“Just like Denny feared…”
“Are you sure the men in the ice are his prisoners? What if they are his army?” I had to ask that question. We still did not know for sure who sent her the dream.
“Isn’t that one and the same?” She spoke softly, as though debating her words. “Isn’t that what he does? Turns good men into darkness?” She shivered, but this time I knew for sure it was not from the cold.
“We can stop him.”
“We can, but we need help.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“We need to find Gregor.”
“And where do you think we can find him?” I would listen to any of her suggestions.
“In the woods.”
I fought to keep my expression neutral. “Maybe he is truly on our side.” Or maybe he was the opposite. Either way, we needed to find him.
“There are a few more hours until the sun rises. We need to plan.”
“I love you. I love you even more than I even did yesterday.” I pulled her close to me again.
“The feeling’s mutual.” She brushed her lips against mine. “Crazy or not, I love you too.”
“Crazy is probably the best word to describe it.”
17
Ainsley
The night was too quiet. It felt nothing like home, and more than ever I was homesick. I was used to the sounds of the city.
I’d accepted the lack of noise in Energo, but being back in my own world, I craved the familiar more than ever. The silence made me nervous. I expected something to break through the quiet at any moment.
James seemed as nervous as I was, but I was pretty sure it had nothing to do with the quiet. I couldn’t tell if he was more nervous about his father’s followers or me. He was terrified I was going to leave even when I assured him I wasn’t. Our fates were tied together. I knew he was a good man, and we would find a way out of the mess we were in. Neither of us said anything. I guess we both chose to keep our fears to ourselves.
“Are you two coming?” Henry yelled into the doorway of the main cabin at the campground. It was the only one with a shower, and James had all but insisted I take one after how cold I’d been.
“Yes,” I answered before James could say anything to get into an argument with Henry.
James had been standing guard. I hadn’t asked him to do it, but I appreciated it. There were way too many men I barely knew around and no lock on the door. It took twenty minutes under the hot steam of the shower to get rid of the chill from my dream—or whatever it was. I had woken up wet, and I knew that in some way or another I’d been through the ice. Maybe parts of the experience had been fictional, but some of it was real.
“Are you entirely sure splitting up makes sense?” Rachel’s voice carried from the doorway.
I hurriedly got dressed and pulled back my damp hair into a ponytail before I met everyone at the front door. Rachel was dressed in a set of my borrowed sweats. The pants looked a little bit silly with her black dress boots, but I am sure she preferred them to the suit pants she had been wearing when we’d run into her in Charleston.
“I am not entirely sure about anything, but I think it makes the most sense.” Maybe I should have tried harder to make myself sound confident, but to be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure our plan would work. Either way we had no choice. “We need to find Grace, and some of us have to get back to Energo to check on things. We’ve been gone a few days already, and we don’t know what’s happening with the dark ones.” I was leaving out tons of details about Gregor and the ice, but mentioning my dream would open another whole can of worms and slow us down.
“James, I will come with you if you think it is best.” Henry lowered his eyes to James. I wasn’t exactly sure how the hierarchy worked, but I was surprised to see him showing deference to James. Usually he was teasing him.
“You need to stay with Rachel and make sure the wolves find Grace. You know Charleston, and you may be of help.” James gave him a long hard look that I assumed conveyed far more than his words were. “Tracking down Grace may be the key to finding out who is really behind the darkness. We all know my father is gone.”
I didn’t like hiding the truth about Blake from everyone, but James was right. If he admitted to hearing the voice our friends would stop trusting him, and then we’d be in even more trouble.
“I have made a decision.” Denny strolled over.
“What kind of decision?” I asked. The brown-haired wolf was starting to grow on me. He seemed to see things differently than everyone else, and I respected that. Too many people lived life following the steps of everyone else.
“I am coming with you.” Denny smiled.
“You are?” I eyed him skeptically. That wasn’t the decision I had been expecting. “Why?”
“Because I can help, and I would rather not see you dead.”
“I’d rather not be dead either.” And I had no plans to be.
“You are walking into danger, and you are hiding something. Those two things combined make for some serious trouble.”
“If you think we are hiding something why would you agree to come?” James set his jaw. “I would think you would choose to stay away.”
“I may be hiding a few things myself.” There was nothing apologetic in Denny’s words, and that was surprisingly refreshing.
“Are you?” Hunter turned to Denny. “Care to elaborate?”
“Everyone thought my mom was crazy, but what if she wasn’t? What if all her fears about the darkness were real? What if it truly crossed into our world and spread?” Denny stiffened. “You already believe some men touched by the darkness are here. What if they don’t simply go back?”
“It can and it will happen.” Talen glanced into the woods. “They are building a new gate. There must be a reason for it.”
“What?” Hunter’s eyes widened. “Why are you only telling us this information now?”
“Does that part matter? We are telling you.” Talen kept his eyes trained on the woods. Had he seen something?
“I can go with you guys too.” Marni offered. “There’s nothing for me here anyway.”
“You need to hold down the homestead.” Hunter spoke with authority. “I need you here.”
“Can’t someone else do it?” She cocked her head to the side.
“There’s no one else around right now.” Hunter pointed out. “You know that.”
“So you are ok with my brother ditching me and leaving me alone?” Mari put a hand on her hip.
“Don’t play the martyr. You have no problem staying alone.” Denny scowled. “This is about you being afraid you’ll miss the fun.”
“Are you really that worried about someone messing with your stuff?” I didn’t imagine the wolves were at high risk for being burglarized. There were no flat-screen TVs or jewelry lying around. But maybe they had something hidden away.
Hunter let out a slow deep breath. “Fine, you can come with us to find the girl. I am not sending two members of the pack into an unknown world.” Hunter followed Talen’s line of sight. “There’s nothing back there.”
“I know.” Talen turned. “But you can never be too careful.”
“We don’t have to make any final decisions about splitting up now.” Rachel put a hand in her pocket. “We need to get back to Charleston anyway.”
“Maybe not…” Denny seemed to be considering something.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You need to get to Energo, but can you enter through any spot?” Denny looked at James when he asked.
“Yes.” James nodded. “Any access point would theoretically work.”
“I have a buddy who might be able to get us in faster.”
“You do?” Hunter narrowed his eyes. “You’ve been hiding a lot from me. I expected more from my second command.”
Denny lowered his head slightly. “If I had thought it were important to the pack I would have told you, but you would have thought I was crazy. You
were never interested in the old stories. You were more concerned with the current threats.”
“This buddy of yours,” James started. “He knows of a gate?”
“Yes, my friend does some trading there. I guess there’s a big market for our electronics.”
“But Energo is in the Stone Age in terms of technology.” I spoke without thinking. “No offense.”
“Energo has chosen to forego many modernizations, but not all nations have,” James explained in a calm voice.
“I bet it is Alak.” Henry smiled. “They are technology junkies there.”
“Alak?” That was a new name.
“It is a port city in another nation,” James explained. “Think it will be easy to get a boat back over from there?” he asked Talen.
“I know of a faster ride we can catch.” Talen grinned.
“Uh, what kind of ride are we talking about?” I asked. Talen didn’t grin much, and it made me nervous.
“I think I know.” James smiled. “I will leave it as a surprise.”
“I don’t like surprises.” I crossed my arms.
“Since when?”
“Since forever.” I’d had enough experience being left in the dark. I wanted to be kept informed.
“I have surprised you before. You liked it.”
“Those are different types of surprises.”
“If we are going to find the girl, we should go.” Hunter interrupted before James and I could get into more of an argument. “Every hour we waste will make this more difficult.”
“Why are you doing this?” There was something in his words that made this quest seem almost personal.
“Because I don’t like the idea of a girl going missing.”
Michelle gave him a look. “We don’t like that the dark ones or whatever it is you call it have entered our world. We can’t allow it. Our best chance of tracking them down here is finding your friend.”
I nodded slowly. “Can I ask you something?”
“Me?” Michelle put a hand to her chest.
“Yes.” I nodded.
“Sure.”
“What are you?”
A slow smile spread across her face. “What do you think I am?”
“You seem more than human, but you are different from these wolves.” She had a more graceful way about her. She held herself differently.
“How about this? I’ll tell you next time I see you.” Her eyes twinkled.
“I want to know now.” How could her existence be more of a secret than the wolves?
“I’d rather show you, and we don’t have time for that now.”
“Then why should I trust you to go after my friend? To travel with Rachel?” I put a hand on my hip.
“Because she’s good at what she does.” Hunter pointed to Michelle. “And I vouch for her.”
Michelle sighed. “I’m not going to hurt anyone. We’re on the same side here.”
“And what side is that?” I still wasn’t sure why she was helping. We were asking a lot of people we didn’t know for help.
“On the good side. The winning side.” She gave a sly smile.
Hunter laughed. “Don’t worry. You wouldn’t know what she was even if she told you the name.”
“Whatever.” I was too antsy and nervous to argue anymore. Let her have her secrets. If Rachel felt okay going with her, that was her choice. Plus she had Henry. There was no question he would protect her.
“So what’s the plan at the end of all this?” Rachel asked. “Where are we meeting up?”
“I don’t know.” That was an important detail we still needed to discuss.
James adjusted his bag on his back. “We meet back at the Charleston gate in two days.”
“Two days?” Michelle chortled. “We work fast, but that might not be possible.”
“Make it possible.” James gave her a serious expression. “We have no time to lose.”
“Got it.” Henry put his arm on Rachel’s shoulder. “We should go.”
“Will your phone work wherever it is you’re going?” Rachel asked.
“No,” James answered for me. “But we will meet up in two days’ time, and you are welcome to come with Henry.”
Rachel hugged me. “Be safe.”
“Thanks. Try to get back to a normal life.”
She laughed. “That’s not likely.”
“Wait. But you have to. You are going back to Charleston.”
“I have weeks of vacation I never use. I’m using it.”
“I wish I could say the same.” I was completely out of a job now. But that was the least of my worries.
“We’ll find you a job when this is all over.” She smiled. “Don’t worry.”
“Take care of her.” I met Henry’s eyes. “And don’t drag her into this any more than she already is.”
“You think Rachel is going to listen to me?” Henry raised an eyebrow.
“No, not a chance.” I smiled. Rachel wasn’t a push over. She was definitely the type to make her own decisions.
I waited with James, Denny, and Talen as Rachel drove my car out of the clearing. I watched until it completely disappeared beyond the trees.
“And then there were four,” Denny said in a creepy voice.
I glared at him. “Don’t.”
“Sorry, I couldn’t resist.” He grinned, and I accepted he hadn’t done it in a malicious way. He thought he was funny.
“We should go.” A chill ran through me, and it wasn’t from Denny’s words. It was as though in the matter of seconds the temperature had dropped.
“We will. I just need to collect a few things.” Denny headed back over toward his cabin.
“Hurry,” I called after him as a cold breeze chilled me. The wind was picking up.
“Are you okay?” James put a hand on my arm.
“Something is off.” I had never had this kind of sensation before. It was a tightening in my chest and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. “Do you feel it too?”
“I do.” Talen looked out into the woods again. “We need to move.”
We all waited anxiously for Denny. A few moments later he jogged back from the cabin with a canvas bag over his arm. “I’m all set.”
“Good.” James eyed the truck. “Are we all squeezing in there?”
“Yeah. My buddy is in the city, so it won’t take long.”
“Good.” I walked toward the truck. “Let’s get out of here.”
The ground began to shake, and I immediately grabbed James hand. “Please tell me you felt that too.”
He nodded. “Get in the truck.” He tugged me along toward the waiting truck.
“How are we all fitting?” I eyed the truck with the single bench seat.
“You can sit on my lap.” James pulled open the door.
The shaking got worse. I started to climb in, but the door shook, offsetting me. I started to fall but James caught me before I hit the ground.
“What the hell is that?” Denny surveyed the area.
“Nothing good.” Talen’s eyes darkened. “We need to move.”
Before anyone could take as much as a step, the shaking intensified. It was impossible to stay standing as the ground split underneath us. I screamed as corpses started crawling out of the ground. Flesh hung off their bodies, and their eyes were empty holes. They were like zombies, but far more frightening than anything I had ever seen on TV. They were pale and moaning as they crawled closer to us. They were everywhere. We were surrounded on every side. My heart nearly beat out of my chest.
James opened his black bag and pulled out his sword. It glowed green and with a swing he cut off the head of the zombie closest to me. The head rolled away, knocking into another corpse.
A flash of white fur jumped around me, and I realized Talen had transformed. Out of the corner of my eye I watched as a large gray wolf ripped out the throat of another zombie. I was the powerless one. I would have to rely on the others to keep the zombies away.
; There were easily three or four dozen zombies, each as disgusting and menacing looking as the last. One reached for my ankle, but James cut off its arm. Another grabbed James around his neck. I smacked it in the back of its head with my bag, and it released him.
“Duck!” James yelled as he raised his sword and attacked a walking corpse that had come up behind me.
He swung at another one while Talen and Denny took care of the remainder.
Suddenly something grabbed my ankle. I looked down in time to watch a hole opening below me. “James!” I screamed.
He turned and headed toward me as my body began to slip into the ever growing hole. I continued to fall into complete and utter emptiness.
18
James
“Ainsley!” I called her name as she disappeared into the ground. I reached for her, grabbing ahold of her hand, but the force pulling her down was too strong.
I stopped fighting the pull, expecting to be pulled with her, but the hole started to close up around my arm. It felt like a tourniquet tightening. I tried to push through further into the hole, but it did nothing. Then I was launched back several feet.
I looked up. Talen, still in his wolf form, stood looking over me. “Why did you do that? Why did you pull me away?” I ran back to the spot through which Ainsley had disappeared.
Talen transformed back to his human form. “Have you lost your mind?”
“Ainsley is down there!” I pointed to the spot now completely covered over with dirt. “I have to go after her.” I used my hands to start moving the dirt.
“You can’t.” Denny stood there back in his human form. “We have to get there another way.”
“Do you have a shovel?” Using my hands would take far too long.
“A shovel? You think she is still in the ground?” Talen gave me an incredulous look.
“It won’t work, but we can try.” Denny ran off and returned later with three shovels.
We started digging, tossing the dirt in endless cascades, but Talen was right; there was nothing there.
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