Harvest: Dark Urban Fantasy (Shifter Chronicles Book 3)

by Melle Amade

  “There’s nothing in the world wrong with keeping things simple,” Cooper says.

  “Since when did you start sounding so smart?” I ask stacking the buckets in the right order for the animal pens.

  “I’ve always been smart.” Cooper throws me a cocky sideways grin. “You just finally started listening.”

  I roll my eyes. Suddenly I realize maybe it doesn’t matter if Zan ends up with Cooper and maybe it doesn’t matter if Roman is depressed and sad. Because maybe the perfect girl for Roman is somebody we haven’t even met yet. Maybe he’ll find a bad-ass froggy-chick.

  It’s amazing how light I feel. The collar is still around my neck, tingling my nerves, but it feels like I’ve just taken the weight of the world off my shoulders.

  Cooper’s frowning at the whiteboard, running his finger along the numbers and then counting the buckets in the wheelbarrow. “Looks like I missed one.” He lifts the lid on the corn bin, but it’s empty.

  “You can’t be out of corn.” I glance around the feed room, but it’s actually pretty sparse.

  “They were going to make a feed store run today, after the auction,” Cooper says.

  “I don’t think the animals are going to last that long,” I say. The baaing and mooing is echoing across the farm as the animals have heard us banging around in the feed room.

  “I’m gonna start feeding to shut them up,” Cooper says. “Can you run into the barn? At the very back there’s a wooden box where Mom keeps emergency bags, just in case we run out of something. Grab one scoop of corn and I’ll just throw it in at the end.”

  “Yeah, of course.” I’m halfway into the dark recesses of the barn when I turn back to him. “You know I read somewhere that before enlightenment a man chops wood and carries water. After enlightenment, a man chops wood and carries water.”

  Cooper laughs. “A couple minutes with me and you’re already enlightened.”

  “Hardly,” I laugh. “But I now know how to chop wood and carry water.”

  I glance out at the field as I head into the barn. Callum and Zan took the ATV out to the feed troughs at the far end of the pasture. Zan stands up on the back pulling massive flakes of hay and throwing them in the trough. The sun is kissing the top of the mountain and spreading pale amber light across the deep gold of the valley. I inhale deeply.

  Maybe Zan could be happy out here.

  Maybe I could be.

  I gaze at the sky for a minute, thinking how beautiful it must be to fly over this valley. And for a moment a sense of loss surges through me, but also… also a lightness. It’s just me, here, at the farm, helping my friends.

  A deep sense of calm swells through me. I haven’t felt this way in a long time. I smile to myself as I go into the barn. Still don’t know where the light switches in this place are, so I grab my phone to turn on the flashlight. Even though it’s light outside, the barn is big and dark, especially in the way back.

  I find the wooden boxes at the back. There’s a padlock on it, but it’s unlatched. Metal grates against itself and the hinges squeak as I raise the lid. Callum was spot on. Aunt Emma has a spare bag of every type of feed they use. I check the labels and find the corn, pulling it up in the box. I’m about to open the bag, when I hear a car pull into the gravel driveway.

  Parents must be home. I better not open this bag if they brought new stuff from town. They’re going to wonder where Lord Van Arend is. It’ll be strange to tell them he’s at the village, but who knows, they might even want to go up there to see him, if the Pomos will let them in. The thought of Aunt Emma makes me start thinking about biscuits and a roast. I smile to myself. Now those are the simple pleasures in life.

  A beautiful meal and family.

  Well, everyone except Dad. I take a deep breath and push the niggling guilt away. I’m here specifically because dad isn’t. If he were free, I would be dead.

  A car door slams shut and a volley of shouts and running feet drift into the barn. The words are indistinct but I’m certain I hear Cooper yelling at someone.

  Who is that? It’s definitely not Aunt Emma or Uncle Steve. I turn my phone light off and stand in the dark. Suddenly three gun shots blast in the air. My heart races, my blood turning cold. I whirl my head around, trying to figure out where I’m going to hide. Because whoever has come to the property certainly is not friendly. Could it be the Pomos were just using this as an excuse to get Lord Van Arend and now they’re attacking us?

  I want to slap the thought right out of my head. How could I even think that after all they’ve done for us? I need to see who’s out there. As quiet as I can, I race up the ladder and climb to the edge of the loft where I can look through the hay door. It’s propped open just enough to look through. Straw presses into my knees and a splinter stabs into my finger. But what I see outside in the driveway sends needles of ice running down my back and into every part of my body.

  Polaris.

  El Oso’s second in command, a massive polar bear shifter leans against the front of a white Escalade, his arms folded against his chest, sunglasses on, even though the sun has dipped so low behind the hills there’s really no need. He’s got a posse of Berzerken with him. It’s easy to tell they’re Berzerken, they are the size of mountains.

  Polaris is smirking down at Callum, Zan, and Cooper who are on their knees before him, guns pointed at their heads. None of them shifted, none of them ran. In this place of wide open pastures, there was nowhere to escape. If they had shifted Polaris would have picked them off as fast as Cooper and Zan picked off clay pigeons. My breath comes quick and shallow, trying to figure out what I’m going to do. There’s just me up here in the loft. And they can find me for sure.

  “The house is empty,” Patch, the massive black bear with one eye who serves as El Osos’s other right-hand man slams the screen doors as he steps out of the house. He thunders across the porch and down the front stairs. “Everyone’s gone.”

  “Where are they?” Polaris asks my friends.

  “It’s just the three of us,” Callum says.

  “Shut up, Ridder.” Polaris snarls the word like it’s the biggest insult he could come up with. “We know you kidnapped Lord Van Arend and the Heir. You will die for that.”

  “Kidnap Lord Van Arend?” Callum says. “Are you crazy? The Heir was seeking medical help for him. I left Topanga weeks ago, when Lord Van Arend was still there. It’s not rocket science, the entire Ravensgaard will tell you that.”

  “If Lord Van Arend was seeking medical help, then where is he?” Polaris asks. “You lie, raven, like all of your people.”

  “We couldn’t help him. Aiden took him to Europe.” Zan says.

  “Well obviously you couldn’t help them,” Polaris says. “Not out here in some podunk shithole. Check the barn,” he nods to Patch.

  The massive black bear was already headed my direction.

  Oh shit, there’s no way they’re not gonna find me. They’ll smell me. The bears have a notorious sense of smell. I look around. Straw? No way. One good sniff and they’ll find me up here.

  I have to get out.

  A cable with hay hooks to move bales stretches the length of the barn. Without stopping to think, because I can’t afford it, I grab the rope and fling myself off the loft, sailing just under the rafters. There’s a hay door at the other end too, I remember, so I angle my feet up and brace myself, hoping I don’t make too much noise. I thud into the door, but fortunately it startles some of the animals in the barn who make enough noise to cover my tracks.

  I push through the door and dangle over the massive drop to the ground. It’s going to hurt, but I have to get under cover. If they’re looking for people, they’ll find me up here. I may not be able to shift into a bird, but I still have all of my training. Letting go of the hook, I take the long drop, rolling as I hit the hard, dry earth.

  Ouch.

  My ankle’s a little twisted, but there’s no stopping here. I have to get under cover. The fences along the back of the propert
y are covered in blackberry bushes. I stay low to the ground and limp as fast as possible next to the metal fence, heading for the nearest brambles. My injury will heal quickly, but I don’t have a second to waste. When I get past the horse pens and to the blackberry bush, I don’t even think about it twice. I dive into the thorn-infested bush, pulling the brambles back around me.

  The thorns tear and rip at my skin and blood starts to stream down my arms. They can collar me, but my body still heals, even if it hurts like hell in the process.

  I nestle in deep, breathing slowly and trying to figure out what I’m going to do next. There are two options. Go back and single-handedly try and take them out with fire I can’t control, potentially burning everything down and letting it be known to the Order that I have magic. I might burn down the Spotswood Ranch house and the barn, while my friends would probably all end up with bullets in their head. In fact, I’d probably end up with a bullet in my head. Attacking them now would be as dumb as when we tried to assassinate El Oso just a few short weeks ago.

  I have to do better than that.

  I need to go and get help. I can’t do this alone. Aunt Emma and Uncle Steve are with Mom, Henry, and Aunt Natalie in town at the fair. There’s no way I can get all the way into town on foot, but I do need to warn them to not come back.

  Then I’ll figure out how to get over the hill.

  I start to move through the dark thorny bramble, letting it rip at my skin as the blood drips moist and warm down my arms.

  26

  “Stay away”

  My hands shake as I type the text to my mother.

  I don’t send it because I don’t want her to panic, and that kind of a message would breed panic into any person. But I also need her to understand what’s going on, so they don’t just walk into the Order.

  They can’t be here.

  I’m working my way through the brambles with a plan to get to the vineyards and orchards that will take me to the base of the mountain. It’ll be a hard slog over the mountain, so I’ll have to take the road and hide if a vehicle comes by. Or, if it’s coming from the Pomo Village, I’ll have to step out in front of it so they don’t go down to Spotswood Ranch. Roman’s going to be worried soon enough and, no doubt, try to send someone to check on us.

  Mom. Henry.

  My brain’s a little scattered but I’ve got to figure this out. Simple. Direct. Stay away. I cringe. No. That’s not good enough. I have to think of something to tell her that will help her understand what is going on.

  And suddenly I remember the teddy bear she gave me when we went to Build-A-Bear.

  I haven’t thought about that bear in years. But for a long time, he was my everything. I needed him every night when I went to sleep, curled up around his plush faux fur. It was the first thing my mother had given me after, well, after the incident in the bathroom when she tried to drown me. I’d already blocked out that memory by the time we got to Build-A-Bear, so I just thought it was a special date with my parents. I got to pick any bear I wanted and then we went to frozen yogurt.

  It felt like it was my birthday.

  I was so happy.

  I named the bear Mr. Joy. My parents thought it was a funny name, but they went along with it. Eventually I gave Mr. Joy to Henry. He hugged him a lot but about a year ago, Mr. Joy got put on the shelf and Henry took to sleeping with books. It was okay. I always felt Mr. Joy was watching over Henry and keeping an eye on my little brother.

  But the most important thing for this exercise, was that Mr. Joy was a bear. And Mr. Joy wasn’t just any bear. Mr. Joy was a pirate bear… with an eyepatch. He was going to let my mother know exactly who was here.

  “Mr. Joy is here.”

  I hit send and hope it’s enough.

  The brambles cut and tear at me and even as my body heals, new cuts are made. But eventually I make it as far as the brambles will take me.

  It’s going to be a two-mile run just to the base of the hill. And then I’m going to have to make it up the hill. I guess this is what it means to not be able to shift. It would normally take me a few minutes to go up the mountain, but I don’t have a choice. I can’t ask anyone for help or get any attention and I certainly can’t shift.

  Once I get to the river I dash across the bridge and move through a vineyard. I’m panting hard but I use everything I’ve learned in training to keep my feet moving as I race to the base of the mountain. It’s already been twenty minutes by the time I get there. What could they possibly be doing to Zan and Callum and Cooper? I can’t stop to think about it, I just need to get back to the Pomos.

  I quickly realize staying on the road is a bad idea. It’s smoother going, but there are too many switchbacks. For the briefest of moments, I consider asking for help from the farm at the base of the mountain, but it’s too dangerous. I can’t bring them in to this and even though my skin is healed, I’m covered in dried blood. They’re going to ask questions.

  It takes me thirty minutes to get up the mountain. I’m breathing heavy, covered in dirt, and my fingers are raw from climbing. But I finally get to the top and summon the last bit of energy I have to make the final distance. I’m grateful for all the bucking hay and chores because I have the stamina to race through the woods to the village. By the time I get there, I’m practically ready to fall over.

  I try to compose myself as best I can. Roman’s in the village and I can’t freak him out and I can’t make the Pomos panic. I take three deep breaths and walk calmly into the village. But it’s almost like the Pomos can feel the change in the air when I walk in. Hercules gets to me before anyone else. He looks me up and down.

  “What is it?” He asks.

  “The Berzerken,” I say. “They’ve taken over Spotswood Ranch.”

  Hercules lets out a low whistle. It must be some sort of a warning single. Pomos start to gather. Roman comes rushing over.

  “Are you okay?” he asks. “Where’s Zan?”

  I shake my head. “She’s with Callum and Cooper back at the ranch.” My voice tips an octave lower as I tell him the horrifying truth. “The Berzerken have them.”

  Roman pushes past me and starts to walk over to the truck. Hercules grabs him by the hand. “You can’t just run down there,” he says.

  “Like hell I can’t,” he says. “The Berzerken will kill them.”

  “Stop, Roman,” I plead. “This is what got us into this position in the first place. We have to have a plan. We have to be smart about this.”

  “I have a plan,” he says. “I’m going to go down there and murder the Berzerken.”

  “That’s not a plan, that’s a death wish,” I say. “Just stop it.”

  “What’s going on?” Guinevere rouses herself from where she was dozing by the fire.

  “Nothing,” I say. “The truck broke down. We have to see if we can get it started again.”

  She stares at me as if she’s going to argue for a moment, because she knows something not good is going on. And if I can guess her nature, I’d say she wants to be a part of the solution.

  “I can help,” she says. She holds her hands up and puts them up behind her head, like bunny ears. I know what she’s telling me. She’s a coyote. Smart girl. A coyote could be helpful in a situation like this. I frown and shake my head.

  “I’m going to get Jacqueline and meet you by the fire,” Hercules says.

  But I follow him. I want to see how Lord Van Arend’s doing. “Did it work?” I whisper as we walk up the stairs to the cabin.

  We softly push open the door. Aiden and Jacqueline are talking in hushed tones at the feet of their father and mother. Their words are quiet and they’re both smiling a bit, which is surprising under the circumstances. But when I look at Lord Van Arend and Lydia, I smile too. Lord Van Arend’s swelling has gone down and Lydia has filled out. Jacqueline nods and smiles and stands up, motioning us out of the cabin.

  “I think this might work out well for both of them,” she says with a smile.

  Aiden�
�s skin is pale and patches of gray rest like storm clouds under his eyes. Nursing his father has worn on him. He lies back in the chair, eyes closed his sunken features only looking fiercer in the shadowy light of the cabin. I can’t bear to tell him Callum, Zan and Cooper are held on trumped up charges by the Order, blamed for the disappearance of his father. He doesn’t have the strength to fight anybody today.

  “Can you stay here and watch them?” I ask him. “I wanted a word with Jacqueline.”

  Aiden doesn’t focus on the stress lines on my face, he doesn’t see anything except the fact that his father is getting better. I’m grateful. There is plenty of time for him to fight the Order later.

  Jacqueline follows us out of the cabin but I bring them all the way to the fire before I say anything. There’s no way I want Aiden involved in any of this, even though I know I need people to help me. I need people that are fit enough to help do this.

  Roman is taking heed and waits, glowering by the fire. “Tell us everything that happened,” he says.

  “We’ve been so worried about the Hunters and waiting for another attack, we forgot the Order. They must’ve known when Lord Van Arend disappeared. Somebody in Topanga must’ve reported it and somehow tracked him here. Maybe Aiden wasn’t careful, I don’t know.”

  “Do they know about us?” Jacqueline asks. “You need to tell me now if they do.”

  “I don’t know,” I say. “If they do know about the Pomos, it’s not through me or any of us. Right now, they are looking for Lord Van Arend only and the coyotes.”

  “Where are they?” Hercules asks me.

  “They were in town,” I say. “I sent a warning to my mother that I hope they’ll get.

  “And they have your friends?” Jacqueline asks.

  “Yes. They have Cooper and Zan and Callum.” My voice chokes on his name. They have Callum. “Because his Uncle already rebelled, his position as Ridder was already tenuous.”

  “Is the Order accusing them of treason?” Roman asks.

  “I don’t know.” I shake my head. “It was Polaris and Patch. Who knows what their plan is and if it does or does not include El Oso.”