by Clara Cody
We crept silently through the basement, listening carefully. A low groan, almost too weak to hear came from behind a door on the far side. We advanced, keeping a watchful eye all around us.
The door protested as I pushed it open. Annie gasped. A man sat, tied to a metal chair, blindfolded with a filthy rag, blood dripping from a cut above his eye and another from his mouth. His face, chest and arms were badly bruised.
“What do you want now?” he spat. “My teeth? I don’t know anything!”
“Mr. Brunner?”
He sat up. “Who’s that?”
“I’m a friend of Elise’s. We’re getting you out of here.”
“Elise?” His lip trembled. “Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. Just worried about you. Like I said, we’re going to get you out of here.”
He nodded. “They’ll be coming back soon.”
“Beavis and Butthead, you mean?” I pulled the blindfold from his eyes as Annie untied his hands.
He blinked, even in the dim light of the basement and rubbed his free hands. “Yeah, those two never shut up. Listening to them was almost as bad as the beatings they gave me.”
“Are you okay? Can you walk?”
“Yes, I think so.”
As we stepped out of the small room, we found the basement suddenly full of men, pointing guns at us. Lucas stood in the middle, Gina next to him, grinning like a fox.
“Drop the guns, Mr. Thorne.”
Elise
I sat at the top of the stairs by the door, listening for any sound or clue to come through. I had listened as Jason and the rest left, and Lacey moved about the house, doing God-knows-what. I yelled and yelled, begging her to let me out. I knew I’d promised Jason to stay put, but being locked up in the basement all by myself was torture. How was Lacey not going insane right now? How could she just putter around the house like nothing was wrong? The TV came on. Some game show. I rolled my eyes.
Anxious, I picked at the door, peeling off bits of paint and wood and discarding them next to me. A nice pile was starting to form at my feet.
I heard the front door open, making me sit up. A unfamiliar man’s voice. They seemed to be friendly with one another. Who the hell could be coming over today of all days? Other than Silvie, no one had dropped by the house in the past few days, and now some guy showed up, out of the blue? I didn’t like it. I leaned in, pressing my ear against the door.
“—locked away.” I could barely make out what Lacey was saying. “Did you bring the amulet?”
They had the amulet? At least she knew where it was. No, I didn’t like it at all. “Hey!” I shouted, banging on the door. “Let me out!”
“Come on,” Lacey said. “Let’s get her.”
I backed away from the door, creeping down the stairs. The door flew open. Lacey stood at the top with a man who was tall, but not as big and burly as Jason and his brother. He lacked the dark eyes and his hair was sandy brown instead of the dark chestnut color that the Thornes shared. Definitely not one of them, then.
“Who are you?”
“Ryan. I’m a friend of Sean’s. You coming or not?”
Lacey rolled her eyes. “Oh, sure, she’s been yelling for the past twenty minutes, and now she doesn’t want to come out.”
“What are you doing here?” I snapped.
He held up a bundle of red flannel. “I brought the amulet.”
I raced up the stairs. “Does Sean know you’re here?”
He nodded. “He asked me to come out and keep an eye on you both, just in case things went south. He doesn’t know I brought this, though. If they aren’t back for another hour, we’re supposed to hightail it out of here.”
“That’s not going to happen,” I said, crossing my arms.
He seemed almost amused. “Oh, no?”
“No. What we’re going to do is take that goddamned amulet and bring it to the train station.”
“It’s dangerous, Elise,” Ryan said. “Sean and Jason won’t use it.”
“Dangerous enough to protect the people we love? Sounds good to me. What about you, Ryan? Can you use it?”
He shook his head. “I won’t. You can’t always control it…control yourself. I like my control, thanks. Had to learn that the hard way.”
“You’d let Sean die—”
“Hey,” Lacey said, stepping in between us. “Lay off him. He knows more about this than you do. More about losing control than an uptight, straight-laced chick like you ever would.”
I glared at her. “You know what? You’re right. I wouldn’t know anything about losing control. Because I never do.” I grabbed the red flannel bundle from his hand. “That’s why, if it comes down to it, I’m going to use it. And you’re going to tell me how.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Jason
Clenching my jaw, I did as Lucas said and dropped my gun. There were at least ten men surrounding us, with Lucas and Gina standing in the middle. They’d been expecting us.
“I take it you just couldn’t wait to bring me the amulet.”
“I don’t think he has it, Lucas,” Gina said. She licked her lips, looking hungry. “Give me ten minutes with him, and I’ll find out where it is.”
“Don’t be foolish. Of course he does. Else why would he be here, taking my prisoner? You wouldn’t do a stupid thing like that, now would you?” His voice grew louder. “Search him.”
Two men from either end of the row of guards dropped their weapons and came around behind us to pat us down. They took the knives that we held on our belts, the handgun that Annie had hidden behind her back, and the fake amulet. So much for using it as a diversion. Now, in our human forms, we were defenseless.
The guard brought the amulet to Lucas, treating it like it was a bomb ready to explode. He seemed relieved to hand it off. Lucas’ eyes were hungry as he pulled the fabric away from it. Then, the look died and his eyes turned to me, glaring. “What the hell is this?” He threw it aside, the thing clanging against the hard floor. “You bring me this…forgery?” He turned to one of his henchmen. “Take care of them.”
Before I had a moment to react, I felt an explosion of pain in the back of my head. Everything went dark.
When I woke up again, we were tied up, just like Mr. Brunner had been. My head throbbed so bad, I thought it was a ticking time bomb, ready to go off. Mr. Brunner was awake, but out of it, his head rolling back. Maybe they’d given him something to make him harder to rescue or just easier to deal with. Sean and Annie were still out. “Sean! Annie!”
Sean stirred, but Annie stayed still, blood dripping from her cheek, a mean bruise forming under her eye. She must have put up a fight. More than I did, at least.
It took a minute for Sean to fully come to. “Why didn’t they just kill us?” he asked, weakly.
There was only one reason that I could think of that was even remotely comforting. “Because they still need to know where the amulet is. As long as they don’t know where it is, they need us.”
“We have to get out of here,” Sean said. “They’re going to set that bitch lose on us, and I doubt she’ll make it quick for any of us. She’s fucking insane.”
I nodded. “So, we´ll get out of here before that happens. Any ideas?” I pulled against the ropes binding my hands and legs, testing them. My wrists were tied with heavy rope to each other and the chair. “I can’t get out,” I said. Breaking the rope is impossible. “I’m going to break the chair. It’s old, it probably wouldn’t take much to crack it, then I can at least stand up.”
“Okay, great plan. But how? You’re just as tied up as I am.”
“I know. But if I change, my arms and legs and everything is going to grow. A lot. It’ll put enough pressure on the wood to crack it.” At least I hope it will.
“And what about those ropes around your wrists and ankles. The bigger your arms get, the more its going to cut in. That could really hurt you.”
“Maybe. But I don’t see another option, do you?”
He looked away. “You can’t change. Not all the way. Your hands are behind you. If you change, they’ll break.”
I nodded. “I’ll stop it before it goes that far.”
“Can you?”
I knew the question he was asking. Had I ever really done it before? No. Why would I? The change was something that took over, that consumed you. As cubs we’d learned to control our urge to shift, to suppress it. But that control was necessary to stop us from turning in public or around other people. We never learned to control it while it was happening. But now I would have to. “Yeah,” I lied, giving him a cocky smile. “How hard can it be?”
“What about him?” Sean said, nodding in Mr. Brunner’s direction whose head rolled from side to side.
“He’s probably seeing enough pink elephants that he won’t think twice about a bear. Now, shut up and let me focus.” I closed my eyes, letting it come slowly. Everything had to be incredibly slow. If I let the change snowball, I wouldn’t be able to stop it. I maneuvered my feet around the chair and tucked them behind the wooden legs. With any luck, they’d snap like twigs.
As the change started, I thought of fishing. I felt myself standing in the cool, rushing water, waiting for a fish to swim past. I focused on the glistening, rippling water as my muscles grew thick and heavy. With my arms stretched behind, the muscles pulled painfully at my shoulders. My arms and legs dug into the wood, which pushed back, surprisingly strong. I hissed at the sharp, tearing pain, but kept my mind on the river.
Finally, I heard a crack and the front legs of the chair came out from under me. I toppled forwards, twisting in the air so that I would land on a shoulder instead of my knees. With the impact, the back of the chair shattered, and I felt something inside pop, giving a sickening sound. Blinding, sharp pain filled my shoulder. A yell, which sounded more like a roar, exploded from my throat. As excruciating as the pain was, it was good for one thing. It gave me something think about besides a calm river. The pain centered me, gave me something to focus on to control myself. I felt the change receding. Relief washed over me as I felt my muscles return to their normal state.
“Jason? Jason!”
“I’m all right,” I groaned. My shoulder was dislocated.
“Hurry up, they might’ve heard you yell before.”
That’s when we all heard the sound of heavy boots coming down the stairs.
Elise
The amulet in my jacket pocket practically buzzed with energy. I wiped the sweat from my brow, steering the truck through the ghost town and over the bumpy, broken road.
“So, what do we do? Just walk in there?” Lacey asked, holding on tight as we went over another bump.
“Something like that,” I said, pressing down on the gas pedal.
“Elise?” Lacey screeched.
I jerked the wheel, aiming the truck right for the train station. There wasn’t going to be any sneaking in. If Jason and the rest weren’t already out, they’d need a distraction. I planned to draw all of those fuckers’ attention.
“Elise!”
“The front door,” Ryan shouted from the back seat. It was open, any doors that had been there were busted or gone by now. We flew over another bump and landed with a jolt. My knuckles were white on the steering wheel. My heart pounded in my ears as we raced towards the building. Lacey screamed as we crashed through what little remained on the hinges, brick and mortar flying all over. The sound echoed through the building. I slammed on the brakes and practically flew through the windshield for it.
As I looked back through the rear window, the rest of the wall around the door came down, burying the entrance. Dust billowed up like a thick cloud. “That went well,” I said, panting.
“Get down!” Ryan shouted, pushing both of our heads down. Men in dark clothes appeared, guns held high. “On the count of three, run out to that hallway, over there.”
I looked out the window to see where he was talking about. There was a hallway that stood between two ticket counters. It wasn’t far, but it would be impossible to get there without getting shot.
“One…two…” His voice changed, suddenly sounding like a growl. “Three!”
Lacey and I launched out of the truck, just as Ryan burst from his clothes into a massive brown bear. I blinked at the speed and sheer force of his transformation. “Come on!” Lacey shouted, grabbing me by the arm. I snapped out of it and raced to the hallway as gun blasts popped behind us. I sent a little prayer out that Ryan would be okay as he raced towards the men with guns. Just as we made it to the hallway, a door burst open. I screamed, falling back against the wall as Jason stumbled out, propping my father up with one arm.
“Dad?” I launched myself towards my father, lifting his head. He was out of it, though. “Dad! Are you okay?”
His eyes barely opened a sliver. “Elise?” he slurred. “I think I saw a bear.” He touched my face. “You look just like—” His eyes slipped closed again as his head fell to one side.
“I think he’s okay,” Jason said, just as Sean and Annie came through the door. “What the hell are you doing here, though?” He looked behind me at the destruction we’d caused. “What’s going on?”
Lacey was already wrapped up in Sean’s arms, covering his face with kisses.
“We figured you’d need some help.” I saw the way his other shoulder hung oddly. “Clearly, we were right.”
“You shouldn’t have come. It’s not—”
“What? Safe? Well it wasn’t safe for you either and here you are.”
Ryan stumbled into the hallway, panting and covered in sweat and blood. “We gotta go. Now, while they’re taken care of. More will come, and I’d rather not be here when they do.”
Without waiting for Jason to respond, I slipped my father’s arm around my shoulder so I could help carry him to the truck. “Okay, let’s go.”
“Wait.” Jason suddenly stopped short. His eye gave a twitch. “What is that?” He turned and looked at me, then at Ryan. “You brought it, didn’t you?” He gave him a hard shove. “You motherfucker! We trusted you, we told you to stay the fuck away, to keep the amulet safe, and you brought it here!”
“Lacey told me you guys were in trouble.” He turned to Sean. “Didn’t see fit to tell me that yourself, huh?” Clearly the two had some history.
“You shouldn’t have brought it,” Sean said, sounding calmer than I ever would have expected from him. “But you definitely shouldn’t have given it to her.”
I felt heat rise in my face. What the hell was this guy’s problem with me? “Why not?” I asked. “I’m the only one with enough balls to use the damn thing.”
“Because you have no idea what the hell it is. A child doesn’t think twice about picking up a gun. It doesn’t mean he knows how to use it.”
“He’s right,” Jason said.
“You’re taking his side?”
“There are no sides. You’re not the first person to be tempted into using it, or the first person who thought they could control it. It’s dangerous. It could destroy you. It could destroy this entire building with all of us inside. Hand it over.”
“Fine.” I took it from my pocket. The red flannel fabric had loosened, falling around my hand. It was beautiful. A gold pendant with a dark black stone. I tore my eyes from it and slapped it into his hand. I watched as the fabric fell to the ground.
Jason sucked in a breath as his fingers closed on the heavy amulet. His eyes seemed locked on the object in his palm, both terrified and enthralled by it. The fear drained from his face, replaced by calm, which quickly turned into something else. Power.
I stepped back, suddenly not recognizing him. “What’s happening?” I whispered.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Jason
The amulet had always emitted a sort of soft hum. Now, sitting in my palm, it was more like a full orchestra was traveling through me. My breath shook from the rawness of the power throbbing from it. I felt not only strong, but complete. My shoulder moved painlessly b
ack into place, like it had never been hurt. It was both sickening and glorious. I didn’t know whether to throw up or smile.
“What’s happening?”
I looked up to see Elise. My beautiful, lovely Elise. I’d protect her. I’d protect everything and everyone she loved. Nothing would ever hurt her. Now, I thought, for the first time, that’s a promise I can keep.
“Jason,” Sean started, his voice very calm. “Put the amulet back. It’s not safe to touch. You know that.”
Poor Sean. He didn’t understand. He spent years with this thing hidden away, and he never understood the power. “It’s okay, Sean.” I slipped it around my neck, and I felt the amulet take hold. I gasped, feeling the power fill me.
Sean lunged for me, reaching for the amulet. I pushed him away, only trying to keep him at arms length, but he flew against the opposite wall with a crash. Elise and Lacey gasped.
“I’m sorry, Sean. But don’t do that again.” I stepped past him and into the lobby of the train station. I already knew it was empty. I could feel it. I sensed that there were no people or shifters. I also knew where Lucas was. I turned towards the stairs. Too far.
I leapt to the banister on the second floor, bypassing the stairs all together. The wood groaned under my hands.
“Jason!” Elise called. “Be careful!” I turned and gave her a smile, letting her know that I was okay, that I knew what I was doing. But she recoiled, turning her eyes. She held her stomach as if in pain. She was afraid of me. She doesn’t understand. I shook my head. Doesn’t matter. When she’s safe, she’ll know it was the only way. She’ll see. I’ll make her see.
“Lucas!” I roared, launching myself over the banister. I felt him in the room in front. I kicked the door in and found four men with guns pointed at my face. I could smell the fear pouring off of them. The men shook as their fingers pressed on their triggers. I darted out of the way with a speed that was impossible even for a shifter. They didn’t even see me coming when I smashed two of their heads together. The other two I threw against the wall with such force that I heard their bones snap. I turned to see Lucas and Gina cowering next to the window which they’d pried halfway open, hoping for escape. The trembling look on their faces thrilled me. After all they’d done, after all my loved ones they’d tried to hurt, now it was their turn to suffer.
