“So you’re a werewolf?” Hutch asked casually from where he sat at the table.
Gideon looked up long enough to offer an apologetic grimace. “Lyanka came and told us while you were doing the protection rituals.”
I mouthed the word sorry, but Gabe just shrugged it off. I hadn’t told everyone—my mom had, apparently—but in the end, it didn’t really matter. We all had secrets here.
“Yeah, I’m a werewolf,” Gabe replied.
Hutch cocked his head. “How do I know it wasn’t you that attacked me?”
“The thing that attacked you, did it look like a big silver wolf?” Gabe asked.
Hutch seemed to think about it for a moment, then shook his head. “No.”
“Well, then it wasn’t me. I look like a wolf.”
“He does,” I agreed. “I’ve seen him.”
Gideon lifted his head suddenly, staring off at nothing, and I was about to ask him what was wrong but then I saw the change. His normally sky-blue eyes began to darken, changing to an indigo so dark it was nearly black.
“What’s happening to him?” Gabe asked.
“He’s having a vision,” I whispered, and put my hand on Gabe’s arm.
“Do you want me to get your mom?” Hutch offered, looking at Gideon warily.
“Just give him a minute,” I said.
It only lasted a few seconds, with Hutch, Gabe, and me all watching him with bated breath. Gideon remained stoic, as if in a trance, and then the color in his eyes began to fade. He breathed in deeply, and his whole body relaxed.
“What’d you see?” Hutch asked.
“It’s hard to explain.” Gideon blinked several times, as if clearing his vision. “But it’s coming for us, and it’s very hungry.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, a howl echoed outside. I’d heard dogs howl before, but this was different. It sounded more like a force of nature, like a crack of thunder.
“Oh shit,” Gabe groaned. “My mom is here.”
55. the queen of wands
When I followed Gabe outside, his mother was standing in the center of the campsite.
Everyone had come out to see what the commotion was about—my mom stood in front of our trailer, pulling her shawl more tightly around her; Roxie and Luka sat on the table outside Luka’s trailer; and Gideon and Hutch followed Gabe and me outside, staying a few feet behind us as we approached Della Jane.
Barefoot and without any jewelry, she appeared strangely subdued as the wind blew through her blond curls. Despite her small stature, tonight she gave off an aura of something much more powerful.
“Gabe, you need to come home.”
He shook his head. “No. I’m staying here to fight with them. If you’re worried about me, you can stay and help.”
“This isn’t a discussion. You are coming home with me right now, Gabe,” Della Jane commanded, and her voice twisted with a guttural growl.
“You can’t just drag me out—” Gabe began, but I saw the look in her eyes, the one I’d seen at their house this morning.
“You know,” I told Della Jane, interrupting Gabe. “You know what’s going on here.”
Her eyes flicked over to me, only for a second. “I know it’s not safe for my son.”
“No, Mara’s right,” Gabe realized. “You know exactly what’s going on here, and I won’t leave until you tell us.”
“This isn’t how I wanted to tell you,” Della Jane admitted before taking a deep breath. “Before we moved back here, I told you that we needed to come to take care of the Brawley legacy. You thought I just meant the curse and the house, but it’s much more than that. We’re the keepers of the Kirpka.”
Gabe shook his head, not understanding. “The Kirpka?”
“The Kirpka are demons,” Della Jane explained. “Every thirteen years, a Kirpka will rise from the Nukoabok Swamp to feed, growing more powerful on the days leading up to the vernal equinox.”
“What do they eat?” Gabe asked, but I already knew the answer.
Roxie had actually been the first to figure it out, that whatever was stalking the campsite wasn’t just seeking out a meaty snack to munch on. They wanted to feast on our flesh and our powers.
“They feed on the paranormal beings that coexist with humans,” Della Jane said, attempting to gloss over the fact that the demons wanted to eat us. “The Kirpka help maintain a balance on the earth, so humans aren’t overpowered by those with superior abilities.”
“Holy shit.” Gabe put a hand to his mouth and took a step back from his mother. “You brought the carnival here to feed them.”
Della Jane tried to step toward him, but he moved back in revulsion. For a moment, she let her hand hang in the air, but as she let it fall to her side, she looked utterly heartbroken.
“It’s not like that, Gabe,” Della Jane pleaded with her son. “They exist whether we help them or not, but now we have some say, some control, so they don’t hurt us.”
“We’re paranormal too!” He motioned between himself and his mom. “How can you possibly be working for them?”
“God is good, but the devil is not so bad to those he likes,” I whispered, repeating the line I’d heard from Luka.
“I’m not working for them!” Della Jane insisted.
“You feed them innocent people!” Gabe countered with a low growl.
“No, Gabe, you’re twisting it. This is our legacy, to protect our family—”
“That’s what all the parties were about with Uncle Beau, weren’t they?” Gabe cut her off, his lip curling back in disgust. “He was traveling all over looking for people like us. And those big parties he had, that’s when he sacrificed them to the Kirpka?”
“We don’t sacrifice them,” Della Jane tried again. “It’s the Kirpka that—”
“You bring them here like lambs to the slaughter in exchange for your safety!” Gabe shouted. “How is that anything other than a sacrificial offering?”
“Gabe, you don’t understand,” Della Jane said, trying to explain. “This isn’t how I wanted to tell you. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Beau was supposed to help explain to you and teach you, so you could take over for him. But then last year he said he couldn’t handle it anymore, and I tried to reason with him.”
“And he killed himself because he grew a conscience,” Gabe realized.
Gideon cleared his throat. He’d been standing beside us, but now he came up closer, trying to catch Della Jane’s attention.
“This is all well and good, and you can sort out your family dynamics later,” Gideon said. “Right now I need to know what we can do to stop them.”
Della Jane rubbed her temple. “You’re not listening to me. The Kirpka cannot be stopped! That’s why we made this pact with them centuries ago.”
“She’s lying,” Selena said, appearing from the shadows at the edge of camp. She walked toward us, barefoot in a sundress, with her black hair flowing wildly.
“Selena!” Della Jane gasped. “What are you doing here?”
Selena glared at her mother. “Dad told me what’s really going on and about the Kirpka.”
“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” Della Jane tried futilely to reason with her. “You shouldn’t be here.”
Selena continued walking toward us, giving her mother a wide berth until she stood beside Gabe.
“He told me that the Kirpka accepted the deal because werewolves are hard to kill and they don’t like fighting us,” Selena explained. “So I’m here to help Gabe and Mara.”
Then I felt it. My stomach soured, creating a painful burning pit inside me, and a gust of wind came up—strong and cold. Even the campers began to tremble. The powder I had so carefully sprinkled around the campsite filled the air, and when the moonlight hit it, it sparkled like glitter.
I shook my head. “It’s too late. The Kirpka is coming.”
56. vortex
I bolted across the campsite and practically dove into my Winnebago. I grabbed the crossbo
w off the counter, but when I went for the satchel, I accidentally knocked it to the ground, sending the arrows flying to the floor.
As I scrambled around to gather them, the screen door slammed shut behind me.
“Mara,” my mom said breathlessly. “You should leave.”
“No, I can’t,” I said as I crawled under the table to grab the last of the arrows, and it was everything I could do to keep from throwing up. It felt like I’d been punched in the stomach.
“You can go with Gabe in his car and drive far, far away from here,” Mom pleaded with me.
I shook my head. “No, Mom, I can’t, because it’s too late. It’s already here.” I put the bolts back into the satchel and dropped it over my shoulder.
She grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to face her and see the terror in her eyes. “Remember the incantations I taught you. They will save you, qamari.”
Roxie started shrieking, so I had no time to say anything more. I grabbed the crossbow and dashed outside.
A strange darkness seemed to have descended over the campsite. It felt as if nothing existed outside of this circle. The streetlamp had gone out, and the bulbs in the Christmas lights that had been strung around camp popped. The wind raged on, not strong enough to blow us away, but leaves and debris flew around. Campers rattled, and it sounded as if the earth had begun to hum.
It was like we were being sucked into a vortex of darkness.
“It’s here!” Roxie shouted from her perch with Luka outside his trailer, but at first, I couldn’t see anything.
In the very center of the campsite, Gideon, Gabe, Hutch, Della Jane, and Selena had formed a loose circle, their eyes darting around the ever-growing shadows. Out of the corner of my eye, I would see it for a second, but then it would be gone again.
I didn’t really see the Kirpka, not until it grabbed Selena and she let out a bloodcurdling scream.
57. monstrous
As the Kirpka tore into Selena’s flesh, I truly saw it for the first time.
It had four legs, but it used two as arms as it grabbed onto Selena. The limbs were slender and covered in inky black scales, and the long fingers ended in hooked talons. The body appeared to be covered in daggerlike fur, resembling the quills of an angry porcupine. The demon’s head was massive, with an elongated snout filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth.
Even from where I stood, I could smell the sulfur radiating off the creature. But it was its eyes that made my blood run cold.
It had four eyes across its face, and they were like portals to another world. They weren’t black, but rather devoid of color. They sucked out all the light and life, and when I looked the demon directly in its eyes—only for a split second—I could see the underworld inside them.
Della Jane screamed and her human voice transmorphed into the bay of a wolf. She jumped, and as she did, her flesh began tearing away as silver-and-bronze fur pushed out through it. Her body stretched, her dress tore off, and her golden curls shifted into pointed ears.
By the time she landed, she was on all fours—a massive, snarling wolf.
She charged at the Kirpka, and as soon as she collided with it, the demon seemed to dematerialize. While it had been attacking Selena, its form had appeared real and permanent, but it was on the move again, so it’d returned to its blurred shadowy form.
As Della Jane tangled with it, it was as if she was pulled into the darkness—her own fur becoming a mixture of darkness and shadow. Hutch picked up Selena, carrying her toward Luka’s trailer, where she could be out of harm’s way.
Della Jane cried out in pain, and within seconds, Gabe had shifted from human to wolf—fur ripping apart his clothing.
The two of them against the demon seemed promising at first. But it was hard to see exactly what was happening—tufts of fur flew up into the air, snarls echoed through everything, and the shadow of the demon hid them.
Then the Kirpka threw Della Jane across the campsite, sending her flying into Roxie’s damaged Airstream where she collapsed onto the ground. Blood soaked her bronze fur, and she let out a plaintive whimper.
If two werewolves couldn’t handle it, I didn’t know how Gabe could on his own.
Gideon must’ve had the same train of thought I did, because he took aim at the swirling mass of fur and darkness that was fighting at the edge of camp. That’s when I realized he was pointing the Luger full of silver bullets.
“Gideon, no!” I shouted, and dove at him, but I reached him a second after the gunshot cracked through the air.
Gabe yelped and fell to the ground.
58. the devil
The Kirpka began circling the campsite again, trying to draw us into the center where it would be easier to pick us off.
The shadow hit Hutch first, but it spit him out just as quickly—probably realizing that Hutch had no supernatural powers. He flew through the air and landed in front of my Winnebago, moaning and bleeding, and my mom immediately rushed to his side.
We couldn’t let the Kirpka keep going at us, or we’d all be dead soon.
“Roxie, light it up!” I shouted. I stood in the dead center of the camp, holding my crossbow up and waiting to take aim.
Roxie’s powers hadn’t been working well since we’d gotten to Caudry, and her first attempt at a fireball was only a plaintive little puff of fire. But as the Kirpka took a turn charging at her, she tried again, and this time a huge fireball burst from her hands.
The demon snarled and jumped back from it, but for a split second, the creature was fully visible. I fired a bolt at it, but it leapt out of the way and my arrow landed in the dirt.
Hurriedly, I reloaded the crossbow, and Roxie’s bright blue burst of fire revealed the demon in the shadows. I shot at it again, but it was too fast. My hands were trembling, and I didn’t know if I could aim and shoot fast enough to hit the demon.
It was circling closer to me, so when Roxie sent a fireball toward it, the heat from the flames blew my hair back. When it went dark again, it attacked me.
I couldn’t see it—I only felt the razor-sharp talons burning in my side as it threw me to the ground. I rolled onto my back, ignoring the pain as best I could. My nose was filled with the creature’s pungent sulfurous scent, and the whole world went quiet.
It was just me and the demon standing over me, with its eyes trying to suck in all my energy. I could literally feel the life being pulled from me, like a darkness seeping through my skin. Drool dripped down from its teeth, landing on my skin like scalding water.
The crossbow felt like ice in my hands, and I lifted it up.
As I said “Vade retro me tenebris,” I heard Basima’s voice with mine, speaking through me. The demon snarled, and I aimed the crossbow between its eyes and pulled the trigger.
The sound it made when the arrow struck was like a thousand screams erupting at once. Like every soul it had ever eaten crying out in pain.
I clamped my hands over my ears, certain that my eardrums would explode.
Bright white light began shining from the creature, through its eyes and the gaps between its scales. But the light kept growing, until it was completely engulfed in it.
The Kirpka let out one last angry howl before exploding into pitch-black ashes that rained down on us.
59. cleanse
My ears were still ringing from the Kirpka’s death cries, and I glanced around the camp, trying to make sure everyone was okay, but then my eyes landed on Gabe.
He’d returned to his human form, lying on his side, and I crawled toward him, ignoring the burning pain from the Kirpka’s claws. He looked peaceful and still, with bloodied wounds marking up his bare skin, but it was the gash with burnt edges on his temple that scared me.
“Gabe?” I whispered thickly, and his flesh felt unusually cold as I touched his arm. “Gabe?”
Then slowly, his eyes fluttered open, dark golden and confused.
“You’re alive,” I gasped in relief, and without thinking, I kissed him quickly and roughly on the mo
uth.
“Is it over, then?” Gabe asked.
I nodded. “I think so.”
He sat up, wincing as he did, and touched at a particularly nasty-looking wound on his temple. It was a long bloody cut across his head, leaving a thin bald line in his hair, but flesh around it had turned purplish and it had blisters as if it was burned.
“Did somebody shoot at me with a silver bullet?” he asked, touching the wound gently. “At least it just grazed me, or I might be dead.”
“Selena!” Della Jane wailed, breaking through our moment.
I looked back to see Della Jane kneeling over her daughter’s bloody body. My mom had wrapped a shawl around Della Jane, covering her naked body, but she was too busy sobbing to notice.
“Oh no,” Gabe whispered. He tried to stand up, but his legs gave out from under him. “Can you get some clothes, and help me over to my sister?”
I did as I was told—rushing over to borrow a pair of jeans and an old T-shirt from Gideon. When he saw my own injuries, Gideon insisted on helping Gabe. After I brought the clothes to Gabe and he changed as quickly as his pain would allow, Gideon helped him to his feet.
“I can handle it from here,” Gabe said, letting go of Gideon and hobbling across the grass to where his mother knelt sobbing.
“My baby, my poor baby,” Della Jane cried, brushing Selena’s hair back from her face. “Wake up.”
“Mom,” Gabe said gently, and put his hand on her shoulder. “She’s gone.”
Della Jane recoiled from his touch. “And that’s your fault! None of this would’ve happened if you hadn’t gotten involved with these people!”
Gabe stepped back as if he’d been slapped.
“I did what I had to do, so I could keep you all safe!” Della Jane stared up at him with tears streaming down her face. “Why did you have to ruin it?”
“You made a deal with the devil, and you didn’t think you’d get hurt?” he asked, sounding as if he was fighting back his own tears.
“And this is all for nothing,” Della Jane went on in a trembling falsetto. “What if others come? What will I do then?”
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