet again before he said, “Jeremiah, you must not come home alone. Please just trust me on this. Bring as many of your fellow agents as you can.”
Cole could hear his father’s voice through the phone. He was clearly worried and trying to get more information from Harper.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to discuss this on the phone,” Harper answered after another brief silence. “Jerry, please. I would never ask such a thing unless it was important. Just come home as soon as you can, and don’t come home alone.”
The children couldn’t remember ever hearing their uncle refer to their father as Jerry. They could hear the earnestness in Uncle Harper’s voice and they hoped their father had heard it too.
Harper paused again before smiling slightly, “Thank you. We’ll see you soon.”
He hung up the cell phone and looked up to see everyone looking back at him, though Louis and Billie were still fast asleep. “They’re in Colorado Springs, but they’ll head back here now. With the storm, it will probably take several hours.” He looked out the window again for a moment before turning back around. “We’ll just sit tight until then and try to get some rest.”
There were nods from everyone, and Dinah and Vaughan moved over to sit on one of the loveseats. Cole remained standing and seemed to be considering something. He moved over to stand next to his uncle, with his back to the rest of the group.
“Uncle Harper,” Cole said quietly enough that the others couldn’t hear him. “Should we get some things together, just in case we have to leave in a hurry?”
“That’s a good idea, Cole,” Harper answered. With the severity of the storm, there was a chance that they could end up trapped in the van. It was best to have adequate supplies against such a possibility. “I’ll get some food and water into the van. Can you gather up some warm clothes for everyone? There should be a few extra jackets for Jason and Tina in the hall closet.”
Cole nodded and then left the family room. Harper told the others that he would be in the kitchen before walking from the room. He began gathering the things he thought they would need and then walked into the garage and started loading them into the van. Just as he had loaded the last of the water in through the sliding rear door, he heard a strange scratching noise. He closed the door and listened, but it seemed to have stopped. He waited for a moment more to see if the sound would return, but there was nothing other than the usual assortment of noises that a garage made. The wind continued to howl outside and he wondered again if the storm would stop anytime soon. He decided that he would check the evening news to see what the weather forecast said about the storm.
He heard the clicking of nails on concrete and turned around to see Aidan standing behind him. She watched him for a moment and then turned her head suddenly to stare at a corner of the garage. Harper looked in the same direction, but could hear and see nothing. After a few seconds, Aidan turned around and left the room.
Harper walked back through the kitchen after Aidan and into the family room just as Cole was bringing the last of the winter clothes from the hallway. He had piled everything on the empty love seat and Harper was satisfied that there was more than enough for everyone to keep warm if they had to leave suddenly. He hoped again that there would be no need for either the clothing or the food, but Cole was right – they needed to be prepared. The one thing that reassured him was the power of the spells that covered every inch of the home’s exterior. Nothing could break through them. He was sure of that.
He used the remote control to turn the channel on the TV. He recognized the heavyset man as one of the local weathermen. The man explained that the storm was one of the most powerful they had seen in years and was expected to dump several feet of snow during the next twelve hours. Their list of alternative courses of action was shrinking rapidly, which made him even more thankful for the security of the house.
Harper started to wonder if asking his brother-in-law and Larry to come home was such a good idea. Even if they brought every agent in the Denver office with them, the demons were likely to outnumber them. And the boldness of their attacks made Harper wonder if they would care about attacking such a large group of humans in plain sight. The Ambrose house was in such a remote location that the chances of there being any witnesses – at least any who could escape and say something about the demons – remote. He might be placing all of those pe
ople in mortal danger. And there really was no immediate need to leave the house, since it was so well protected.
Harper decided that it was a better idea to stay at the house overnight and see if the weather cleared up the next day. The demons were not overly fond of the daytime, and it might be easier to escape when the sun was out. And he did not want to place Jeremiah, Larry, or any other humans in danger if he didn’t have to. He looked over at the crowded couch and love seats. He had already placed enough people in harm’s way.
He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Jerry’s cell phone number. He held it to his ear, but there was no sound on the other end – no ringing, nor the sound of his voicemail. There was just nothing. He looked at his phone in confusion. There appeared to be a signal, but nothing was happening. He tried dialing Larry’s cell phone, but the result was the same - nothing.
“Tina, Jason, do either of you have your cell phones with you?” Harper asked.
They both looked at him in confusion, but Jason nodded. Tina shook her head, “No, I forgot mine on my desk.”
“Jason, can you see if you can make a call?” Harper asked.
Jason nodded, “Sure. Who do you want me to call?”
Harper walked over to the window as he answered, “Anyone. I just want to see if it works.” He pulled the curtain back and looked outside. The snow and wind had not diminished at all. And beyond the snow and wind, the waiting forms of the demons stood or crouched. It didn’t appear as if they had moved at all. They didn’t need food like humans or even the Aes Sidhe did. He knew they could wait forever, if they had to.
“I can’t get a call to go through,” Jason said in confusion. He looked over at Tina, who stared back at him with concern. “Do you normally have a signal out here?” Jason asked Harper.
Harper turned back around and faced Jason, “Yes, there are normally no reception problems. But my phone doesn’t work either.” He walked over to the house phone that sat on one of the end tables and picked it up. He pressed the button to turn it on and held it to his ear. There was no sound on the other end, not even static. It was dead. “It looks like the phone line to the house has been cut,” Harper said. He didn’t mention that this was the second time in less than a week that such a thing had been done. “And it appears that something is blocking our cell phone signals.”
“But how can they do that?” Tina asked. “Is it some form of magic?” She leaned in closer to Jason on the couch and pulled both Louis and Billie closer to her.
The two youngest children continued to sleep and Harper wondered if there was anything that could wake them, considering how tired they had to have been. Sometimes he envied humans and their ability to sleep. To be able to shut the world out completely for even an hour or two would have been a welcome respite at that moment.
“I’m not sure how they’re doing it,” Harper answered as he moved over to the chair and sat down. “But I’m more worried about what this means. If they’ve cut off our communication, it might mean that they’re going to attack.”
“But you said that they can’t break through the spells around the house,” Jason said with worry.
Harper shook his head, “They can’t, but it doesn’t mean that they won’t try.” The fact that they might try to attack the house still did not concern him. The protective spells were layered so deeply that he knew that there was no way through them. And he knew that the demons had to have seen the spells and come to the same conclusion. So the question remained – why would they attack the house?
“What was that?” Cole asked suddenly. He was staring in the direction of the door down to the basement. Cody and Aidan both stood up from the family room floor and stared in the same direction.
“What was what?” Jason said in confusion. “I didn’t hear anything.”
Harper hadn’t heard anything unusual, but he guessed that Cole’s hearing was more sensitive than his. And the fact that Aidan and Cody had both heard something from the same direction made it likely that Cole hadn’t been mistaken.
“It’s coming from the basement,” Cole said as he stood up. He looked over at Dinah and Vaughan, but they shook their heads in unison. They hadn’t heard it either. “It sounds like a scratching sound.
Cody and Aidan both moved to the door leading down to the basement and stared at it with their heads tilted to the side, clearly listening for something. Cole moved over and stood behind them and cocked his head to the side, as well. If the situation had been less dire, the scene would have been funny. Cole looked like he was the leader of some strange pack.
Cole looked back at his uncle with a confused look on his face, “There it is again, Uncle Harper. It’s definitely coming from the basement.”
Harper walked over to the door and listened, but he still couldn’t hear anything.
“Harper?” Tina asked with concern.
Harper shook his head, but continued to stare at the door leading to the basement. “I’m sure it’s nothing, Tina,” he said to her as he tried to hear what his nephew was hearing. “Cole, I don’t hear anything.” But the dogs were hearing something too. “What does Cody say it sounds like?” he asked his nephew.
Cole stared at Cody for a moment and then nodded, “He thinks it sounds like a scratching sound, too. Well, he actually said it sounds more like digging.”
“Digging?” Harper asked in confusion. “From the basement? Why would there be…?” And suddenly Harper was filled with alarm. “Cole, come with me,” he said as he opened the door and ran down the stairs, followed closely by Cole, Cody and Aidan.
Harper flipped on the lights and listened. He thought that he heard something faintly like the sound that Cole had described, but he couldn’t determine its source.
“Where is it coming from?” Harper asked Cole.
Cole pointed to a storage shelf that stood up against the far wall, “It’s coming from behind that shelf.”
Cody and Aidan moved slowly over to the shelf and stood in front of it. Their ears were held back against their heads and both of them were crouched down as if they were hunting. Low growls erupted from both of their throats as they stared at the exact spot at which Cole had pointed.
Harper walked over to the shelf and as he neared it, he could hear the unmistakable digging sound and now he could hear that it was coming from behind the wall. He thought of what could be on the other side of the wall, and realized that it was the side of the house on which the tool shed lay. It was the same shed where he had found Cole just a few nights before. He thought of what was in that tool shed, which was like any other tool shed that you would find outside of just about any house in America. But there was one thing in there that was not so common. Under a metal plate in that shed was something that had been there since the old farmhouse that had stood where the Ambrose house now stood more than one hundred years before. It hadn’t been used in decades, but it was still there.
“The old well,” Cole whispered, as if giving voice to Harper’s thoughts. “They must have dug toward the house from the well.” Cole looked over at his uncle with huge eyes, “Were there any spells placed around the tool shed?”
“No,” Harper whispered. He looked over at Cole with a grim expression, “We need to get out of the house - now.”
The digging sound grew louder and more frantic and both dogs started barking loudly at the spot where it was coming from.
“Let’s go!” Harper shouted as he ran for the stairs.
Cole and the two dogs followed closely after him. When Harper reached the top of the stairs, he locked the door after the others had passed him. He knew that it was a hollow gesture. The locked door would be nothing to the strength of the demons.
“Get them in the van, Cole!” Harper shouted as he ran to his bedroom.
He could hear voices raised in question, but he knew that Cole would get everyone in to the van as quickly as possible. When he reached his bedro
om he ran to the closet and pulled a worn walking stick out from the very back of it. He ran back toward the garage and was relieved to hear the entire group piling in. He made a quick stop to grab the stick that was his weapon from the family room. As he passed the door to the basement, he heard a loud crashing sound come from the other side. They had broken through.
He ran into the garage just as Jason was climbing in and Cole was belting himself in to the front passenger seat. Harper leaned in through the sliding rear door and handed the walking stick to Vaughan. As Vaughan stared at it in confusion, the walking stick became a sword in a scabbard. A strap ran the length of the scabbard, which Vaughan slipped over his head so that it ran across one shoulder. His eyes were huge when he looked back at his uncle, but Harper could tell that he knew why he had been given it.
“Just in case,” Harper said reassuringly. Vaughan nodded in response.
Harper closed the sliding door and ran around to the driver’s side as Cole pressed the button to open the garage and started the engine. Harper climbed into the driver’s seat as the engine roared to life and the garage door climbed. As it opened, the wind began blowing snow into the garage. When it had opened completely, several shapes resolved themselves through the glare of the headlights and the motion lights that shone along the driveway. Nearly a dozen demons stood crouched there, facing the garage and blocking the driveway completely. They stood back ten to fifteen yards from the house, but none of them approached.
Harper looked over to the side of the driveway and thought that he saw three people standing there, and they weren’t dressed in the uniform black suits that the demons preferred. But the blowing snow made it difficult to make out any details. Suddenly, one of the demons crouched in the driveway ran toward the garage with a roar that was deafening. It hurtled toward them and Cole flinched as it jumped at the van. But just as it crossed the threshold of the garage, a bright flash of light momentarily blinded him. When he was able to focus again, the demon was gone, and all that remained was a cloud of greasy black soot that mingled with the blowing snow.
Cole looked over at his uncle, and he could see the indecision on his face. He didn’t want to leave the powerful protection of the house, but they both knew that the protection no longer existed. As if on cue, Cole heard the crashing sound of the door to the basement being forced open.
“They’ve broken through the door to the basement, Uncle Harper,” Cole said softly. He was surprised at how calm he sounded. “We have to drive through the ones out there.”
Harper exhaled loudly and nodded. “Everyone hang on!” he shouted before slamming the gas pedal to the floor.
Dinah heard the engine roar just as a shattering noise erupted behind her. She looked back to see the door from the kitchen exploding and a mass of black fur hurtling through.
“Get down!” Dinah yelled as she leaned over and covered Billie and pulled Tina over Louis. Glass exploded a split-second later and Dinah felt the van shudder as it pulled from the garage. She knew that the demon that had come through the door had hit the van. She felt something whoosh over her head and when it passed, she looked up and saw a demon holding on to the rear bumper. It snarled at her as it drew its arm back to make another swipe. She made eye contact with it just as the van left the garage and then the demon exploded in white light as it crossed the protective spells that surrounded the house.
When her eyes cleared a second later, she saw several more demons standing in the garage, howling in frustration. They couldn’t follow them, or they would be destroyed by the same spells that had killed their companion. She felt the van shudder again and saw similar masses of black fur flying along either side of the van as Uncle Harper plowed through the ones blocking their path and then sped along the snow-covered driveway. The wheels struggled to gain purchase on the slippery surface, but he somehow managed to keep the van on its course.
The van tore down the driveway as the wind tried to push it to the left, but Harper kept it on its course as it gained speed. He wanted to put as much distance between them and the demons before he had to slow for the turn on to the main road. He could feel the tension from everyone and he was sure that the wind howling through the shattered rear window was only adding to it. The cold air quickly filled the van and he was grateful that they had all dressed warmly. He turned the heater on to its highest setting, hoping that it could counteract the freezing wind.
They were nearing the end of the driveway and Harper slowed the van in response. Something moved to the right of the driveway and he looked over in that direction. At first, he was confused, since it looked like a portion of the sky was moving toward them in the blowing snow.
“Uncle Harper, look out!” Cole screamed as the shape resolved itself into a falling tree.
It was one of the large pine trees that stood next to the driveway where it met the road. And it was falling across their path. Harper slammed his foot down on the brakes and felt the anti-lock system shudder as it tried to slow the car. He knew that they wouldn’t be able to stop in time, so he turned the steering wheel to the left, hoping to go around it. The tree fell with a loud shudder and an explosion of snow. Harper felt the van respond to his frantic commands and it looked like they were going to just barely clear the top of the tree. But a loud scratching sound erupted under the right front wheel as it climbed the branches there. A louder bang hit right after and the right side of the van lifted as it hit the tree’s trunk. The rear of the van continued its original path and the vehicle spun as it cleared the tree.
Harper hoped that the spin would slow enough for him to regain control, but at that moment his worst fear happened. The van continued its tilt to the left side and passed the point where it could have tilted back. It fell over on its left side and all of the windows there exploded in a spray of glass, snow and dirt as the van slid on its side along the ground. Harper heard multiple screams and tried to remember if everyone had been belted in.
The horror of the crash continued for what seemed like minutes, but what Harper knew had to be only seconds. When the van finally came to a stop, he looked over to his left and saw the ground where his window had been. When he looked to his right, he saw Cole leaning toward him as his seat belt kept him in place. He looked terrified, but otherwise okay.
“Is everyone okay?” Harper yelled to the rest of the group.
He heard a chorus of yesses and counted them to confirm that everyone had answered. “Okay, we’ve got to get out of here,” Harper said. He worried that the collision with the tree had ruptured the fuel tank, which would make fire a very real danger. “But be careful unbuckling your seat belts. And watch out for glass.” He unbuckled his seat belt and helped Cole to get out of his seat. He looked back and saw Vaughan climbing along the left side of the van and out the back window as the others unbuckled their own belts.
Vaughan climbed out the back window, but something caught along its edge as he passed the frame. He looked back in confusion and saw that it was the hilt of the sword. He leaned down and freed it before slipping through the broken window and out into the snow. The wind had diminished to a slight breeze, but the snow continued to fall in fat flakes.
He stood up and looked back at where the tree lay across the driveway. He scanned along its length to where its base met what he thought was the stump from which it had been ripped. The snow fell so heavily that he couldn’t make out what could have caused it to fall. But then several shapes appeared in the snow and he knew the answer to his unspoken question. The demons approached slowly, and Vaughan counted five of them. They must have brought the tree down, since it was a healthy tree and would not have fallen over from the wind. He looked back at the van and saw the windshield fly forward. Cole and Uncle Harper climbed out before reaching back to help the others out. He saw Dinah climb out of the shattered rear window and knew that she would help some of the others from that side. And he knew that they were all sitt
ing ducks for the approaching demons.
Vaughan looked back at his uncle and their eyes met. Harper looked along the tree and saw the approaching demons. And when his eyes met his nephew’s again, he knew what Vaughan intended.
“Vaughan, no!” Harper screamed as he saw his nephew turn and run toward the demons.
“Get them out of here!” Vaughan yelled as he turned away from the van.
Vaughan ran toward the approaching demons and saw them fan out to meet him. He was surprisingly calm as he closed the distance between them and picked the one that he would attack first. He knew from fighting them before that he had the advantage of speed, but he had no idea if he would be effective with the weapon that his uncle had given him. He guessed that there was only one way to find out.
Vaughan ran straight at the demon in the center and he saw it crouch down to meet him as the others moved to surround him. Just as he reached the first demon, he fell to his knees and slid along the ground between it and the demon to its left. As he passed between them, Vaughan reached back, pulled the sword from its scabbard and swept it at the midsection of the demon to his left. He felt it pass effortlessly through its arc and at first he wondered if he had missed. He stopped his slide and got back to his feet and turned around to see the demon he had attacked fall to the ground.
The sword glowed brightly and he noticed for the first time how right it felt in his hands. It felt like it was an extension of his arm and its weight was almost nothing. He knew instinctively how to use it and a surge of confidence flowed through him - along with the same feeling of strength that he had felt the last time he had faced the demons. He was meant to fight these creatures. It was his destiny.
Vaughan charged the back of the demon near him and saw it start to turn in response. He swung the sword at it as he ran past and saw it pass through its unprotected flank. It screamed in agony and staggered as Vaughan faced the three remaining demons that crowded around him. He spared a moment to look back at the van and saw that everyone was nearly free.
The demon in front of Vaughan used his moment of distraction to attack. He saw time slow down as the creature lashed out at him with a clawed hand. At the same time, he heard movement behind him. Vaughan’s first instinct was to dodge the demon in front of him by jumping backward, but that would have put him in the arms of the demon he knew had moved behind him. Instead, he rolled toward the demon in front of him and under its claws. As he rolled to his feet again, he thrust forward with the sword and into the demon’s belly. The sword buried itself to the hilt and Vaughan felt the demon stiffen as the sword passed through it.
But he had no time to celebrate another victory. He felt the second creature approaching his back and heard the third somewhere off to his right. But the one behind him was closer. Vaughan pulled the sword from the demon he had killed and jumped up as high as he could, turning the jump into a flip backwards as the demon charged the spot where he had stood. As Vaughan completed his backflip, he stabbed down with the sword at the demon passing beneath him. The sword passed through the creature’s body and pinned it to the ground as Vaughan landed on his feet on the demon’s back.
He turned his head at the sound of crunching snow and saw the third and final demon just a few feet away and reaching for him. He pulled his sword free and leapt while spinning toward the creature. He aimed for the demon’s throat as he held the sword out. It passed through the demon and Vaughan saw it fall to its knees as he landed next to it. He looked around him and saw the five mounds of black fur where each of the demons had fallen. He had defeated all of them single-handedly and in mere seconds. He couldn’t believe it.
Vaughan looked back toward the van and saw his uncle running toward him with his great silver spear in his hand. The rest of the group – including the two dogs – came running behind him, but they all stopped short as they saw the fallen demons. They stared at him with wide eyes and open mouths as they surveyed what he had done. They were all silent for a moment, until one of them finally spoke.
“Holy shit!” Louis said softly.
“Louis!” Cole and Dinah yelled at once.
“Sorry,” Louis said with chagrin as he met Vaughan’s eyes. “But that was aweseome!” he said as he smiled at his older brother. Vaughan smiled back, but didn’t say anything. He still couldn’t believe what he had done.
Harper stared at his nephew with a mixture of shock and pride. He had seen him fighting the last three demons and he had nearly fallen over in surprise at what he had seen. Vaughan already resembled his mother so strongly, but his style of fighting – something that looked like a mix of dancing and deadly martial skill – was exactly the way his mother had fought. Harper hadn’t had a chance to tell him in the commotion of their escape from the house, but the sword he had handed him had been his mother’s.
“I’d ask you if you’re alright, but I think I know the answer to that question,” Harper said to Vaughan with a slight smile.
Vaughan smiled back shyly as he sheathed the glowing sword and walked over to where everyone stood. “What are we going to do now, Uncle Harper?”
Harper looked back at the van and saw the shattered front axle. Even if they turned the van back on its wheels – which he was sure that he and Dinah could do – there was no way that the van could go anywhere on a single axle.
“We can’t go back to the house,” Tina said. “Those things are still back there. And they’ll be here before long.”
As if underscoring what she had said, a loud explosion pierced the night. Everyone turned in the direction of the house and saw it engulfed in flames. Cries of dismay poured from all of the children and Harper felt his hand stiffen on the haft of his spear as he watched his sister’s home being destroyed. She had loved the house so much. It had become his house for the past ten years, which was such a short time for one of his people. But it had been one of the happiest times in his long life. The house had represented something that Harper had never thought he wanted – a home, and a loving family to share it with. And now that home was gone.
Harper pulled his attention back to their situation with great difficulty, but couldn’t think of what to do. They had no transportation and no house to go back to. The wind had died completely, but the snow continued to fall at a steady rate.
“Why don’t we go to Mr. McCallister’s house?” Dinah asked as she held the crying Billie close to her.
Harper looked from his youngest niece to Louis, who stood in the snow next to Jason, holding his teacher’s hand and with a look of shock on his face. Harper wanted to pick him up and hold him, but he had to figure out what to do next.
“His house is five miles from here,” Cole said in response to Dinah. “There’s no way that we can all make it there before those demons catch up with us.”
Dinah shook her head as she answered, “Not if we go through the woods. It’s quicker that way, maybe half as long as if we went along the road.”
“She’s right, Cole,” Harper said as he looked at the trees behind them. The snow among the trees wouldn’t be as heavy as it was where they were standing. And the shelter afforded by the branches could keep the eyes of the demons from them for a short while and possibly give them enough time to stay ahead of them.
“Okay,” Harper said as he leaned down and had Louis climb onto his back. “We make our way through the woods and to the McCallister house. We’ve got to move quickly, so Dinah you’ll have to carry Billie.”
Harper looked around at the group and knew that Cole and Vaughan would have no trouble keeping up, even though Cole hadn’t yet made a complete recovery. And the weight of Billie would be no problem for Dinah. But he had no idea what kind of physical stamina Jason and Tina possessed. He thought briefly of leaving them in the van, since the demons were after the children and would probably ignore them. But he knew that the best chance of survival for everyone was for them all to stick together.
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�Alright, let’s go,” Harper said to everyone. He felt the presence of the wolf pack nearby and thought of a way that they could help. “Cole, can you ask the wolves to run ahead of us and make sure the way is clear?”
Cole nodded as he ran ahead of his uncle. He had felt the presence of the wolf pack running through the woods as the van had been tearing down the driveway. He passed along Uncle Harper’s message and heard them acknowledge as they waited for Cole and the rest of the group to reach the safety of the trees.
They rested briefly when they reached the shelter of the woods and Harper called Vaughan and Cody to him. “I need you both to follow behind us and let me know when the demons get close,” he told them both. “But do not engage them under any circumstances. Just keep an eye on them. Understood?”
Vaughan nodded in response and Harper heard Cody’s mental acknowledgement. He hated the thought of placing Vaughan in danger, but he knew that Vaughan would obey him and if he didn’t, Cody would keep him out of trouble.
“Let’s move,” Harper said to the group as he started moving again.
Billie clung to Dinah’s neck as her sister jogged behind Harper. She looked back and saw Jason and Tina following behind them, their hands clasped as they ran. At a distance behind them, Cody and Vaughan ran side-by-side, stopping every so often to look behind them.
Billie couldn’t remember ever being more frightened in her life, even when the horrible man had tried to take her and Louis from their teachers in front of the school. She was frightened, and cold. And she wanted her daddy.
The Ambrose Beacon Page 17