Adrian and Guntar looked at each other again, but only a brief glance. Adrian looked back at her and said, “We don’t know.”
“Oh,” Crystal said as fresh tears blurred her vision.
“I hope so.”
Crystal nodded and tried to blink away the tears.
Stephanie’s voice reached her ears as she got tired of dealing with Ember and Gwen and called out, “Crys? Oh Jesus, is she okay?”
Crystal sighed. “Help me up.”
“Are you sure?” Hank asked.
Crystal looked to Guntar and he deferred to Adrian. Adrian swept his eyes across her body again and shrugged. “You look fine to me.”
“I feel like I got hit by a truck.”
Hank frowned. “You do?”
Crystal opened her mouth and hesitated. She looked down at herself and then moved her arms to support herself as she tried to sit up. Hank moved to support and help her, earning a smile from her. Her smile helped her realize her lips didn’t hurt anymore. She pressed her tongue against her teeth and felt how solid they were. She snorted and picked herself up until she was standing with Hank’s help.
“I guess I’m good,” she said as she took her weight fully on her feet. Her cold feet. She looked down and realized she was standing in one wet sock. Her other was lying nearby. Her shoes were a dozen feet away.
“Crys? Oh my God! You’re okay!”
Crystal held up her hand to stop Stephanie from crashing into her. “Yeah, sort of,” she said. She looked down at herself and grimaced. Her pants were torn and covered in dirt and blood. Her shirt had similar tears and stains and both mud and blood caked her from head to toe.
“Is that blood? Holy shit!”
“No,” Crystal said. “Mud mostly. Well, my nose was bleeding but it stopped.”
Stephanie shook her head. “I can’t believe you’re okay!”
“Yeah, well, I’m just lucky I guess.”
“Wow. Um, do you need a ride home?”
Crystal glanced at the others and then back to Stephanie. “No, I’m good. My stuff’s back at, uh, Hank’s place.”
Stephanie looked at Hank and then back to her. “Why were you riding with Ember?”
“My bike’s got bad shocks and bearings,” Hank explained. “Didn’t want to risk it.”
Stephanie snorted. “Lot of good that did.”
“Hey,” Ember snapped as she walked up behind her. She slipped her arm around Stephanie’s waist. “My bike’s still fine. She screwed up. Doesn’t know how to wrap herself around a woman.”
“Oh my God!” Crystal gasped.
Stephanie blushed and glanced around. It was obvious she was uncomfortable and anxious to get away. “Okay, um, I was on my way to the mall. Did you need anything or want to come?”
“Can’t—we got to ride,” Hank said.
“It’s a biker thing,” Ember said. “We’re still on for later, though?”
Stephanie’s eyes widened and her cheeks flushed beneath her makeup. She nodded.
“Come on, I’ll walk you to your car.”
“Um, okay.” She turned to look at Crystal. “I can’t believe you’re okay. I’m glad—you had me scared! Please be careful, okay?”
Crystal nodded. “Thanks. I will.”
Stephanie nodded and bit her lip. She turned away and walked hand in hand with Ember to her car. Crystal shook her head after she was sure Stephanie wasn’t going to turn back. “She’s amazing,” she muttered.
“What?” Hank blurted out.
“Not her, Ember,” Crystal explained. “I can’t imagine anybody making Steph act so nice!”
Chapter 7
By the time they reached the swamp, Crystal did not feel well. Her injuries had healed but her stomach was in her throat and she had to take shallow breaths to try to keep her nausea at bay. When Ember parked, Crystal stumbled off the bike and fell to her knees on the soft gravel lot. Her hands hit the ground and she gagged a moment before she threw up.
She sagged onto her right elbow and then rolled onto her side, ignoring the discomfort of the rocks poking into her back and side. She gasped for breath and stared up at the sky through the treetops.
“Shit,” Ember hissed as she jumped off her bike and hurried to her side. Hank was there a heartbeat later, his large frame blocking out the sun.
Crystal tried to reach up but her hand barely lifted off her stomach. She wiggled it and wheezed, “Cold—move.”
“What?” Hank asked and looked up.
Ember grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. “She said she’s cold and you’re blocking the sun. Got muscles in your ears?”
“Oh,” he mumbled and shifted to move around so he could be by her without blocking the sun.
“This can’t be happening,” Adrian muttered as he stared down at the puddle of vomit. It was mostly blood.
“I’d say she was changing, but so soon? That’s never happened,” Gwen said.
Guntar looked at the puddle and frowned. “Internal injuries?”
Adrian sniffed and shook his head. “It’s her blood.”
“Of course it’s her blood,” Guntar said. “That’s why I wondered if she might have torn something inside.”
“It would have healed,” Adrian argued.
“Then why? I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Adrian frowned. “There’s something very odd about her.”
“We need to get to Clover,” Ember decided. She stood up and glanced around at the small parking lot of the roadside park and then began stripping off her clothes. Crystal looked up at her, watching her disrobe and noticing that she was a true redhead. She wanted to laugh but a spasm passed through her that stole her breath.
“She can’t walk,” Gwen said while pulling her boots off.
“I’ve got her,” Hank said.
“You can’t change if you do that,” Guntar said.
Hank shrugged. “So I walk. She would have had to.”
“Unless she can change,” Adrian asked.
“What?” Guntar and Gwen both asked.
Adrian held his hands up. “Crystal has defied all the rules we know about our kind. If this were normal, I’d say we have to tend her and hope she can fight through the change. But I’ve never seen anyone reject their own blood before.”
Ember knelt down next to her, knees spread and displaying herself lewdly right next to Crystal’s head without showing any concern or awareness. “Crys, are you hearing all of this?”
Crystal nodded and clutched her hands to her chest. She was shivering. “Yes,” she hissed through chattering teeth.
“Think there’s anything to it?”
“I don’t—don’t know how.”
Ember looked up at the others. Each of them looked back with faces that might as well have been etched in stone. They turned to Adrian one after another and he finally sighed before looking to Guntar. “It’s your call.”
“W—what?” Crystal asked.
Ember reached down to rub her cheek with her palm. “It’s part of the rule of becoming one of us. You have to find the way on your own. You have to learn to walk before you can run, and you have to know what it means to be alone before you can be in a pack.”
Gwen rolled her clothes into a bundle and tucked them under her arm. “If Guntar tells you, it will violate that rule. And we will all know about it.”
Crystal couldn’t stop shivering. She tried to clamp her teeth together but only managed to bite her cheek. She gave up and asked “S—so?”
“There is no so to it. It simply is,” Guntar said. “It doesn’t matter if we tell you; nothing can prepare you. Nothing can help you face what is waking up inside you.”
Crystal whimpered and twisted away from Ember so she could curl into a fetal position. “Something inside me,” she moaned.
“Hank, pick her up,” Guntar decided.
Crystal felt something soft against her cheek again. Then it felt cold and slippery. Wet. She blinked her eyes open, dist
racted from the contractions inside. She was just in time to see a long pink tongue lick a tear off her cheek. A red and gray wolf crouched next to her. Ember nuzzled into her, pushing her snout into Crystal’s neck and sharing her furry warmth with her.
“Watch out,” Hank warned.
Ember bolted away as he scooped Crystal up into his arms like a bride on her wedding night. She clung to him, stealing what warmth she could.
“She’s burning up,” Hank said.
Crystal stared up at him without having the strength to speak. Burning up? Then why did she feel like she was drowning in ice water!
She managed to turn her head and saw Gwen drop forward and landed on four paws instead of her hands and feet. Guntar shoved the last of his bundle of clothes into the saddlebag of his bike and then stuffed Ember’s into hers. Adrian did the same before it was only Crystal and Hank in the midst of four wolves.
She saw a glint of sunlight around Gwen’s neck and remembered the crescent moon necklace she wore. It looked like a collar now.
“We’re ready,” Hank announced.
All four wolves turned and led the way to the edge of the parking lot. The ground fell away and turned spongy. Ember and Gwen stayed behind, Ember falling back to their right and Gwen to the left, while Guntar and Adrian moved ahead and guided them along the high spots through the marshy ground.
Crystal lost track of time as they walked. She buried her head against Hank’s side and felt the wetness on her cheeks soaking into his jacket. Her stomach rumbled and her heart started beating faster. She felt Hank lurch forward and catch himself as water splashed against her leg. She was barely aware of it; all she could do was try to slow her panting before she made herself pass out.
Hank adjusted his grip on her and held her tighter against him. She relished the contact but she was starting to tingle and feel warm. In seconds, the warmth escalated and she felt like she might burst into flames. She groaned and shifted away from him, trying to get more air on her skin. It wasn’t working.
Hank clutched her tighter. “I think we’re close. Hang in there,” he said.
There was no soothing her. She found the strength to grab her shirt and peel it up and away from her sweaty skin. Dirt and blood were smeared and left behind skin that glistened with moisture. The air felt good against her and goaded her into pulling hard. Her shirt was trapped against Hank’s stomach, stopping her.
Crystal let loose a groan and shoved her fingers through the fabric. It shredded under her nails, letting her rip the shirt up to the sewn seam at the neckline. She moved her hands down and struggled with her pants, fumbling with them until she unbuttoned her jeans and then started to shove them down her hips.
“Crys! Stop!” Hank hissed. “What are you doing?”
“Hot,” Crystal whimpered as she ignored him and kept trying to shove her pants down. “Please, help me cool down.”
Hank shook his head and broke into a trot. “Hurry,” he growled to the pack surrounding them.
Crystal heard the splashes and sucking noises as Hank ran through the swamp. He slipped from time to time but kept his balance and kept her clenched tight against him. She was aching from the heat burning in her belly. Her pants were around her knees and even her underwear had been rolled halfway down her cheeks. She twisted and felt the clenching in her belly that made her convulse and curl up.
Hank stopped and had to adjust his grip to keep her from falling.
“Set me down,” Crystal hissed. “Quick!”
“No!”
Crystal turned and opened her mouth, exploding liquid fire onto his chest. Hank gagged and staggered back, but didn’t let go of her. As soon as the spasm passed, Crystal sagged in his arms and felt her body cooling again. The stink of her bile and blood made her eyes water worse than they already were. Dark black specks stuck to his jacket and shirt.
“I’m sorry,” Crystal sobbed against him.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“No,” she cried and turned her head away. “I’m such a fucking loser.”
“You haven’t lost anything yet,” Hank growled. “Clothes can be replaced. You can’t. You do whatever you need to do, just stay with me.”
Crystal nodded and started to turn back to him. She pulled the destroyed halves of her shirt together and then gagged when she saw how stained they were. She pulled the unbroken neckline and snapped it, and then tugged on it until she yanked it free and let it fall to the ground.
“I’m cold,” she muttered before hugging her arms tight against her belly.
“Typical woman,” Hank said. “Always hot and cold.”
Crystal stared up at him and saw the tender smile on his face. Her chest relaxed and her heart felt like it beat easier in her chest. She bit her lips and blinked the tears out of her eyes. She loved him. She had to. He was so tender and gentle and strong and understanding. He was perfect.
She opened her mouth to spill her guts—about her emotions this time, not the poison festering in her belly—when Adrian barked.
Hank jerked his head up and she twisted her neck around to see a copse of trees that grew out of the swamp. Vines and moss covered in brilliant flowers were strung across them so thickly it made walls of vegetation. Boards were strung up to make decking and stairs that led to a doorway into the living cottage.
“We made it,” Hank whispered.
Crystal studied the vibrant growth for a long moment before she asked, “This is where the swamp witch lives?”
The shadows shifted and a long leg emerged from the doorway. A second one followed, both of them wearing nothing but skin. The legs joined hips that were concealed by a loincloth hanging from a belt with a few sacks and pouches tied to it. Her hair was brown and blond, with flowers threaded through it. It was long enough to hang over her shoulders and conceal her breasts. The only other thing she wore was a necklace made of vines with bones and shiny objects hanging from it that dipped into the valley between her breasts.
Crystal’s confusion and discomfort faded into the background as she stared at the woman. Something about her felt right. Natural. “Clover,” she breathed.
Chapter 8
“Put me down,” Crystal asked.
Hank hesitated and asked, “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He lowered her slowly to the ground but kept his hands on her in case she stumbled. Crystal pulled her pants back up over her hips and refastened them. “I think I’m okay,” she said before taking a step forward. She was wrong.
Her legs trembled, making her stagger to the side off the ridge of solid ground they’d been walking on. Hank caught her, but not before her left arm and leg were soaked by swamp water and mud. He scooped her back up into his arms.
“I got this,” he told her.
Crystal closed her eyes, squeezing out fresh tears. “I’m so useless. I’m sorry.”
“Hush,” he told her. He turned and glanced around. There was nothing but water between them and Clover’s cottage. “Red, stay close in case I fall.”
Ember trotted up, her muddy paws squelching through the mud. She stretched her head up and licked Crystal’s hanging hand. Not thinking, Crystal moved her hand to try to pet Ember’s head. A snarl and light chomp on her hand reminded her she wasn’t dealing with a loving dog, but a real person who happened to look like a dog.
Hank started forward and stepped into the water. He sank in to his knees while Ember half swam, half waded through the water beside them. Gwen swam a half-dozen feet away on the other side. Hank sank deeper into the water and hoisted Crystal higher. She glanced at the sticky remains of her mess clinging to his chest and grimaced. She turned away to look at the witch watching them and felt the first touch of water against her bottom.
“Getting deep,” she observed.
“We’re halfway there. I’ll swim if I have to,” he vowed.
Four more steps in and the water was up to Crystal’s shoulders. She was about to suggest climbing onto his back when he
started rising back up out of the water. She turned to look at him and smiled. “We made it!”
He smiled but kept his eyes ahead. She turned back to look at Adrian and Guntar scrambling out of the water and up onto the overgrown decking. They both shook the water off and sat down, waiting and looking back and forth between her and Clover. The witch stood so still she might as well have been part of the swamp itself.
The water was still up to Hank’s hips when he reached the edge of the deck. He frowned and looked back and forth for an easier way on to it. Crystal reached out and touched the wet wood. It was spongy but didn’t feel rotten.
“Set me down, then climb up,” she said.
“You sure?”
“I’ll be all right,” she insisted.
Hank grunted and leaned forward to let her rest on the deck. He let go slowly and then turned to climb up beside her. By the time he was dripping beside her, she’d climbed to her feet and was staring at the witch.
“Um, hi,” Crystal said. “I’m Crystal. This is—”
Crystal was distracted by the wolves around her shifting back into their human forms. They rose to their feet, standing nude and careless. She jerked her head back to Clover but her focus was blown by the naked men.
“Come in,” Clover said to her. She turned to the two men and glanced down at what they had on display and raised an appreciative eyebrow. She turned and walked back inside her structure. The loincloth in back fell past the bottom of her cheeks. Barely.
Crystal glanced at her friends, this time ignoring their nudity. Guntar nodded and Hank gave her a smile. She nodded for her own benefit and followed Clover into the hut.
The inside looked like the outside, with vines and moss covering the walls and floors. Bunches of flowers grew in places that looked both organic and natural as well as decorative. Other than branches, vines, and even one tree that grew through the middle of the hut, it was an open single-room floor plan. In one corner, a collection of moss and long weeds served as a bed. In other places, tables were constructed out of wood and held together by vines twisting around the wood and holding it together.
Her eyes went to a large and shallow metal bowl that sat on metal feet beneath a large iron cauldron. Flames flickered from red coals glowing in the fire pit. Crystal stopped and stared for a long moment. The hut was everything she’d expected. A witch in the swamp, a cauldron. The only thing missing was bats, frogs, snakes, and a big wart on Clover’s nose.
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