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FIFTY-SEVEN | AS THE WORLD FALLS DOWN
“Where are we going?” I asked, tucking myself into his tiny car.
“It’s a surprise,” he grinned, reaching over and touching my thigh. His warm hand brushed the soft denim of my jeans, and I shivered with pleasure. Like the sun, he’d burned away the clouds – for the time being, at least – and I was bathing in the sunlight of his golden eyes.
Outside, the dark pine trees rose, ragged, into the night sky. My eyes had adjusted, over time, and I could make out shadows upon shadows, and the slight differences in the shades of black that made up the shapes of the world as we drove by.
For the moment, cramped in Skye’s small car, with him beside me, I felt safe.
“Can you give me a clue?” I asked, settling back in my seat.
“Okay,” he said, his tone light and teasing. I liked this side of Skye, a hard and fun edge
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I couldn’t believe that I’d been so blind. Of course that was where I knew the name from. My truck rumbled beneath me, and I stared into the pretty front garden, unsure as to what my next move should be.The two weeks in the run up to the senior party had passed in a hectic blur of frenzied research. I’d almost forgotten about school, and Kathrena and I had doubled down together, more often than not with Skye, too, in an attempt to catch up on our work. I doubted that catching up was ever a position Kathrena had been in, in regards to homework, at least, and we struggled to find a balance between finding answers to the very real threat facing us, and keeping up appearances at home and at school.My spontaneous date with Skye had relaxed me, though I couldn’t keep up the walls pushing the world away for long. He’d asked me again what had happened, what had got me so shaken up, and I’d told him in quiet, stammering words that I’d found a tarot card in my bedroom. The card that signified
She Runs with Wolves FIFTY-NINE | WOODLAND
“I can’t believe the town are going to let this go ahead,” I said, brushing my hand across the wide leaf of a fern. It was spattered with rainwater, and it shimmered in the grey-drenched sunset trying to pierce through the cloud cover.Skye shrugged. “They won’t want to scare people. Everyone knows about the senior party. The adults will be looking out for their own kids.”“Yeah, but still,” Kathrena interjected. “There was an attack in public. With adults around.” She shook her head. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”I’d managed to convince Molly that I needed to know where the senior party was going to be held. It was kept under wraps until the day of, but I’d managed to get it out of her by offering up some gossip. The gossip itself wasn’t true, not exactly, but it got me what I wanted. The seniors would start setting up for the party this evening, so we’d arranged to meet at the clearing before they arrived, to check for any signs of potential attacks.“It doesn’t make any sense to me
She Runs with Wolves SIXTY | IMAGINE
I stepped out of the shower, following my normal routine, and my feet sank into the plush bath mat. I turned, without conscious thought, to face the mirror. As I was raising my hand to wipe the condensation away, I stilled.I didn’t want to see the fox again. Seeing it in my own reflection had scared me the most. The one I’d seen in the woods earlier could easily have scampered away; it could have been real. The one in the mirror looked like it was real, though, and that was the problem.I’d never been scared of anything as a human. But, I supposed, I’d never had to deal with anything actually scary before. This was new territory for me – for all of us – and with that in mind I left the bathroom mirror behind, still steamy, still unusable.For the first time since I’d been turned, I was grateful that I couldn’t feel the cold. The dress I’d picked out for tonight was slinky and short, and, though I was going to layer a jacket over the top of it, it would undoubtedly still leave me too c
She Runs with Wolves SIXTY-ONE | COCOON
“What was that all about?” Kathrena hissed, once we were seated in my truck.Kathrena looked stunning, in a simple calf-length green dress that shimmered softly in the dim cabin light. Her black bob was neat, her dark skin was dewy, and she’d slicked eyeliner on in wings that gave her a mysterious cat-eye.I shrugged, my jacket sliding down my shoulder. “He wanted to make amends,” I said, raising my eyebrows. “I think I’ve upset him. We used to spend so much time together, but now, with you, and with Skye, and with school, and all of this research – well, let’s just say that Falmer hasn’t been at the top of my list of priorities.”“That’s understandable,” Kathrena sighed. “I feel like everything has changed this year.” She shifted uncomfortably as we pulled out of the driveway. “I never liked being this way before,
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She Runs with Wolves SIXTY-THREE | SENIOR PARTY (PART 2)
“You – you what?” I stammered, keeping my voice as quiet as I could over the pounding, rhythmic music. “I don’t understand.”“Don’t lie to me, Ellis,” she hissed, her tearful eyes narrowing. “Grandma Rosie told me. She felt your hand, Ellis, and she told me what you are.”“Wait a minute,” I said, utterly confused, now. “What did your Grandma Rosie say, exactly?”Rowan rolled her eyes at me, though the smudge of mascara beneath her right eye considerably lessened the effect. “That you’re the one who attacked Toby.”“Woah,” I hissed, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her further into the woods. “Rowan, I promise you, I didn’t. I’m your friend, Rowan, and every part of that friendship is real for me. I would never hurt Toby, or you.”&ldqu
She Runs with Wolves SIXTY-FOUR | SENIOR PARTY (PART 3)
My eyes widened, and I span around, gesturing wildly but silently at Skye. He frowned at me, confused, and then I heard a thud.It sounded heavy, meaty, and then: “Alfie?”I launched myself towards Danny, sprinting through the dark, damp foliage as fast as I could. There was something else in the wood, something faster, black on black, a shadow of a shadow, and then there was another, terrible thud.“Danny?” I whispered, trembling. I put my arm out to steady myself – the darkness was too thick, I couldn’t see – and then I screamed.I was leaning on a white birch tree, and, just below my hand, was a tar-like smear that looked like a handprint.Then my eyes adjusted, and, face down in the dirt, were two bodies. Danny, and, I assumed Alfie. My hands flew to my eyes, desperate to shut out the image. I couldn’t deal with another –
She Runs with Wolves SIXTY-FIVE | DREAMSCAPE
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