Behind us, Ivy hit the ground hard and a black cloud of smoke appeared behind her sending the two closest Venators flying backward. “Harlow, you and Nick should shift!” she yelled between jagged breaths, scrambling to her feet.
Harlow stared down at me, his expression clearly torn. “It's not me they're after, Harlow,” I breathed, encouraging him to follow Ivy's directions.
“Get yourselves out of here,” Harlow instructed, his eyes moving back and forth between Ivy and me. “Nick!” Harlow shouted to his brother as Nick twisted his attacker's arm, lowering him to the ground. And with a quick chin gesture, Nick gave the man a swift kick in the head, knocking him to the ground before he and Harlow veered off, disappearing into the trees with four Venators sprinting after them.
A loud crack tore my attention away from Harlow. I jerked my head toward the noise just in time to see a tree come crashing down, blocking the rest of the Venators from getting to us. “This way!” Ivy shouted, motioning for me to follow her.
“What about Dean and Blake?” I asked as we jogged through the underbrush away from the fight, seemingly unnoticed.
With an annoyed expression Ivy said, “They can handle themselves. We, on the other hand, have to find Sloan.” She yanked me by my sleeve so we were both hidden behind a tree.
“What are we doing?” I whispered, confused.
Ivy held her index finger to her lips to silence me and pointed ahead.
As I peered around the tree, Harris came into view. He moved cautiously, always keeping an eye trained on the perimeter.
A scream erupted from me as someone took a fist full of my collar into their grasp. “Thought you’d get away unnoticed, did ya?” a big man with a receding hairline asked, dragging Ivy and me out into the open by our necks.
Harris’ head snapped in our direction and he grinned maliciously. “Well, well, who do we have here?” he mused, shuffling toward us.
Something zapped like static and the man holding us let go automatically, yelling in pain and allowing Ivy and me to bolt.
“You idiot!” Harris shouted.
In my haste to get away, I tripped over a tree root, diving face first into the forest floor. Ivy scurried back to help me up. Behind us, Harris stopped in his tracks a few feet away, with a bewildered expression on his face and I followed his gaze to the snow. There lay the real necklace and fear for Harlow’s safety rose up within me.
Harris chuckled darkly, staring down at the fake pendant in his hand. “You almost had me fooled.”
Ivy tried to use magic to bring the necklace to her, but her attempt backfired with a ZAP!
As soon as Harris moved, I dove for the necklace. I was faster. But Harris was stronger. Rolling me over, he pinned my back to the ground. I kicked and fought back against his hold on me to no avail. Ivy jumped on his back, but his accomplice grabbed her, throwing her off and into a nearby tree. She lay motionless in the snow. As Harris pried the necklace from my grasp, the iron moon pendant zapped again and he dropped it onto my chest. I reached for it, but Harris grabbed my arm, pinning it above my head. As he pulled a handkerchief from the pocket of his coat, I grabbed hold of the rock pressing into my thigh and swung it into the side of his face with all my strength. On impact he toppled over, allowing me enough time to grab hold of the necklace and scramble to my feet.
With no sense of direction I took off through the trees. I’d only made it a few feet before Harris’ much bigger accomplice caught up to me, restraining me around the waist. “No!” I grunted through my teeth, kicking against his hold on me, as the man slowly but surely pried the necklace from my grasp. In the next instant, my body hit the ground so hard all the air left my lungs.
“I’ll be taking this!” Harris sneered—his face bloodied where I’d struck him—as he took the necklace from the Venator.
The fake necklace landed with a tiny plop beside my shoulder as they passed. Pushing myself onto my knees, I watched as Harris vanished into the night with the real iron moon necklace in hand.
chapter twenty-one
SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!
“Rayna!” Ivy yelled my name, snapping her fingers in my face to get my attention. Slowly, my eyes lifted, meeting her gaze. She offered me her hand, but I didn’t take it; instead, I just sat there frozen to the spot in defeat. The race to stop Harris' plan was all but over now. “Rayna!” Ivy yelled once more, thrusting her hand toward me a second time. When I still didn't budge, she grabbed my hand and yanked me to my feet. “We have to keep moving! Are you even listening to me?”
Vaguely. I was vaguely listening to her—too caught up in my own head for her interruptions. “Huh?” I managed.
“Pull yourself together, Rayna, we don't have time for this,” Ivy groaned, narrowing her eyes at me.
I mimicked her stare. “Time?” I argued, my tone full of bitterness. “The necklace is gone, Ivy. What does time matter now?”
She shook her head in disagreement or frustration. “Fine,” she retorted, her tone just as sour. “Stay here and do nothing for all I care. I'm not wasting any more time standing around arguing with you.” Her words hit me like a verbal slap in the face. “Come with me or don't.” Ending the conversation there, Ivy took off in the same direction Harris had minutes ago.
My eyes landed on the replicated necklace lying useless in the snow. Anger burned in my belly at the sight of it. Retrieving the necklace, I glared at the fake iron moon pendant in my hand. My fingers curled into a fist around the cold iron and I hurled the necklace into the darkness, screaming out in frustration as I released it.
In the distance, Ivy stopped walking and turned back to watch me. At first, I thought she might make some kind of snide remark, but she didn’t and I hurried to catch up with her.
Ivy limped ahead of me—no doubt due to her collision with the tree—which reminded me of our pursuers. A new wave of fear washed over me and I pivoted to see that Harris' Venator accomplice was nowhere in sight—I could only hope we'd lost him. “I'm going to take a stab in the dark here and assume you have some kind of a plan,” I commented as our pace slowed to a walk. I had never been this far into the Harbor Glenn woods before now. We had been on Harris’ trail for at least fifteen minutes with no sign of him—I, on the other hand, had been gone for over an hour at this point and could only hope my parents hadn’t noticed.
“Well since my original plan just backfired,” Ivy replied coolly. “The new plan is to find Sloan and stay out of sight in the process.”
“That doesn't sound like a plan.”
“Do you have a better idea?”
“What about the necklace?”
She shot me a dirty look. “Focus, Rayna,” Ivy complained. “There is nothing we can do about the necklace. If we find Sloan, we probably find Harris and the necklace. We’ll worry about the rest then.”
“But we don’t even know if he has her,” I argued.
“Have you seen her anywhere else? Of course, Harris has her.”
“Why doesn’t he just let Sloan go? He has the necklace now,” I huffed.
Ivy scoffed. “Harris needs something from Harlow and Nick for his plan to work. Sloan is leverage, Rayna, keep up.”
“What exactly does he need from them?” I pressed.
She didn't answer and I didn’t ask again. We walked a few feet in silence before Ivy stopped abruptly, throwing her arm out in front of me and I gasped at her sudden movement. My eyes scanned the scene for anything out of the ordinary, but nothing stood out.
“Lux,” Ivy said softly. A bright light shot up from the ground illuminating the area around us. She took a few steps forward toward the closest tree and ran her hand over a symbol carved into the bark.
“What is that?” I asked, coming to stand beside her.
“It’s a rune,” Ivy explained, keeping her eyes trained on it as she spoke. “Covens used them centuries ago to mark their territory, so to speak.”
“And this is helpful?” I questioned, confused by her fascination with it.
She looked at me. “I know where we are now. I know where Harris is headed. I know where Sloan is!”
Though I still didn’t understand, I trusted Ivy enough to follow her lead. “Okay...so how do we tell the pack?”
Without answering me, Ivy kneeled on the ground and began to trace something in the snow with her finger. I watched with fascination, speculating as to what exactly she planned to do. When she finished, the message read:
Go to old well.
Follow runes on trees.
“Come here,” Ivy beckoned, holding out her hands to me. “I’m going to channel you. You’ve seen Harlow and Nick in their wolf form, right?”
I nodded. “But I’m not a witch.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Ivy replied, positioning me opposite her. “I want you to focus on them. Picture the wolves in your mind. We need to get this message to them.”
I didn’t hide my skepticism. “Will they even be able to understand it?”
“They’ll know what to do,” Ivy answered, grabbing hold of my hands. She began to chant a phrase over and over while squeezing my hands tight. My arms began to tingle and the area where our hands touched grew hot as if we were warming them over a fire. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the message melting away. Once all of the words disappeared, Ivy stopped chanting. “Cross your fingers,” she said, releasing my hands.
Runes were carved into the bark of every ten or so trees and we followed their trail through the underbrush for at least a half of a mile before it ended at the edge of some higher ground. Just beyond the slope was a clearing, but where there should have been grass there was stone. Four large pillars stood tall around the circular space like points on a compass—fire blazed atop each one. A stone podium sat at the center of the circle, concealing most of a rune carved into the stone floor beneath it—matching the tree carvings that had led us here. Beyond the clearing, Venators, in pairs of two, stood around the perimeter of trees, hands clasped behind their backs. Even from a safe distance, I could see the shimmering metal of guns attached to the waist of each of the men.
Ivy held her index finger to her lips as we quietly staked out behind a tree that offered the best vantage point.
“They’re not here!” I whispered nervously.
“No, but they will be,” Ivy added, smiling victoriously to herself. “Patience, Rayna.”
Easy for her to say. It was hard to be patient when Harris had the necklace to complete the spell all because I had dropped it.
Ivy leaned forward around the tree and I followed her gaze. Sure enough, Harris’ figure broke through the tree line. The surrounding Venators saluted him in their own fashion as he made his way toward the podium, but he seemed to ignore the gesture. Harris was followed closely by two Venators dragging Sloan along between them by her elbows—hands tied behind her back and mouth gagged. Relief washed over me at the sight of her alive and I looked to Ivy, but her attention was fixed intently on the scene below.
Harris silently took to the stone podium while the two men guided Sloan toward one of the pillars. I watched as Harris pulled something too small to see clearly out of the pocket of his trousers and set it on the podium—the necklace no doubt.
Keeping his eyes glued to the trinket, Harris shouted for Walsh, beckoning him forward. At Harris' command, Walsh stepped forward from his perimeter post and walked toward Harris. Once at the center circle, Walsh bent down, pulled the witches dagger from his boot, handed it over and retreated back to his post.
Movement in the trees behind us caught our attention, supercharging my adrenaline in fear that we had been discovered. Dean appeared between the trees and I relaxed a little.
“You guys okay?” he asked, genuinely concerned as his gaze shifted back and forth between us.
“Fine,” Ivy confirmed. “Where’s Blake?”
“He went around to the other side with Harlow and Nick. They’re trying to get as close to Sloan as possible. Nick wanted me to tell you nice work,” he added, clearly addressing Ivy.
“Are they okay?” I asked meekly.
Dean looked at me. “Harlow is fine. He’s worried about you, though. He thinks you’re over here beating yourself up about dropping the necklace.”
“You all know about that?” I asked in confusion.
“It's hard to miss Harris boasting about it. Nick and Blake are pissed, but this isn’t over yet.”
“In other words, you’re not pissed at me yet,” I said, reading between the lines.
“Not yet,” Dean answered. “It could have happened to any of us, besides we all know the necklace has always found its way back to you.”
Ivy’s expression turned sour. “Please tell me you’re not fooling yourself into thinking it’s that simple,” she retorted dryly. “Yes, the necklace is protected by Rayna, she’s the keeper, whatever. But it takes a whole day or two for the necklace to return to her, so unless you guys have a plan to stall this for the next forty-eight hours, I suggest you start thinking differently.” When Dean shot her a dirty look Ivy defended herself adding, “I’m just being realistic.”
“That’s ironic. The witch is being realistic,” Dean fired back, his words stinging the air.
Silence fell over the three of us once more as we returned our focus to the clearing below. The Venators along the far perimeter of the clearing all seemed to turn in unison to face the trees behind them. A single gray wolf emerged onto the scene, baring its teeth. Each Venator drew and aimed their weapon as the wolf entered the area.
My breath caught in my throat.
“Wh–Who is that?” I managed to choke out.
“Nick,” Ivy said gravely.
The Nick-wolf advanced on Harris, forcing him back against one of the pillars.
Harris scoffed. “You don’t scare me, wolf.”
Nick snarled in response, his head dropping low, ears pulled back. All eyes were on the two of them in a standoff. I noticed one of the Venators closest to Nick shaking, a gun rattling in his hands. The only sound came from a heavy wind as it whistled through the clearing.
A loud wolf’s howl broke the silence. My head snapped to the opposite end of the clearing where a second gray wolf tore through the tree line and straight toward the Venators restraining Sloan.
“Harlow,” Dean whispered from beside me.
Harris slithered to safety behind his wall of Venators as the Nick-wolf barked and growled at the men, holding them at bay. One Venator dropped his weapon and sprinted toward the trees without looking back.
Back on the other side of the clearing, a third wolf, with traces of tan in his fur who could only be Blake, charged toward a set of Venators as they headed in Sloan's direction. The Harlow-wolf reached Sloan’s captors faster than any of the Venators could react—and dug his teeth deep into one of the men’s calves. The hunter cried out in pain, dropping to his knees and clutching the wound. Sloan slumped down onto the stone floor without anyone on that side to hold her up. She was visibly weak. The Harlow-wolf lunged forward, biting the second Venator holding Sloan on the shoulder. At that, chaos erupted as the sea of Venators below clashed with the three wolves making it impossible to distinguish one fight from another before a shot rang out, silencing the chaos. One of the wolves yelped, but from our vantage point, it was unclear who. My heart clenched in my chest and tears sprang to my eyes as I took an instinctive step forward afraid Harlow had been shot.
“No!” Ivy objected, yanking me back.
Dean walked to the edge of the slope, saying nothing for a long time. “Blake,” he whispered with distinct concern for his friend.
Below, Venators scattered revealing the Harlow and Nick wolves frozen in place. The only movements came from Blake as he struggled to breathe against the wound as it took its toll on his body. After several seconds, the wolf closest to Blake—which I could now distinguish as Harlow—cautiously padded forward to investigate his fallen friend. He inspected the pool of blood forming in front of Blake’s stomach, then met Bl
ake’s eyes. The two wolves stared at each other briefly.
Seconds later, the Nick and Harlow wolves dropped to the ground at the same time.
“What the hell?” I exclaimed, looking to Ivy and Dean for an explanation.
“Magic,” Ivy explained unimpressed. “Harris has a witch hiding somewhere nearby.”
Harris stepped forward, finally out of hiding, straightening up. “You’re not supposed to kill them. She needs them alive,” he reprimanded the Venators. “Lower your weapons. Now!” Some Venators were more reluctant than others, but they all cautiously obliged.
“Gentlemen,” Harris greeted the wolves—regardless of their current state. “That was quite the entrance. Unnecessary, but I can appreciate the theatrics. I wouldn’t try that again if I were you though,” he warned, wagging a finger in Harlow and Blake’s direction as if he were scolding children. “Now I know we’re all eager to get what we want and move on with our lives, so allow me to cut to the chase. You want the she-wolf and she’s yours as soon as I get what I need from you.” Harris wagered. “But not like this,” he continued, gesturing to their appearance.
Harris grabbed something from near the stone podium and approached the edge of the circle, first near Nick then near Harlow and Blake. He threw down a set of clothes in front of each of the wolves. One of them snarled weakly in response.
An echo of gasps filled the clearing and a few Venators bristled, stepping back. I craned my neck to see better, catching a glimpse of Harlow and Nick on their hind legs, their fur gradually disappearing as their bones cracked, changing shape. When the transition ended, Harlow and Nick dressed quickly then tended to Blake, covering him with the third set of clothes. Harlow balled up the t-shirt and used it to apply pressure to Blake’s wound. He whispered something indiscernible, his other hand gripped Blake’s shoulder.
Nick snapped up, his fists clenched in anger. “What do you want?” he snarled.
Harris chuckled. “Let’s not jump the gun…whoops, pun not intended,” he began, amused with himself. “First, I have to do something about your friend's wound. And for that, there is someone I’d like you to meet.”
Iron Moon Page 23
