Behind me, something huffed a breath. It sounded big.
I really didn’t want to find out what it was. Still, I found myself pivoting slowly until I could see the moondrops again. As I watched, an enormous, shaggy paw descended on the far edge of the patch, crushing dozens of delicate blooms at once. A cloud of petals burst up from the ground like dandelion fuzz. Another paw followed the first, and the air was a flurry of flowers, a moondrop snowstorm.
Then from out of the black loomed the snarling face of a wolf.
Chapter 7
That thing couldn’t be real.
The wolf was impossibly huge. Its tufted ears were the size of traffic cones, its glittering eyes as big as plates. And those wicked ivory teeth looked longer than my forearm.
It grinned at me through the petal-filled air and huffed again, a low sound like a chuckle. The breath from its nostrils sent white fragments whirling in tight circles, and I felt the heat of it rushing across my face. A runner of silvery drool extended from one fang.
I turned and ran.
A rumbling growl chased me. Instead of looking back to see if it was gaining, I tucked the basket handle further up my arm and fumbled with my phone until it sprang to life. The momentary flash of brilliance let me avoid tripping over an exposed root, but the light faded almost instantly to a dull gleam.
I kept going. Now I could hear the wolf advancing, the growl climbing in volume and register to match the sound I’d heard last night. Even though I knew it was crap advice, I told myself that I’d be safe if I just made it back to the path. The thought kept me running while logic insisted I was five seconds from becoming breakfast.
My phone weakened steadily as the wolf’s howl strengthened. It let out a strident beep, and went completely dark. Momentum sustained me at full speed for a few seconds—so when my foot snagged against a big rock, I went flying.
I couldn’t see a thing, couldn’t tell when the ground was coming. But I felt it when I landed shoulder-first on hard packed earth. I bounced and rolled helplessly a few times, and came to rest in a painful, tangled heap.
The terrible howling stopped abruptly—but I could hear the wolf’s panting breath.
Biting back a scream, I opened my eyes to find that the darkness was no longer complete. A faint glow revealed that I’d made it to the path. The basket was a few feet away from me, crushed and torn, with a spray of thick crumbs that had been a honey cake bleeding from the bottom. There was no sign of the elixir bottle, broken or otherwise.
I looked for the source of the light. The wolf was just off the path, scant feet from me, with hundreds of shining moondrop petals caught in its thick fur.
The bottle of elixir lay between its massive front paws.
With gritted teeth, I pushed myself up to my knees and paused to gasp for breath. The shoulder I’d landed on was a fiery, throbbing cluster of agony, and my ribs felt like daggers in my chest. But somehow, I had to get that bottle.
The wolf stood there grinning—like it knew exactly what I wanted. I stared at it for a minute, trying to gather enough resolve to stand. Finally, I just did it. The sudden movement sent a wave of fresh pain through me. The whole world blurred, and I almost blacked out. I bit my lip hard to banish some of the dizziness.
Things swam into focus. They didn’t look any better when I could see them.
How was I going to get the elixir? I would’ve thrown something at the beast, hoping to distract it, but I’d dropped my phone somewhere out there and I didn’t see any handy rocks. The few spells I’d memorized wouldn’t help much, either. If the wolf was a bad habit, I could banish it. I was pretty sure the friendship spell wouldn’t win this thing over, and casting prosperity would only ensure that its next meal was me.
Then I remembered that I was a pushy, stuck-up city woman—and I had something that worked faster than spells.
“Are you hungry, you big, ugly beastie?” I crooned, taking a few steps closer while I slipped a hand in my pocket. My approach didn’t faze the wolf. In fact, its grin widened as it salivated in anticipation. “Okay, then,” I said. “Eat this.”
I pulled out my pepper spray and gave it three full pumps to the face.
The wolf flinched back with a yelp. It huffed twice, and let out a tremendous sneeze that sprayed me with drool and sent flower petals adrift in swirling clouds. I held my ground as it shook its great head fiercely, and then raised a paw to scrabble at its nose—leaving the bottle unguarded.
I ducked down, snatched it, and ran.
A bubbling howl rose from the wolf and lapsed into a pained cry that sounded almost human. I didn’t dare look back. Thanks to the drool-and-petal shower, enough of the glowing fragments clung to me that I could see about a foot ahead. I was headed deeper into the forest along the path, because from here it’d be shorter and safer to get to Nana’s.
After a few minutes, my pace slowed without any reduction in effort on my part. It felt like I was running against a giant rubber band. The harder I pushed, the slower I moved—until the pressure snapped all at once and spilled me to the ground.
With no time to figure out what that had been, I scrambled to my feet and ran faster than ever. At least I’d managed to hold onto the bottle this time. I didn’t hear any sign of the wolf, but for some reason that failed to reassure me. Wolves were famously silent predators.
The darkness around me began to soften. I could see streaming daylight around the bend ahead, where I just knew I’d find the clearing with Nana’s cottage. Whatever magic this was, it hadn’t surrounded her yet. Relief gave me an extra burst of speed.
But when I broke through the trees, I found myself staring across an expanse of grass—at the back of the village inn.
Chapter 8
“No way,” I croaked. “That did not just happen.”
I blinked a few times and rubbed my eyes, but I was still looking at Gate’s Rest. Maybe I had gotten turned around in the darkness—but I’d been positive I was headed the right way. At least until I got to that weird elastic barrier.
That had to be it. Whatever the barrier was, it’d twisted me the wrong way and flung me out of the forest. I couldn’t get to Nana’s unless I figured out a way around it, or through it.
I’d just call Mom. She’d know what to do. And besides, I desperately needed a shower to get the dirt and blood and wolf drool off me. Unfortunately, that meant going back to the inn and tangling with the big bear again. Maybe he was still asleep. If I was lucky, the room key would be right where I left it, and the door to the bear’s den closed and locked.
Just in case I wasn’t lucky, I stopped by the car for my bag, and stashed both the bottle and the cloak under the back seat. Some protection. I’d have to ask Mom about that, too, because it hadn’t protected me from anything—magic or otherwise.
I went inside. The lobby was empty, and the key to Room Three still sat on the untouched cash. I grabbed it and ran upstairs, before the empty status could change, and headed straight for the shower.
While I was in there, I took inventory. My shoulder was one big, black bruise, but it wasn’t broken or dislocated. It just hurt like hell. I had a bunch of minor scrapes and bangs, and I’d whacked my ribs pretty hard on a root or something, so breathing kind of sucked. But considering I’d faced down a wolf the size of a horse, I’d gotten off pretty easy.
I was also starting to reconsider my opinion of Jack. He’d told me about the moondrops, practically insisted that I pick some for myself. And they’d led the wolf right to me. There were a few other things that bothered me, now that I thought about it. Like, if he’d been traveling around visiting old cemeteries for a book, how had he never been on a plane until now?
Maybe I’d stop over and visit Brewster Jones before I headed back to the forest. Find out what he knew about our friend Jack.
I dried off gingerly and dressed in yesterday’s clothes, since they weren’t torn and covered in dirt. Then I perched on the bed, picked up the phone, and dialed Mom’s number.<
br />
She answered on the fourth ring with a cautious, “Hello?”
“Hi, Mom. It’s me.”
“Aurora, honey,” she said with a sigh of relief. “I tried to call your cell last night. I’ve been worried.”
“Yeah, there’s no reception out here.” I decided not to bring up the wolf thing just yet.
“Of course not. I should have known that.” She laughed a little, and then her voice grew serious as she said, “Have you been out to Nana’s? How is she?”
“Um. About that…”
Mom pounced on me. “What happened?”
I took a deep breath and gave her the PG-rated version of my aborted journey into the forest. I left out the stuff about Jack, and reassured her that I still had the elixir.
When I finished, she was silent for a minute. At last she said, “Well. That’s a bit worse than I thought.”
“That wasn’t exactly reassuring,” I said. “Any idea what’s going on here?”
Another pause. “I’ve never heard of these flowers you’re describing,” she said. “As for the wolf…I’m sorry, honey, but it sounds like you’re dealing with a shapeshifter.”
I snorted. “Terrific. Well, I guess that explains why the pepper spray worked so well.”
“You pepper sprayed it?”
“Yeah. I couldn’t find any rocks to throw.”
“That was very resourceful,” she said. “I’m proud of you, honey.”
“Thanks,” I muttered. I wasn’t feeling too proud. So far I’d seriously misjudged two people—one because he was hot, the other because he lived in the sticks—and failed to reach my Nana, who was sick and needed help. Zero for three wasn’t the best track record. “So, what do I do about the shapeshifter?”
She hesitated. “You have to pierce the heart with a silver blade,” she finally said. “You probably didn’t bring one with you, but don’t worry. Nana keeps hers in the stand by the door for emergencies. It’s one of the umbrella handles.”
“Wait. I’m killing it?”
“It’s really the only choice, once they’ve turned to spreading darkness,” Mom said, like she murdered shapeshifters every day. “If you don’t kill the beast, it will assume another form and keep growing stronger. But the blade alone won’t destroy it. Once it’s in, you have to cast a spell reversal.”
“Oh.” I sighed. Even if I managed to find the heart and pierce it, that wasn’t one of the spells I’d memorized. “Um, how does that one go again?”
“You don’t know it?”
I cleared my throat. “It’s on my phone. Which is probably crunched to pieces in the forest somewhere.”
“That is a basic spell, Aurora Leigh. You should know it by heart.” Mom let out a long breath. “You have such potential, honey. I wish you’d try a bit harder to live up to it. You’re a very powerful witch, you know.”
“Yeah, right.”
“I mean it,” she said. “Don’t you remember what you could do when you were little? You and Elias made quite the team.”
Just the mention of his name stung—and suddenly I realized why I’d stopped trying to learn. All the magic had gone out of my life with my best friend. And when we’d left the village, I hadn’t wanted to bring it with me.
“I remember,” I said slowly. “But I’m not sure I want to.”
“Oh, honey.” The warmth and concern in Mom’s voice was like a hug through the phone. “I should just come up there,” she said. “I’ll leave on the next flight.”
“No! I can handle it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.” Moping around and feeling sorry for myself was not helping Nana. And it was about time I accepted that Elias was gone, and actually applied myself to what I was born to do. My family was counting on me. “You’ve got way too much to do,” I said. “Just give me a quick refresher on that spell, and I’ll be fine.”
“All right.”
She walked me through the spell reversal until I had it down. Then I remembered the other little problem. “What about the barrier?” I said.
“Oh, that one’s easy. Just bring a couple of mirrors.”
I frowned. “Mirrors?”
“Yes,” she said. “Hold one in each hand, facing away from you, and walk through with your arms out to the sides. That should reverse things for you.”
It sounded too simple, but if Mom said it’d work, it would. Probably. “Thanks, Mom,” I said. “I’d better get going. Don’t want to wait until it’s too close to night.”
“Be careful out there, Aurora,” she said. “And call me after you see Nana.”
“I will. Love you.”
“I love you too, honey.”
I hung up and flopped back on the bed with a groan. I’d spent all day yesterday traveling, all night not sleeping, and all morning running for my life from a giant wolf. Exhausted was an understatement. Now I had to go out and gather supplies, and then face the forest again. By the time I got to Nana’s, I was going to need the restoration elixir too.
Somehow I convinced myself to get off the bed. Grabbing my bag, I left the room and locked it, and plodded downstairs.
Just as I reached the lobby, the front door opened—and the bear walked in. He didn’t look happy to see me.
“I thought you were leaving,” he rumbled.
“I did. Then I came back.” Damn it. When had he gone out? He had a brown paper bag in one hand, so he could’ve gone to the village store and back while I was in the shower. It was right down the road.
Or maybe he’d been gone all morning, shapeshifting into a wolf and trying to eat me. Then he’d stopped at the store because breakfast got away.
His eyes narrowed. “Where did you go?”
“For a walk,” I said. “Not that it’s any of your business.”
“Were you in the forest?”
My heart stuttered an erratic rhythm. “No,” I said in a very small voice that probably made it sound like yes.
“Damn it, lady!” He stomped across the room and tossed the bag on the counter. Then he turned a glare on me. “If I catch you anywhere near that place, I’ll stuff you in your car and personally drive you back wherever you came from. Stay away from those woods. Understand?”
“What is your problem?” I shouted. Never mind that he might be able to turn into a giant wolf and tear me to pieces. I’d had it with this hostility. Besides, if he was the shapeshifter, he knew exactly where I’d been—so either he wasn’t, or he was a really good actor. “You’ve been nothing but rude to me ever since I got here,” I said. “You don’t even know me. Do you treat everybody like a jerk, or am I special?”
“You haven’t exactly been a ray of sunshine yourself,” he snapped back.
“Yeah, well…you’re right. And I’m sorry about that.” I drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Why do you care where I go, anyway? You shouldn’t, as long as it’s away from you. I thought you wanted to get rid of me.”
His thunderous expression eased, and he stared at the floor. “The forest is dangerous,” he muttered.
No kidding. I was a little more convinced that he wasn’t the beast. But if this was his idea of trying to protect people, he needed a lot of work in the social tact department. “All right. I believe you,” I said. I couldn’t bring myself to flat-out lie and say I wouldn’t go in there, but I’d settle for a lie of omission. “Look, I gotta run.”
“To where?” Suspicion filtered back into his features.
Inspiration struck as I remembered I was supposed to be a stranger here. “I need to pick up a few things,” I said. “Can you point me to a store around here?”
“Depends on what you need.”
“Oh, you know,” I said. “Pushy, stuck-up city woman things.”
He grunted. There might’ve been a scrap of a laugh in there somewhere. “Ferguson’s General store’s right down the road,” he said, and pointed. “Left out of the parking lot, go about half a mile. You’ll see the sign out front.”
/> I smiled. “Thanks.”
“Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “By the way, I wouldn’t recommend mentioning that you’re staying here,” he said. “If you want people to talk to you, that is.”
My brow furrowed. “Why…”
“Never mind why.” His features closed off again. “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you. About everything.”
Before I could think of a response, he’d disappeared through the door behind the counter.
With a frustrated sigh, I headed outside. Obviously, there was more to this guy than the anger he wore like armor—but I didn’t have time to peel through any more. It’d been bad enough encountering the wolf during the day.
I didn’t want to find out what it was like after dark.
Chapter 9
My trip to the store went smoothly enough. Nellie Ferguson didn’t recognize me—I could tell, because I got the coldly polite treatment she reserved for strangers. I picked up two handheld mirrors, a three-pack of flashlights, and extra batteries, and then continued on to the village cemetery.
Heaven’s Passage lay on the south side of the village, rambling across a few acres at the base of the foothills that marked the northern edge of the Adirondacks. Last I knew, Brewster Jones lived in the pale yellow caretaker’s cottage just past the cemetery gates, which were open.
I drove through and pulled off the gravel path. It occurred to me that I’d seem a little suspicious coming to a cemetery to ask about a random person passing through town, but it was too late to change my mind now. Mr. Jones was sitting on a wooden glider on the porch, staring at my car with mild interest.
Wearing what I hoped was a non-suspicious smile, I climbed out and approached the steps. “Hello,” I said. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I was wondering—”
“Well, now.” Mr. Jones leaned forward and grinned. “You’re not a bother at all, young lady. Mercy Bishop’s granddaughter, aren’t you? Come on up here and have a seat.” He patted the arm of the chair next to the glider.
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