The Axe-Man roared and lunged for them, drawing back his weapon for the strike. Firehide’s back was turned. I cried out. There was no way—
—the wolf whirled around and met the Axe-Man in midair faster than my eyes could follow. With a vicious cracking sound, white teeth met yellow bone. When King Firehide’s feet landed on the ground again, he had the front of the Axe-Man’s vest clenched in his jaws. With a twist of his head, he floored the phantom. The axe landed in the dirt just out of reach.
The Axe-Man tried to scramble on his belly to get to his weapon. But the wolf jumped onto his back, plowing his face into the ground. Another snap of teeth ripped the leather vest away and exposed the bone and decayed tendons underneath.
Firehide took hold of the already damaged shoulder blade and crushed it in his teeth. The Axe-Man screamed, throwing his good arm backward. The wolf ducked the blow, skipped away as the skeletal man rolled onto his back, then jumped back in.
The King of the Forest went for the crooked collarbone next. His jaws snapped the bone in two and he backed away from the Axe-Man. The phantom stumbled over to his weapon. He spun and gave a wide slash, which the wolf easily evaded. The Axe-Man’s right arm flew free from his body.
“What have you done?” he wailed, struggling to regain his balance as he shouldered his axe. “I’ll kill you for that, usurper!” He threw another wild blow, this one at an angle. Firehide dashed forward, leapt over the blade, and slammed his shoulder into the Axe-Man’s chest. The ghoul backpedaled, lost his footing, and fell over. The back of his head struck the stone table on which he had intended to sacrifice Laylah. His hat fell to the ground, showing his bare skull.
Firehide charged. All the Axe-Man could do in his position was thrust forward with the spear point, which was as ineffective as every other attack. The wolf was just too fast. He cleared the blade, clamped his teeth on the exposed breastbone, and ripped it away, splaying the ribs open. As the Axe-Man gave a tortured howl, Firehide took hold of his face and slammed his head into the corner of the block, caving in the side of the skull. The hollow eyes went dark and the Axe-Man fell limp against the stone.
I could breathe again. I pulled Ethan to me. Garrett put his arm around me. I looked at his re-injured arm and winced.
“They’re going to have to set that again,” I said.
“I don’t care,” Garrett answered. “I’m just glad we made it. Everything else can wait.”
I smiled at him. “Yes, it can.”
Firehide walked past, his eyes lingering on us for a second as he did so. The boy pulled away from me and followed him over to where Kodi lay. The bear was able to lift her head and look at them.
Without hesitating, the wolf bent down and pressed his shoulder up under the bear’s chest. Together they heaved her to her feet. Kodi swayed, but stayed up.
The boy reached out and put a hand on each animal’s head. “Goodbye,” he whispered. “I’ll see you again soon.”
Kodi shuffled off toward the edge of the clearing, supported by her much smaller husband. Ethan watched them go. When the boy turned back to me, he was wearing an expression I had never seen on him before.
He was smiling.
Chapter 35
When the animals were out of sight, the people turned their attention to me. Garrett took a tight grip around my waist as they approached.
Sammie, Phil, Emma Lee, and Chief Branchett got to us first.
“I’m sorry,” Sammie said. “I never should have doubted you. After you brought Emma Lee home, I should have listened to everything you had to say.” She pouted. “But you sounded so crazy at the end there…”
“Yeah, I was acting a little,” I admitted. “I didn’t know how else to get everyone here except to play the bad guy.”
“Well, it worked,” Phil said, tipping his hat. “You did a good job of pretending to be a raving nutcase. Almost like you live with one.”
“Eat it, Hagen,” Garrett snapped with a short laugh.
Rachael reached us, holding Laylah. “I owe you an apology too. The things I accused you of doing… that was horrible of me. I know you’re not capable of something like that. I’ve blamed you for too much, for too long.”
I shook my head. “It’s alright.”
Branchett cleared his throat. “That’s nice and all, but… we still have an investigation to close out here.”
Garrett took a step forward. “It should be pretty clear what happened, pal. You got taken in by the Axe-Man. Everything people were accusing Kelly of doing, that was Cotton. We’ll explain it all to you. I don’t know about you, but it’s cold out here and I want to get back inside.”
He turned, leading me and Ethan away from the group. Our parents were there in our path.
Gordon shook his son’s hand and Ethan’s before giving me a hug. Maggie kissed all three of us on the cheek. “I’m so proud of you all,” she said, beaming. “You’ve defeated that evil man and made our town safe again.”
“Thanks to you, Maggie,” I said. “Couldn’t have done it without you.”
Garrett stayed to talk to them for a minute while Ethan and I approached my parents. I hugged my dad and then my mom, leaning into her embrace, not in any hurry to let go. I watched the people dispersing into the trees. In the direction of town, I saw emergency lights. Someone had called for ambulances for the wounded officers.
“My Kelly, my Kelly.” My mother sighed. “I should have known you were telling the truth. You’ve never had any reason not to.”
“It’s OK, Mom,” I said. “You had no way of knowing. I didn’t believe it myself. I thought I was losing my mind. I was so harsh with you when I shouldn’t have been.”
She stroked my hair. “It’s alright, honey. It’s alright.”
“No, it’s not.”
“It will be in time, Kelly.” She let go of me and touched my cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Mom.”
As Garrett and his parents approached us, my mother reached out and took my husband’s hand. “Garrett… you’re a good man. I never understood what my daughter saw in you, but you were here when she needed you. I take back every unkind word I’ve said.”
Garrett favored her with a small nod before looking at me. “Ready to go?”
“Yeah, in a minute.” I found Ethan standing nearby and looking at the black fog swirling around his feet. “Are you going to come with us? We need to explain everything to the chief, now that he’ll listen.”
He glanced at me before turning away. Not fast enough for me to see that his eyes were still damp. “Yes. Sure.”
I put my hand on his shoulder. Surrounded by my family, I began the walk down the slope to the river. Soon we would be back in Grunwald.
The boy came to a stop as we reached the middle of the riverbed. He looked down at the fog. “Wait. Something is wrong.”
The black wisps of vapor had ceased their normal aimless rolling. Instead, the shadow was moving in waves back in the direction we had come. The edge of the fog receded down the slope ahead of us, past our feet, and then up the other bank behind us. It was retreating, shrinking back toward the clearing.
“It’s not daylight yet,” I said. “Where could it be going?”
Ethan took off back in the direction of the clearing. I followed, Garrett a step behind me. Our bewildered parents were left standing in the riverbed next to the Fangstone.
We had almost reached the clearing when we heard a weak but sharp voice calling out. Cotton’s voice.
“Leviathan,” he cried. “I failed to bring you what we bargained for. All I have to offer is half a life… a life that you rebuilt from a rotten corpse. I wish to trade.”
“No!” Ethan shrieked, increasing his pace. “Don’t do it!”
He ran into the clearing. The two of us got there a second after him. We only had the moonlight to go by, but that was enough to tell what was going on.
The Axe-Man lay on his back on the stone slab, holding his weapon aloft with the
blade positioned over his own neck. The shadow had gathered around him, enveloping him, nearly obscuring my view.
“Take what little I have to give,” he said, “and give to the King what life you can.”
He dropped his arm and the blade cleaved through his neck, clanging against the stone. The shadow surged up and swallowed him completely. Then it made its way up the trunk of the bent cedar and spread out along the branches.
“Stop it!” Ethan shouted, running toward the tree. “Stop! Do you want to be a slave again? Don’t do it!”
The tree was crumbling, the red-grey needles turning to dust and blowing away. Most of the branches followed suit, but not the two in front. Not the wicked, curved branches reaching around the sacrificial slab. The bark shredded off of them, revealing a hard, ridged surface almost like bone.
Ethan fell to his knees in despair as a high, melodic cry sang out around us. The shadow retreated, spreading out along the ground once again. The tree was gone. In its place was a creature kneeling before the stone slab. The two curved branches grew out of the top of its bowed head. Pointed ears flicked. A tangled mane of fur and moss shook.
“Eld King,” Ethan sobbed. “Stagger.”
The head lifted, bringing the two branches—antlers—with it. Stagger opened his eyes, revealing a sickly, pale-yellow glow.
“Run!” Garrett yelled. “Back to town!”
“It won’t do any good!” Ethan cried back. But I grabbed the boy, lifted him into my arms, and took off with him. We fled in the direction of Grunwald as the high singing started up again, this time trailing down into a guttural roar.
Chapter 36
We ran into Gordon and Maggie halfway between the clearing and the riverbed.
“What’s happening?” Maggie demanded.
“Just run!” I called, passing by her, still carrying Ethan.
“The Eld King!” Garrett shouted. He grabbed her arm and dragged her after him as best he could until she got the message and started running. When we reached the riverbed, my parents were still there waiting. They followed our example and started running too.
We were all exhausted from the run up the riverbank by the time we made it back to town. We stopped on the main street in front of the entrance to the residential area.
“There,” I said. “The shadow doesn’t come into town.”
“We have no idea if Stagger will still honor that old truce!” Ethan yelled in my ear. “Especially since you’ve brought me here. I said you should have left me at the tree! He will come after me.”
“He’ll have to get through me, then,” I said. I put the boy down, but kept a tight grip on his arm. “Garrett, get him as far away from here as you can. Take the car.”
“I’m not leaving your side,” Garrett answered.
I sighed and looked at Gordon and Maggie. “Can you take him? The Eld King needs him to control the shadow.”
Maggie nodded, but she didn’t look happy. “Come with us, dear.”
Ethan pulled away as Maggie reached for him. “That won’t do any good. It would be better to just let him take me. If you cooperate, he makes it quick. If you upset him…”
Even wounded, Garrett was still strong enough to scoop the boy up with one arm and carry him like a football. “Let’s go, Mom,” Garrett said. “I’ll help you put him in Kelly’s car.”
I looked at my mom and dad. “Go with them. Have Garrett let you into our house. Lock yourselves inside and don’t come out until I come get you.”
“Where are you going?” my mother asked.
I looked back in the direction of the river. “I’m going to stall him.”
“Stall who? Kelly, is it that awful pastor again?”
“Worse,” I said. “The old King of the Forest, before the wolf. Look it up once you get inside. But if he wants to take Ethan away from me, he’d better be ready for a fight.”
“Kelly… you shouldn’t be alone.”
“I’ll feel better if I know you’re safe. But if you’ve got to help, go tell Branchett and alert the town. They need to know what’s coming.”
My father took my mother by the arm and led her to the street. “What do we tell David? The old King is back?”
“Yes. He’ll understand.”
“Alright. Come on.” He brought my reluctant mother with him. I watched them walk up the main street, illuminated by amber streetlights. Beyond them, I could see the entrance sign to Grunwald, the wooden sculpture of Kodi. My parents turned the corner on their way to the police station, next to the VFW. I was alone.
I turned back and walked toward the trees. Even with the moonlight, I couldn’t see into the forest anymore. A blanket of darkness had washed over everything in sight. It looked as if I could walk past the first line of trees and then fall into a bottomless chasm.
One by one, the streetlights winked out, starting at the far side of town. The darkness closed around me as the lights went out, until only the one right next to me remained. It was only me, a ten-foot circle of illuminated pavement, and an endless field of shadow.
“You face me alone.” It was the same high, singing voice that had spoken inside my head in the jail cell. Only now, I could hear it out loud.
“It’s you,” I said. “It was you putting thoughts in my head. You lied to me, trying to make me think I had hallucinated this whole thing.”
“I told no lies. I looked into your mind and reported what I found. Even now your delusions lead you to suffering and death.”
“You won’t deceive me anymore,” I snapped. “You want the boy? Just try and take him.”
“Kelly Clegg. You imagined all of this. All because of your senseless drive to redeem yourself. You didn’t want to be Mother Bear when you had the chance. Why do you think you can do it now? Why throw yourself in front of me for a husband that will leave again, a town that turned on you, and a child you barely know—a child you attached yourself to out of guilt?”
A pair of glowing eyes appeared just outside the radius of amber light. I could barely see the tall, proud silhouette approaching. The shadow clung to him, billowing off him like a long cloak of darkness. I backed up until I was on the sidewalk again, then I stepped off the curb into the street. He followed, passing under the streetlamp.
He was in the same state as the one who had died to bring his return. Patches of fur and skin were missing, showing the bone of his legs, ribs, and face. There was no nose, no lips, just exposed teeth. The glowing yellow eyes were small orbs hanging in gaping sockets, staring down at me from eight feet up.
The antlers crested above me, nearly hitting the streetlamp. Any one of the curved prongs was long enough to run me through. His hooves were as big around as basketballs and made deep clomping sounds on the pavement.
“Answer my question.” The whistling voice came from his skull, but his jaw didn’t move.
I swallowed my terror, forcing myself to look away from his weapons and meet his eyes. “Because I love them. You’ll never know what that means. That makes me more dangerous than you.”
Stagger parted his teeth and made a grunting sound. “That’s funny. You couldn’t be mother to one, so instead you must be mother to all. You are truly incapable. Now sleep, Kelly Cle—”
A percussive crack cut him off and pounded at my eardrums. I thought a bomb had gone off. Stagger reared back and screamed as I hit the ground. I scrambled away from the flailing hooves. A few of the lights around us came back on as the elk gathered more of the shadow around himself.
“Who dares strike the King?”
I couldn’t help but smile as I looked down the road. “See, Stagger, I was never alone. That was an illusion… just like it always was.”
Gordon Clegg stood in the middle of the street, holding Garrett’s shotgun. My husband was next to him.
“Hit him again, Dad!” Garrett roared. “Get the hell away from my wife, monster!”
Stagger’s deadly head turned in their direction and he let out his high-pitched shriek.
Gordon shouldered the firearm and let off a second shot. The shadow leapt in front of Stagger, absorbing the slug. Then an arm of darkness whipped out, enveloped both men, and lifted them off the ground.
A red flash struck from the side, sending Stagger off balance. But the deer’s massive hooves regained purchase on the asphalt and he whirled, throwing his assailant off and squaring up to face him.
King Firehide stalked at the very edge of the amber streetlamp glow, ears back, teeth bared, issuing a rumbling growl. I took an involuntary step back, not wanting to get caught in the middle of this. When the wolf pounced, Stagger reared back and lashed out with his front hooves. A wisp of shadow reached out and caught Firehide by the legs, slowing him down just enough for a hoof to land a dizzying blow on his head.
A low, sweeping swing of Stagger’s antlers sent Firehide tumbling across the road, leaving a splatter of blood in his place. The wolf tried to get to his feet, but the darkness held him pinned to the asphalt.
Stagger returned his attention to me. “Alone again. You see, no matter who comes to your aid—”
The entire street was bathed in white light as a car flew around the corner. I recognized the slanted LED headlights of my sedan, which meant Maggie must have been driving. I dove off the road. The tires screeched as the car slung around the dark column holding the two entrapped men and then accelerated straight at Stagger.
The mass of shadow released my husband and father-in-law, dropping them both onto the pavement from six or seven feet up. One of them cried out in pain—I couldn’t tell which. The darkness spread out along the ground in a cresting wave, pitched the car backward, and suspended it a few inches in the air, wheels spinning. The fog washed over the car, and the windshield and all the windows shattered.
Tendrils of darkness crawled into the cab and yanked both occupants out before tossing the car aside. It rolled forward and careened into the wrought-iron fence surrounding our subdivision.
Maggie and Ethan hung in the air, staring wide-eyed at the towering wraith they had tried to run down. The writhing black fog tossed Maggie near where Gordon and Garrett lay. Luckily, she cleared the sidewalk and landed on someone’s lawn. I tried to run over to them, but the shadow on the ground had finally done what I had secretly feared it would do right from the start—it held my feet pinned in place.
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