by Holly Hook
As I blink, I can almost see dark tendrils extending from the warlock, trying to feed off everyone else, but they're gone the next nanosecond. Even Everly steps away from Brett and into cleaner air. Everyone can sense that he's draining us without even thinking about it.
At last, loud growls and snaps sound in the distance, from the western side of the Savage border.
And I'm not the only one who hears it. Brett turns his head in that direction and so do Everly and Remo. Desperation seizes me and my heart races. The faster we go in and get Karina, the faster we get out and find Aunt May and the faster we're able to move on and find Remus again. Waiting any longer might mean failure and now everyone's looking at me.
“Now,” I say. “Brett. Keep those spirits off us as much as you can.” Maybe if he focuses on that, he won't drain the rest of us as badly.
It seems to work. Brett leads the way across the border as I wave him ahead, and we run behind him and into the invisible darkness that fills the territory. I sniff, but no signs of the cult float in the air. Karina must be somewhere in here, gloating about how much better she is than her brother. The dark spirits linger at the edges of my perception, like they always do when I enter this territory, but no tree branches fall and no distractions run in front of us. Brett's keeping them away enough so I can breathe. He keeps his head down, focusing intently as we continue to plow down the trail.
We cross over the small road, a road that must lead to the town. I hadn't thought about that before. I smell faint Savages on the wind, blowing from that direction, and my heart aches as I think of any people remaining there. No one would have lasted long.
And then I hear growling and I understand. The Colling Wolves went straight to the town.
“Hurry,” Brett says. “There are a lot of Savages now and I don't know how long those other Wolves can hold them off.” He runs forward at a new speed I've never seen him run at before, but if Brett is disturbed by it, I don't know.
But I have to trust he's not leading us into a trap, the last thing I want to do. If we hadn't turned him, then I wouldn't trust him at all.
At last, we pass the small clearing where the Hayde siblings often do dark magic, or practice, and then we come to the old Hayde mansion. It's covered in vines and dark.
“This place is creepy,” Remo says, after we listen to make sure no one's in the area.
“We can't stay long,” Brett says. He whirls on us. “I can hear better and I know the cult isn't meeting back behind the house, but I think Karina's inside and up in her room. I'll have to knock. And I'm getting tired in the head. Holding off these spirits isn't going to last much longer.” I read the strain in his eyes. Even though there's a bubble of protection around the Hayde mansion and the clearing where the cult meets, since no one wants to be around such dark spirits all the time, I can still feel them. They're pulsing at the edges of the huge yard.
I can hear Karina, too. She is upstairs and coming out of the bathroom. I listen as she runs a comb through her hair. Karina might have just finished showering, which is good, because I'm not in the mood to force a girl out of the shower and I'm sure neither is Brett. We look at each other while Cayden stands at my side.
“Let me go alone,” Brett says. “You guys listen and jump in if I need your help. I'll try to talk to her.”
“Good luck,” I say, heart racing. “Convince her to get bitten so she can turn and leave everything she knows behind.”
Brett screws up his face. We're wasting time arguing about this. I should just order him to do something the way I want it, but Brett knows his sister better than anyone else and wants her out of here. So I'm going to let him take the lead.
“Yeah, it doesn't feel good,” Remo adds. “You're going to have to lie to her.”
“She'll never forgive me,” Brett says.
“Then you're just going to have to take the heat,” Cayden tells him. “The longer we stand here, the bigger the chance the Savages will find us all and kill us right here. The Colling Wolves might not hold them off for long.”
Brett bites his lip so hard that he draws blood.
“Then I'll go in and get her,” I say. “She already hates me and me dragging her out won't make any difference. We don't infect her until we get her back to our territory.”
“Then she might call the Savages to us to save her own skin,” Brett says.
I balk at him. “She'd let them kill you?”
“No. No. But she wouldn't know about my changes until it was too late. You might want to infect her before we even leave here.”
“We have to leave her able to run,” Everly says.
“You guys are carrying her if she can't,” Leonora says.
I've had enough. I'll go in and do the deed myself. I motion to Cayden and Everly. I can't bear to separate Remo and Leonora, even if they have been fighting a little lately.
“I'm going up with you,” Brett says. “Just don't make it too painful.”
He follows the three of us to the front door and unlocks it for us. Despite everything, he's kept the house key. Deja vu washes over me as I relive the time he made me come here to collect his sister before. Now we're doing it again and hopefully for good this time.
“Karina. I'm home,” Brett announces, stepping through the door and spreading his arms.
She doesn't respond at first. Cayden and I stand back in the doorway while Brett enters the dark house, which despite Karina hanging fake flowers everywhere, is still mostly a dump. I keep forgetting this is a girl maybe a year younger than me out here, living among all the Savages and the twisted cult. And becoming more and more like them.
“Oh, Karina. I'm finally back and in one piece,” Brett sings.
She still doesn't respond, though I catch her burning hay scent from upstairs. She smells like her brother now, with a trace of magic, but also worse, like someone has put burning poison into the fire that is her smell. Karina herself has worsened over the past several months.
Brett looks at me with confusion. She's never like this, he means to say.
Despite the fact that he still disgusts me, I draw closer to Brett and whisper, “Maybe she knows. Maybe she's been spying on you.”
“What?” Brett mouths.
“She did it to me,” I hiss.
Brett steps back, almost into the kitchen, and seems to think. “That's bull,” he whispers. “I'll go up there. I bet she's just listening to music and has her earbuds in. She does that sometimes.”
And then Brett storms up the stairs.
I follow him. My gut tells me this won't be good.
“Brett,” I hiss, but not before Cayden grabs the back of my shirt.
“Let me go instead,” he says.
Even though Brett's really been trying not to drain us, I see the broody Cayden when I look into his eyes. The darkness lingers in the black, a twisting pain he can't seem to escape. Brett's been draining him on the way here, just more slowly than he did in the cabin.
“You stay back,” I say as his darkness washes over me. With this happening we don't need the dark spirits to torment us. “Here, the curse will really hit you. We're not in our territory anymore. Please. Stand back and let me follow.”
Brett bangs on Karina's door. “Open up. It's your brother.”
“Go away!”
Karina is so full of hatred that I jump. She has nothing but loathing for her brother and I can hear more than the rest of the pack can. I just hope Brett can't detect it.
“Yo. It's me and I'm bringing you a way out of here, whether you like it or not.”
“You ditched me here.”
Karina's four words shatter the house. Brett steps back, paling until his face looks like the moon. Brett looks to me and Cayden, and in my distraction, I let Cayden finish going up the stairs. He joins Brett at Karina's closed door.
“You left me and you started working with them, knowing you could never come back!”
Silence drags out. Karina knows about all this?
Brett's jaw falls. “Sis. They forced me in. I didn't ask for it. Now I can't come back here. Believe me, if that hadn't happened I would have been right back. So our only choice now is to leave, and the two of us have to go now while we have an escape. You wait any longer and you're never getting out of this place.”
I might hate Brett but I like his style.
Karina continues. I read just as much betrayal in her voice as I do in Brett's. “I've built everything here, Brett. It's not my fault I've adjusted better than you have. I know you never liked Artemis.”
“She's not your mom,” Brett shouts. He's losing it. “She's just an old witch who cares about making the cult stronger and she's using you to get there. You're coming with us and I don't care what you say. I'm coming in.”
“Brett,” I hiss, but it's too late.
The young warlock tears open Karina's door, breaking the lock. But Karina is ready. The dark-haired girl is holding not a magical dagger or a bag of burning herbs, but a baseball bat.
And she swings it at her brother.
Brett's not facing me so I can't see whatever look he has on his face, but I can't imagine. Karina strikes him in the chest, sending him back from the door. We look at each other in horror. Cayden swallows while Everly darts up the stairs to join us. Outside, Remo tells Leonora that something's happening.
Brett grabs the doorframe.
“Karina?”
“You joined them!” she shouts. “You're my only family and you promised to stay here. Now you're not coming back. I saw it all.”
“You were spying on me?” Brett staggers back up. “You can spy on people? And I thought you considered Artemis your mom.”
Brett didn't know this. I have to step in. If we get Karina back and she hates him, then Brett won't want to help us. And I can't bear to watch this. Karina is the only thing that makes Brett a person. Without her, he's going to slide all the way into the dark and doom us all.
“It's my fault,” I say, marching forward. “I had the idea to turn Brett. Your brother tried to run, but we caught him. And if you're going to take out your rage on anyone, it's going to be me.”
Chapter Fourteen
Karina still holds the baseball bat, standing among her pretty blue room. I face her. Her deep eyes show abandonment and hurt. She's so full of anger that she can't think straight. But then she hardens and becomes just a young, nasty witch. “You turned him?”
“How did you know he turned?” I ask. “And yes. We did. Stop taking your rage out on your brother and listen to us. We made it so he can't go back to the cult. We're the ones who forced him over. Your brother's telling the truth and just wants the two of you to stay together.”
Karina's not having it. “I saw you working with them.” She turns her hatred on Brett, who has fully recovered from the blow and returns to the doorway.
“Well, you just hit me with a baseball bat, so I say we're even.” The sarcasm is back. Brett lunges at Karina before she can react and seizes her arm. “Someone do the deed. We're going to have to force her until she sees logic.”
“What?” Karina drops the bat, since Brett is grabbing that arm, and tries to kick her brother instead.
Brett drags her out of the room.
And outside, I hear something I don't like. In the distance, Wolves run, some chasing the others. And as the seconds pass, they seem to be getting closer. Either the Savages are chasing the Colling Wolves or vice versa and they're coming in this direction. Wolves might have already died. Whatever's happening, the distraction isn't going as planned.
“We have to go,” I say. “We'll infect her later.”
“No. Now,” Cayden says, ripping off his jacket. He won't let me or anyone else do the deed.
“I'll do it,” Everly says.
“We don't have time,” I shout. “They're all coming and I hear at least fifteen Wolves. There's no way we'll fight them all.”
Brett drops his sunglasses and for the first time in forever, I see his real eyes. They're wide. “I agree.”
He has the honor of dragging Karina down the steps. Once we're downstairs I can hear the approaching Wolves much better. Remo and Leonora are waiting for us, wide-eyed.
“Wolves,” Leonora says. “Remo says they're a half mile away.”
“We go now,” I say. Karina could pull some magic to bring the Savages to us. What if she's vengeful enough to kill her brother?
“What are you doing?” Karina demands.
“No one's bit her yet?” Remo asks.
“Go!” I shout.
Remo backs outside and Brett pulls her through the front door while Cayden and I wait. I don't miss the wide terror in Brett's eyes. We follow them outside, leaving the door open. The Savages might be stupid, but they might not miss the fact that someone was just in the house.
Brett drags Karina across the yard so fast she can barely keep up at a full sprint. We bolt into the trees as I search the line for any sign of Wolves. I can't see them yet, but I hear one snapping at another. The two go down, snapping and clawing as flesh rips. My mind goes to that kid who might be fighting among them, who would be fighting among them, just like Wyatt. And it's at my word.
But we can't stop now. Finding the trail, Brett runs ahead with Karina. Remo stops to pick up Leonora and Cayden slips his jacket back on. Darkness swirls at the corners of my vision, stronger than before. Karina, though she runs with Brett, has her gaze turned down to the gravel trail.
She's drawing them here. Her dark spirits are somehow bringing the fight in this direction.
The Savages will still defend her. I know what I have to do, because Brett won't do it.
Running ahead, I raise my fist and aim at the back of Karina's head. I punch at the thick bone at the back of her skull, getting a sick thunk in return. She slumps in Brett's grasp, losing consciousness, and he stops, whirling on me.
“Carry her,” I order. “She's drawing them to us.”
Brett's jaw falls again and he's speechless because he knows what that means.
“Carry her! She'll heal once we're out of here and be fine,” I say. “And she won't feel the bite.”
“Brett?” Karina asks, stunned. She sinks into a crouching position and spits up on the ground.
Still speechless, Brett kneels and picks up the sister who would have killed him. At the same time, another Wolf yelps in the distance, and the fight shifts towards the house instead of us. Already the darkness retreats, leaving me able to breathe, but it doesn't matter. Brett won't take his gaze off the ground as he straightens up with his sister in his arms, a sister who just tried to take his life, and begins to run.
* * * * *
The fight gets farther and farther away as we cross the territory line and pass the giant fallen tree trunk. I leave the Savage stench behind, glad to breathe clean air again, but Brett, still carrying his sister, doesn't say a sarcastic word. He's just suffered a wound no brother should ever have to suffer.
We slow through the neutral territory, and my worry for the Colling Wolves starts to build as we do. I ordered them over there. The kid--
“Brie, you're getting all guilty again.” Cayden leans over to my ear so close his breath warms my cheek.
A tingle sweeps over me. Even still somewhat affected by Brett's ability to drain, he doesn't fail to bring that feeling back.
“I know,” I say.
“The Colling Wolves wanted to fight. Even Don,” Cayden says. “We've always fought the Savages. If we're lucky, they'll take out a bunch of them.”
“But that kid,” I say.
Cayden sighs as we keep walking through the trees. He watches as Remo puts Leonora down so she can walk, too.
“I know. He wanted to fight. Even you couldn't have stopped him. My father couldn't keep Wyatt out of any fights, either. But that Allen kid is strong. If anyone makes it out, it's him.”
Ahead of us, Brett stops. Karina is awake in his arms now, but she squints her eyes in pain and rubs her head with her free hand.
She must have an epic headache at the back of her head and maybe I even gave her a concussion, which Mrs. Fogerty at the store always says is more horrible than it sounds. She had one as a kid and it took her months to recover.
Neither of the Hayde siblings speak. It's not every day someone learns their sister who they swore to protect has tried to kill them. For a moment I forget about Aunt May and the Colling Wolves and march up to Karina. Brett won't look at her. He looks ahead like a zombie.
Karina, however, turns her gaze to me. I don't feel the dark spirits swirling around me. Her headache must be ruining her concentration and I'm glad I delivered the blow.
“It's going to take a lifetime to earn your brother's forgiveness,” I tell her. “A lifetime. Do you understand that? You did the most disgusting thing I've ever seen anyone do. You don't deserve Brett or anybody else.”
Karina responds by spitting at me. But she must be dizzy, too, because her spit misses by a foot and sails to the pine needles and dirt.
“Mature,” I say.
“No kidding,” Cayden adds.
But then a round of weakness sweeps over me and the world spins, despite Karina looking back to the sky and taking her focus off me. Brett sighs and I understand. He's sucking the energy out of me again in his despair, unable to help it. Karina is why he's become such a monster.
I can't fix these people. They're both broken, maybe beyond repair.
“Back away from him,” Cayden says.
We're together again and we're not supposed to be, at least around Brett. Cayden grabs my arm and pulls me out of the danger zone. Remo and Leonora look at us with wide eyes. Already I can breathe easier and strength flows back into my limbs, but a sense of despair lingers. What if Brett won't want to help us after this? He no longer has anything to lose.
“I know what I am,” Brett says, staring away from us and into the trees. “And I don't know if I can change that.”
Karina remains silent. I wish she would say something. Anything. But even from twenty feet away, I can feel the wall she's put around herself. Her silence tells me everything I need to know. It's all hopeless.