Sitting back in the passenger seat, Reid fought against the terror trying to take over. Where was she? What happened to her?
“You know,” Mario said, “this probably isn’t the best time to mention this, but in case you haven’t noticed, the coven’s all here.”
“What were you doing at Avery’s house?” Landon asked.
“Working on a way to get us all back together. I’d have preferred something different than this, but….” Eric’s voice trailed off as he shrugged. “What will be will be.”
“Regan’s quiet right now, but it’s only a matter of time before he returns. We should at least be civil to each other, if not friends again, when that happens,” Mario said.
At the mention of Regan, some of the color drained from Landon’s face, and she glanced out the window.
“Landon—”
Reid’s words were drowned out by the ringing of his phone. He didn’t recognize the number, and he usually would have ignored it, but with Avery missing, he decided to answer.
“Hello.”
“Reid,” Avery’s voice was little more than a whisper.
“Avery!” He bolted upright in the seat and placed his hand against the dashboard. “Where are you?”
“In the woods. Something… this thing… it jumped into the road. My car’s in the woods down an embankment. There are trees. Of course, there are trees in the woods.” She took a deep breath as if to calm herself before her words spilled out. “We’ve been in an accident. Something is hunting us in the woods, and I think… no, I know it has something to do with Regan.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. Reid, it’s coming for us.”
“We’re on our way. Where did you go off the road?”
“We were on County Road. I’m not sure where on it, maybe….” Her voice broke, and he heard her shifting in her seat. “Maybe halfway home.”
“Avery,” Tina said, “I think I see it.”
“What is out there?” Reid asked.
Before she could answer him, the twisting crunch of metal filled the air and Tina screamed. The phone went dead.
Reid’s heart thundered against his ribs as he lowered the phone and hit the number to call it back. Avery didn’t answer. When he lifted his head to look at the others, they were all paler than usual.
“What happened?” Rosie asked.
He filled them in on the conversation as he searched the road for some sign of an accident. They’d rushed out of their houses too fast to scry for Avery’s location, and now he was kicking himself for it.
“We’ll find her,” Landon said.
But would it be in time? “Something’s hunting them.”
CHAPTER 9
Metal crunched and dented, the car rose two feet off the ground before landing with a thud. The impact flung Avery to the side. Tina scrambled away from the door as those unnerving blue eyes gazed at her before vanishing into the woods. Avery struggled to get her seat belt off as Tina kept her eyes on the window while edging into the middle of the car.
When the creature hit the car, she’d dropped the phone. There was so much more she had to tell Reid, but none of it would help him locate them. Sitting on the phone telling him how much she loved him, and how sorry she was, wouldn’t deter this beast, and she had to get it together if she was going to hold it off.
“What do we do?” Tina whispered.
Avery finally succeeded in freeing herself from her seat belt. She gripped the steering wheel as the release of the belt cause her to slide forward. “Where did it go?”
“I don’t know,” Tina breathed.
She was so close her arm pressed against Avery’s side, and she felt the tremors running through Tina’s slender frame. Avery searched the night for the monster, but she didn’t see any sign of it anywhere. However, it didn’t fool her into lowering her guard; that thing was still out there, stalking them and waiting to pounce.
Then, in front of the car, the blue eyes reappeared as the beast prowled toward them. Avery’s blood ran cold while those eyes steadily approached until they became all she could see. She felt ensnared by those eyes, as trapped by them as she was the first time Regan came for her.
“What is it?” Tina gasped.
The question jarred Avery, and she closed her eyes before opening them again. Now that she could see more than the eyes, she took in the monster standing ten feet in front of the car.
“Oh,” she whispered as she realized that what she’d been denying since first seeing this thing on the road was, in fact, true. Tina went through the Nightmare realm with them the first time, but she wasn’t in Regan’s maze, so she wouldn’t recognize the creature. “It’s one of the werewolves from Sandra’s nightmare in the maze.”
Avery couldn’t tear her gaze away from the beast, but from the corner of her eye, she saw Tina’s head turn toward her.
“How is that possible?” Tina whispered.
“I don’t know,” Avery admitted as the beast prowled to the front of the car. The strand of drool hanging from the bottom of its misshapen jaw plopped onto the hood.
“Avery,” Tina whimpered and grasped her arm.
Avery’s mind spun as she tried to figure out what to do. If she blasted this thing, she might only knock it away instead of killing it, and then it would be hidden from them again. The only thing more unnerving than the idea of this monster ripping her throat out was not knowing where it was.
What do I do?
A hairy paw, the size of her head fell onto the hood. The six-inch claws screeching against the metal set Avery’s teeth on edge. Then another hairy paw landed on the hood, and the front of the car sagged as the beast pushed down.
Avery swore the thing grinned at her when the car groaned and sagged forward. She kept her eyes on the monster while she imagined something like bubble wrap encasing the windows of the vehicle in a protective layer. A blue light filtered out of her to slide across the missing front windshield, their windows, and the back of the car.
The werewolf climbed completely onto the car, its claws clicking against the hood while it prowled closer to them. At least twice the size of a normal wolf, the thing was huge and hideous as it exuded mayhem.
“Avery,” Tina whispered.
When Avery clasped her hand, Tina crushed her fingers together until the bones grated against each other, but Avery didn’t try to free herself. The wolf reached the front windshield and lowered its head until its eyes blazed into the car. It sniffed at the barrier before baring its yellow fangs at them. Avery couldn’t tear her gaze away from those nostrils as they flared with every inhalation.
“Oh God, oh God,” Tina panted when the wolf growled at the barrier.
The hair on its hackles rose as it crouched before bashing its head against the barrier.
Please hold. Please hold.
It lifted a paw and swiped it at the barrier; the blue light wobbled but held firm. The creature slammed its shoulder against the barrier before snapping at it. Tina’s hand crushed hers further as the wolf grew increasingly frustrated.
Then the beast looked up, and that smug look returned before it sat back on its haunches and leapt onto the roof. She and Tina ducked down when the weight of the beast caused the metal to buckle with a screech. Avery held her breath while she waited to see what the creature would do, and then its claws pierced through the metal.
Too late, Avery realized her barrier didn’t extend to the roof when the creature peeled a section of it back like it was a sardine can.
Tina cowered and leaned against Avery as the wolf’s face appeared in the hole.
• • •
“There!” Reid shouted when the headlights reflected off the broken bits of red taillight and black skid marks in the road.
Rosie pulled to the side of the road, but before she could come to a complete stop, Reid flung his door open and hopped out of the car. He had to run with the car to keep from busting his ass on the dirt lining the side of the road, but he sta
yed on his feet.
“Reid!” Landon yelled as he sprinted away from the vehicle.
Car doors opened and closed around him while he searched the embankment for some sign of Avery’s car, but he didn’t see anything.
“Over here!” Alex yelled from the other side of the road.
Reid raced across the road and skidded to a halt when he spotted Avery’s car sixty feet down the embankment and buried in a tree. A hulking monster perched on the roof with its head nearly inside the vehicle.
“What is that thing?” Rosie breathed.
“It’s a werewolf,” Mario said.
“It’s my nightmare, but that… that’s not possible,” Sandra stammered.
Isla rested her hand on Sandra’s arm when it looked like she might fall over. Isla’s golden eyes were filled with concern as she brushed her knee-length, coffee brown hair over her shoulder.
“It’s okay,” Isla assured her, but Sandra still looked like she’d seen a ghost.
Reid started down the embankment sideways to keep his balance while he moved as fast as he could. The leaves and debris kicking out from under his feet made the descent more difficult, but he grasped tree branches to help him descend.
He had to get to Avery. He’d spoken to her, she was alive, or at least she had been alive. There was no telling what happened between when they spoke and now.
The harsh breaths and muffled curses of the others followed him, but he didn’t look back. He didn’t know what he’d do about the creature when he reached the car, and it didn’t matter. All he cared about was getting to Avery.
He was ten feet away from the car when a burst of blue light filled the air. The werewolf yelped as Avery’s power crashed into it, lifted it off the roof, and flung it into the woods. She’s still alive!
The wolf skidded across the debris and crashed into a tree where it lay there for a minute before rising unsteadily to its feet. When it corrected its balance, it issued a low howl and raced back toward the car; Reid let go of the branch he was holding and bolted toward it. The wolf was about to bash into the side of the vehicle when Reid dove at it, enclosed his arms around it, and rolled down the hill.
Claws sliced his arm, and blood spilled free as they rolled until they crashed into a tree.
CHAPTER 10
“Reid!” Avery screamed when he collided with the wolf, and they tumbled down the hill together.
Tina slid away and scrambled into the center of the car as Avery lowered the barrier around them. Tina climbed out of the car first, and Avery slipped into the middle of the vehicle to pull herself out the front. Glass bit into her palms when she pulled herself through the windshield and onto the still smoking hood of the car. Her leg protested the movement, but she didn’t look down to see what happened to it during the accident.
“Reid!” she cried again when he crashed into a tree with the wolf.
She spotted more figures emerging from the woods, but she didn’t stop to take them in as the wolf raised its paw over Reid’s head. The massive paw hovered there as it waited to deliver a death blow.
She felt the blast of Reid’s power as it hit the wolf and launched the creature into the air before flinging it away. On its side, the beast skidded to a halt five feet in front of Avery. She came to such an abrupt stop that she almost fell on her ass.
Hands seized her arm to steady her, and she looked up to find Shawn standing beside her. His chocolate brown eyes filled with concern as he gazed at her. The gold flecks in them matched the streaks of gold in his disheveled brown hair as he towered over her.
“Are you okay?” he demanded.
“Yes,” she said as, from the trees, the rest of the coven emerged.
Reid rolled to the side and pushed himself to his feet while the others spread out to encircle the wolf climbing to its feet. The misshapen head swiveled on the beast’s thick neck as it took them all in. Its gaze lingered on Sandra who gawked at it with a parted mouth and eyes as wide as saucers.
Landon rested her hand on Sandra’s shoulder while Isla gripped her other arm. Recovering from her shock, Sandra thrust back her shoulders and glowered at the beast. Avery wanted to run and throw her arms around Reid, but she didn’t dare cross in front of the creature.
Then the wolf charged straight at Sandra, and Sandra’s eyes narrowed as her power swelled before flowing out of her. A look of disbelief crossed Sandra’s features when the creature was lifted off the ground and flung backward.
Before it could leave the circle, Avery imagined another barrier forming and slammed it into place just as the creature leaned back on its haunches and leapt at them. The werewolf crashed into the barrier of blue light and bounced off to hit the ground. This time, it was slower to regain its footing, and when it did, it turned toward Avery.
Standing in the center of the circle, the wolf kept its head low as its blue eyes blazed at Avery. She expected to see fury or hunger in its luminous gaze; instead, she still saw amusement. That amusement unnerved her far more than this thing’s presence in their world.
The wolf’s mouth curved into that hideous grin before it charged. Avery stood her ground; she was sure her barrier would hold up against this thing as it leapt into the air. Avery watched it soar at her with claws extended and that strange grin still in place.
And then it vanished.
Avery stood, waiting for the barrier to waver as the creature hit it and for the beast to reappear, but it was gone.
“Where did it go?” Mario asked.
“Did it become invisible?” Rosie asked.
Avery continued to stare at the place where the wolf had been before she lifted her hands and squeezed them together as she pictured the barrier closing in on itself to squish anything inside. The walls met and vanished, but no howls of agony erupted, and the wolf didn’t reappear.
They stood in silence for a long while; the breeze the only sound as it rattled the tree branches until Landon spoke. “It seems Regan has made his move.”
“How was that thing in our world?” Sandra demanded.
“It’s Halloween,” Reid said. “Instead of Regan coming for us, he sent one of his monsters.”
The silence returned until Mario broke it. “Do you think the pizza’s still good?”
“Oh my God,” Sandra said and threw her hands in the air.
• • •
Avery hugged herself as she sat on the stretcher in the back of the ambulance while watching the flashing red and blue lights playing over the street. The paramedic kneeling beside her checked her blood pressure as Reid and Shawn stood by the end of the doors.
She couldn’t tear her gaze away from Reid or the bandage on his arm. At eighteen, he could refuse a trip to the hospital, but she and Tina weren’t so lucky. Tina sat on the bench seat near Avery while another paramedic looked her over, but since Avery lost consciousness in the accident, they insisted she stay on the gurney.
An officer appeared at the end of the ambulance; he was staring at the notepad in his hand while he spoke. “Okay, Miss Miller, I think that’s about it. Except,” he lifted his head to look at her, “do you know what happened to the roof of your car?”
Avery huddled deeper into the blanket the paramedic had draped around her shoulders. “I assumed the trees.”
“Hmm,” the officer said, and Avery couldn’t tell if he believed her or not. “Would you happen to know, Miss Gayle?” he asked Tina.
“No. It all happened too fast.”
“I see,” the officer said and closed his notebook. “Maybe it was trees then.”
Avery could tell he didn’t believe this, but there was no other rational explanation for it.
“We have to go,” the paramedic said to the officer.
“Of course,” he said, but he pinned Avery with his gaze as he spoke again. “Next time, miss, hit the coyote.”
“I will,” she muttered.
The officer turned away as the paramedic grasped the door of the ambulance. “Wait,” Reid said and gr
abbed the door before the woman could close it. “Can I ride with her?”
“No,” she replied. “There’s not enough room. You can meet us at the hospital.”
Avery buried her disappointment, and Reid hesitated before releasing the door. “I’ll be right behind you,” he promised her.
“Okay,” she said as the doors shut.
CHAPTER 11
Avery sat on the side of the hospital bed with her hands clasped in her lap. She hated the hospital gown, but at least she was still wearing her bra and underwear. She wanted to go home, but her mother had stepped into the hallway to talk with the doctor, and she had no idea what was happening.
She hoped Julie was convincing the doctor to let her go home. She spoke with her mother more often since moving to Cape Cod, but they weren’t super close, and Avery still couldn’t call her mom.
She glanced at Reid leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes riveted on the doorway. Coiled like a spring, she thought he might attack whoever came through the door.
Her heart warmed at the sight of his handsome profile, and some of her tension eased. “Reid.”
When he turned toward her, his eyes, so pure a gray they were silver, stole her breath. Avery’s heart leapt in her chest, and her throat went dry. Small tingles erupted over her fingertips as she struggled to breathe. She’d missed him so much.
She couldn’t speak, and seeming to sense this, he closed the distance between them in three strides. Reid towered over her when he stopped before her, but he would have towered over her even if she were standing as he was nine inches taller than her five-six height. His chestnut hair was tousled around his face and longer than he usually wore it as it curled against the collar of his shirt. She itched to run her fingers through it as she drew him closer.
“Reid,” she whispered.
“Avery.” Love shone in his eyes when he stroked her cheek, and small currents of electricity arced between them. “You know breaking up with me won’t protect me from Regan.”
Dream Walker (The Coven, Book 3) Page 5