by Skye Malone
I hesitated. I needed a way to tell the others without those idiot landwalker elders learning what I was. Chloe hadn’t said anything about that to Olivia and from what I could tell, Ellie hadn’t either – though God knew why. But I appreciated it.
If I had it my way, the fewer people who knew I wasn’t human, the better.
I glanced to Chloe. She was looking back and forth between Phil and Robin like she was watching the tennis match from hell. At her side, Baylie held one hand protectively to Chloe’s arm, while Ellie was studying her phone, which was once again buzzing.
I swallowed, scanning the clearing. There had to be a way to get their attention.
Zeke was watching me.
I hesitated, but there wasn’t another option. The girls weren’t looking our way.
My gaze twitched illustratively back toward the forest. He drew a breath, tensing.
At Chloe’s side, Baylie caught sight of his motion. She looked to me and obviously read something of what was going on from my face.
“Uh, guys?” she called.
“And I don’t believe we can just– what?” Robin cut off.
“I, um… I think someone’s coming,” Baylie finished.
They all paused. Olivia’s eyebrow climbed.
“Excuse me?” Phil asked, disbelief clear in his voice. Craning his neck, he looked beyond us to the trail, while Robin leaned past him to do the same.
Dave fidgeted anxiously. “Were you expecting anyone else?”
Olivia shook her head, still studying Baylie.
I took the opportunity to move closer to the trees, straining to hear anything more. I couldn’t pick up on any of my cousins, although that didn’t mean much. Stupid as they were, they’d still know I’d be near Chloe. They’d hide their presences so I wouldn’t be able to tell they were coming.
Though, on that account, they also wouldn’t make noise. Or talk. They were good enough hunters to be careful about that, especially when they knew I’d hear them.
My brow drew down. Something wasn’t right.
A rustle came from beyond the opposite side of the clearing.
I looked back toward the sound.
“We need to go,” Baylie said, seeing my expression. “Now.”
Chloe and Zeke were already getting to their feet.
Another branch snapped, the sound coming from a different direction entirely.
A breath left my chest. We were surrounded.
How the hell had anyone gotten around us without me hearing them?
I pushed the thought aside. The answer was standing in the middle of the clearing, still seeming like they wanted to continue their argument. And meanwhile, I was burning time.
I strode toward Chloe and Baylie.
Ellie looked between us and Olivia. “What do we do?”
Olivia just watched us, saying nothing.
Something inside me went cold. She wasn’t helping. She only stood there.
Like we were a science experiment. Like she’d set this up.
“Come on,” I said, jerking my head toward the far side of the clearing. I hadn’t heard anyone that way yet. Maybe they hadn’t gotten that far.
Chloe nodded and hurried after me, with Baylie and Ellie sticking close behind. When I reached the next rise, I glanced back to see Zeke throwing a quick look to the other directions and then following as well.
“Now hang on,” Phil blustered, starting after us. “We don’t have any evidence there’s anyone actually–”
“Excuse me, folks.”
I froze. I knew that voice.
Turning, I looked back at the camp. A portly man wearing a brown police uniform walked out of the forest. Two guys followed him, both dressed in camouflage with rifles strapped to their backs, and I didn’t recognize them at all. But the portly guy was the police chief from Reidsburg. The one Chloe had been anxious about, back that day when her parents had taken her to the station.
Right before they’d heard about Harman. Right before they’d brought her to Iowa to be experimented upon.
It was hard to keep my skin from changing.
Two other men walked through the underbrush on either side of the clearing, one of them that nervous police officer from Reidsburg - Aaron or Adam or something – and the other a guy in camo gear who was damn near twice the scrawny cop’s size.
I tensed, putting my money on the last guy being greliaran if any of them were.
A branch snapped behind me. Another man with a rifle stepped from the forest onto the path.
“What seems to be the trouble, officer?” Olivia asked carefully, her dark eyes scanning the people surrounding us.
“Well, ma’am, my friends and I were looking for a group of runaways, and we had reason to believe you’d know where to find them. Local park ranger told us you might be up here and—” Chloe stopped breathing when he glanced to her. “—seems we were right. So now I’d like to ask you to turn those kids over to us. I’d hate for this to get awkward.”
“I don’t know anything about any runaways, officer,” Olivia answered. “These are my business associates and our children. We were just having a picnic.”
She gestured to the blue cooler bag and then glanced to the other three elders, something sharp in her eyes.
The chief gave her a weary look. “Ma’am, I imagine you know me and my friends here pretty well, just like we know you and your ‘business associates’. Doctor Brooks sent us, so I’d appreciate it if you’d drop the act. These kids are runaways. One of them’s got her grandfather back in town, worried sick and hoping she’s safe. And one of them’s going to be taken in for murder in not too much longer, once we settle the question of how he’s here.” His gaze flicked to Zeke and then returned to Olivia. “So with all due respect, please get out of our way.”
Olivia paused. “If you know who we are, then you realize how bad an idea it is to argue with us.”
The men surrounding us tensed. Fear in her eyes, Ellie glanced back to us and then retreated up the trail, coming closer to Chloe and me.
My brow drew down warily.
“But we’re trying to help Chloe,” protested the scrawny cop on the far side of the clearing. “Surely you can see that? Just help. You don’t need to–”
“Quiet, Aaron,” the chief ordered, not taking his eyes from Olivia. “Yes, ma’am,” he acknowledged carefully. “I do know. But I hope you realize that we’re here with the backing of your other business associates. And they want these kids to come home too.”
“T-they wouldn’t agree to this,” Dave stammered.
The chief rested his hand on the gun attached to his belt, his expression unchanged. “They have.”
No one moved. I made myself keep breathing.
“Alright,” Robin said.
I looked to the petite woman in alarm.
She stepped past Olivia, holding out her hands peaceably. “Alright. Just take it easy. There’s no need for this. Just look around. No one wants to see bad things happen in so nice a place. If everyone’s decided to make this problem disappear, then we need to go along with that.” Robin looked back. “Right? I’m sure everyone knows how important it is for us to stick together on these things.”
Dave gave a jerky nod, while Phil simply grunted with annoyance and turned a tired glare on the scrawny cop and his behemoth companion.
Olivia didn’t move. “You’ll regret this, Robin.”
The woman smiled as if the idea amused her. “I doubt it. You heard him. Everyone else is in agreement and I’d rather not go rogue, if it’s all the same to you. I like my job.”
Olivia’s jaw tightened. She looked away, finding the man standing behind us, and after a heartbeat, she sighed.
I stared at them. I couldn’t believe this was happening.
“Okay, then.” Robin turned to the police chief with a smile. “Go on.”
In unison, the landwalker elders closed their eyes and da
rted in different directions like kids playing both roles in a game of hide-and-seek simultaneously.
The guys around the clearing shouted in alarm.
I stared at the elders in confusion, and then my gaze snapped to the cop and his friends.
The men were blinking or squinting at the forest. Their hands went to their faces and then flung outward, swiping at the air in front of them.
As though they were blind.
Footsteps charged us. I spun and then stumbled back when the man on the trail behind us ran forward, his hands clutching at the air as if to grab anything in reach.
Chloe and the others scattered. The man staggered past them, moving like he was dizzy or drunk, and then a root caught his foot, sending him sprawling to the ground.
We stared. Gasping, he fumbled at the rocks and branches as though he couldn’t figure out what they were. With a furious cry, he shoved away from the ground, trying unsteadily to reach his feet.
Ellie turned to us. “Go,” she mouthed desperately.
I looked from her to the chaos in the clearing, and then I snagged Chloe’s arm. Pulling her with me, I took off down the trail.
Chapter Eight
Chloe
With frantic glances over my shoulder, I ran after Noah along the path. His hand held my arm like a vice and he was moving so fast, Baylie and Ellie were having trouble keeping up. Behind them, Zeke followed with an eye to the trail, his every motion ready for a fight even if he hadn’t let any spikes come out yet.
I couldn’t blame him. Harman had sent Chief Reynolds after us, along with the chief’s nephew and a bunch of guys who looked like they belonged on a hunting reality show.
And meanwhile, the landwalker elders had superpowers.
I swallowed hard. Landwalkers didn’t have magic. That was sort of their thing. They were basically human, just with an allergy to the ocean and a really weird history. That was it.
And Mom and Dad couldn’t do that. They couldn’t do anything like that at all.
They absolutely would have used it on me otherwise.
A gunshot rang out behind us. I stumbled to a stop and looked back.
The forest was still and we were fine. But it sounded like someone in the clearing had gotten their hands on their gun.
“Come on,” Noah said, his voice tight.
We kept running. The trail dipped briefly and then rose again to climb higher along the mountainside. Past the dense tree cover, more mountains surrounded us, all of them appearing impossibly close. In the valley below, a river flowed like a ribbon of silver and blue. The sunlight hit us in fuller force when we continued out of the shadow of the slopes, bringing the summer heat with it.
I had no idea where we were going.
Noah seemed to have the same thought. Casting a quick look over his shoulder to the trail, he slowed. “Where to?” he asked Ellie.
The girl choked down a breath. “Mom and Dad live a few miles from–”
“Harman could be there,” Zeke cut in.
Breathing hard, Ellie hesitated. “We could hide. Olivia and the others will find us.”
“Or Chief Reynolds could,” Baylie countered.
Ellie’s desperate expression grew stronger. “I don’t know what else to do.”
Noah frowned, glancing to the trail again.
“We keep going,” Zeke said. “Circle back to the car and get out of here.”
I looked between him and Noah. Of all of us, they had to be the most exhausted, and the car was miles from here.
“The trail doesn’t connect,” Ellie said, almost as if apologizing for the path. “It… it just goes on to join up with others deeper into the mountains. You have to go back the way you came to reach the parking lot.”
I let out a breath. “Then yeah, we need to hide. Wait for those elders to find us and tell us if the coast is clear.”
Grimaces crossed the others’ faces, all of them tinged by varying degrees of fatigue or concern. Baylie hadn’t been wrong either. Chief Reynolds or his goons could find us instead. But then, they’d probably have split up by now, so maybe we’d only have to deal with one or two of them.
And that was doable. Terrifying… but doable.
My stomach churned.
“Is there any place safe around here?” Zeke asked.
Ellie thought for a second. “Well, the Midnight Cave isn’t too far. We could hide there.”
“Somewhere less obvious?” Baylie prompted. “The trail’s named for that. It’s probably the first place they’ll try to find us.”
Ellie looked helpless. “I-I don’t know anywhere else close. I mean–”
“Fine,” I cut in. “Which way?”
“I think…” Ellie checked around as if trying to get her bearings. “Up through here will be fastest.”
Still giving anxious glances to the direction of the gunshot, she started up the overgrown slope to the left of the trail.
We followed.
Brambles scratched my legs and caught on my shoes. Ellie murmured occasionally, pointing out poisonous plants or other hazards with her voice so low, I needed to strain to hear her. There wasn’t a path to speak of. There wasn’t anything, and when I looked back, I could barely trace our trail through the brush.
Which was a good thing, really. I just hoped we could find our way out of here if we had to keep moving after the cave.
We crested the rise. Ellie continued on, leading us around the slope and then down another, and every branch and dried leaf that cracked under our feet sounded like a gunshot in the quiet.
“There,” she said, pointing.
A strange contortion of the landscape had conspired to create a dip in the mountainside, as though a giant had taken a scoop to the slope and carved out a space. Shadows hung thick within the hollow, while a black space at the base marked the opening to the cave. Vines and tree roots dangled from the top of the thirty-foot-high entrance, though the sides were clear. When we came closer, I could see that amateur graffiti artists had taken advantage of that latter fact, opting to leave scribbles of their names along the boulders’ smooth faces. Grit dusted the cave floor, with a few cigarette butts tossed there as well. Beside the entrance, signs stood watch, warning everyone that flashlights and caution were needed for the area.
We hurried inside, and the air of the cave made the sweat on my skin cool instantly. The massive space was like a refrigerator, and the darkness was absolute.
I looked back. A narrow track ran up to the entrance. Sunlight shone down on it, though the brightness ended a few yards shy of the cave opening as a result of the strange shape of the mountainside.
“I’ll stay out of sight close to the entrance,” Noah said quietly. “Signal if I hear anyone coming.”
I glanced over and caught him watching me. I hesitated.
His brow twitched up, insistent.
I swallowed hard. “Okay.”
“Go ahead and do what you need to do to get deeper in there,” he continued. “Just don’t look toward the front till you’ve changed them back. If anyone comes this way, they might be able to spot the glow in the darkness.”
Drawing a breath, I nodded.
“Another dehaian thing,” Noah explained, glancing to Baylie. “Don’t freak out.”
She paused. “Alright…”
I let my eyes change. The darkness vanished, becoming nothing more than faint shadows and revealing a massive cavern that stretched back for hundreds of feet till a metal gate installed by the Park Service barred access to the area beyond. Water and time had worn dips and holes into the uneven cave floor, though someone had taken care to spray-paint rings around the worst of the depressions as a warning. Bulky protrusions of rock warped the cavern walls, most of them worn smooth by the same forces that had pocked the floor. Moisture dripped from the distant ceiling, staining the stone in mold-encrusted swaths.
Baylie’s breath caught when I looked over at her. Beside her
, Zeke watched me, his eyes glowing brilliant sapphire blue.
“What–” Baylie started, and then she blinked. “Seeing in the dark. Olivia said–”
“Just stick close to us,” I cut in. “Okay?”
She nodded, still staring at me.
I took her hand and then glanced to Zeke. He extended a hand to Ellie. The girl hesitated, nervousness written across her face stronger than ever, but after a heartbeat, she gingerly placed her fingers on his.
We started into the cave.
“Careful,” I whispered to Baylie when we neared a dip in the floor. Even to my eyes, the hole was dark, and I could hear water trickling down from it into whatever lay beyond. A grate covered the opening, the metal bars drilled straight into the rock. “Just a bit left… yeah.”
Her shoes scraped on the dirt and gravel.
“And left again, a little more…” I continued as we passed another hole.
Ellie squeaked with fright behind me and I fought the urge to look back to check on her. The glaring sunlight outside the cave would probably hurt if I looked directly toward it, given how adjusted to the dark my eyes were right now.
“You’re okay,” I heard Zeke whisper.
A choked sound answered his words, like Ellie was trying not to cry.
I kept going, maneuvering across the pockmarked floor. I could hear Baylie breathing beside me, the sound short and tense, and her hand trembled in mine.
“Around that rock there, Chloe,” Zeke murmured.
I nodded, seeing what he was suggesting. About ten yards ahead of the Park Service’s gate at the rear of the cave, a bulbous mass of stone stuck out from the wall. Larger than all the rest, the protrusion was nearly the height of the cavern itself. We’d be utterly invisible behind it.
“Little bit farther,” I told Baylie. “There’s a rock up here. We’re going to get behind it.”
She made a noise of agreement.
I led her around the side of the rock. Nothing much waited there; just moist gravel and mold that made my nose itch. Reaching up with my free hand, I gripped her shoulder and Baylie’s breath caught again.
“It’s kind of slimy back here,” I whispered. “Just stay put. You’re fine right where you are.”
