I realized his eyes were different. They’d been brown before, and now they were flecked with a distinct red.
“Hey, sweetie,” he said. “You look like you’ve been mud-wrestling.”
Aidan froze in place, his face paling.
Phoebe spread out her arms as if to push Joel, Claire, and Read back out the door.
“Don’t move,” Jordan snapped at her, “or I’ll break this one’s neck.”
Joel shook his head. “No, he won’t.”
“Yes, he will,” Jordan answered, mimicking Joel’s confident tone.
His free hand slipped up my shoulder, brushing along my collarbone. My stomach clenched in disgust before his fingers clasped around my throat.
“I prefer them alive, but I don’t mind them dead.”
I gritted my teeth against the revulsion. Being so close made me feel like slugs were under my skin.
Aidan stood tall, shoulders square. The last time we had faced off against Jordan, he’d been knocked unconscious and I’d almost been raped.
I glanced at Phoebe, but she was looking at all the four others around Jordan.
“What are you doing here?” Aidan snapped.
The former bully sighed impatiently; the stench of metal made me well aware that it was blood on his breath.
“I’m here for my revenge, little boy.” His fingers flexed around my throat, and I struggled to break free. “And don’t think that I won’t get it,” he snarled, snapping his teeth just above my ear. The sound was sharp and powerful, not like a human jaw.
I stopped moving and focused on finding a way to get away from him so we could fight.
It seemed to be the only option at this point: fighting. It’s all Jordan knew how to do, after all. Even if he wasn’t the real man behind the schoolyard taunts, he was built just like him and created to be just like him.
My eyes swept the room. The other four were just nameless faces, no one I recognized.
“Well, Aidan. I think you have yourself a choice,” Jordan slurred as though his tongue had grown too thick for his mouth. “It’s nearly nightfall, and you know what happens then.”
Something in Aidan’s expression told me that he did.
Jordan nodded, the side of his face brushing mine as he wiggled his fingers around my throat, teasing escape. “Give this one up.” He brushed his temple up beside mine. I could feel him smiling. “Or you can give yourself up.”
Having his face touch mine made me feel tainted somehow. I shook my head, knocking my head into his face enough that he moved it away.
“Don’t,” I said to Aidan. “It’s a trick.”
“Of course it’s a trick,” Phoebe answered in return.
“Who’s your friend?” Jordan asked. The oiliness of his voice covered my skin, and I shuddered.
Aidan asked, “You’ll let her and everyone go if I give myself up?”
“Aidan,” Phoebe warned in a sharp whisper.
Jordan nodded. “For now.” I could hear the smile in his voice.
Joel interrupted. “Give her up, Aidan.”
I stiffened but didn’t offer any protest.
“They can’t kill her,” Joel said. As much as I hated the idea, he was right. I had a better chance of survival after this.
“Who said anything about killing?” Jordan asked, and his arm around my waist tightened.
I wanted to vomit but had nothing. I searched wildly for the power, but it wasn’t coming to my aid. I’d burnt out at the worst time.
The sun outside had been plucked from the horizon. Darkness erupted within the cabin as suddenly as if someone had flipped a light switch.
I felt the nails first as they snagged bits of tender skin against my throat. Then I felt the hair on the hand tickle under my chin.
Quivering, I jerked instinctively, not wanting to be any closer to him than I had to be.
Grunting, Jordan didn’t release me. Instead, he held on tighter, choking me.
My air cut off, making me twitch. Clawing at the hand, I tried to remove Jordan’s steely fingers. I couldn’t pass out, not here.
“Let her go!” Aidan shouted, sounding hoarse. “I pick me. I give up. Just let her go!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
As quickly as those hairy fingers had pressed into my throat, denying me air, they released me.
The arm wrapped around me let go, and Jordan shoved me forward, hard.
I gasped, my voice strangling in my throat.
Aidan reached out and caught me, dragging me closer to the group.
“You guys run,” Aidan’s voice was low and frighteningly calm, “and find a way out.”
I tried to catch his eye, but he didn’t turn away from Jordan. His eyes stayed locked on him.
Clumps of hair pricked through reddened skin on Jordan’s face and arms, initiating a change. Only his scar identified Jordan now.
The others behind him were the same, human, but hair sprouting free. Two of them were grimacing, clamping their lips tightly. “Fuller, get your ass moving!”
I looked back as Joel and Claire disappeared outside. At the last second, Joel snagged Phoebe and flung her backwards with him. She staggered, yelling obscenities, yet never lost her balance.
My fingertips curled into Aidan’s shirt. “This won’t work this way,” I said. “You’re a willing sacrifice.”
Aidan took a quick, deep breath. Still not looking at me, he shoved me toward the door.
Staggering, I grabbed the doorframe before I went tumbling to the dirt.
Before I could catch my bearings, I felt a boot in the middle of my back, pressing against the claw marks left from the previous challenge.
Yelling, I let go of the doorframe and fell to the ground.
I heard the humorless laughter as the young wolf-boy with the dark eyes stepped around me. Like Jordan, he had sprouted black hair across his face and arms, and his face was scrunched, his eyes growing smaller.
I rolled to the side just as Jordan stalked through the door with Aidan and the other three males. I scooted back to get out of their way, staring helplessly. I couldn’t let Aidan go through with this.
Using one of the thin trees for help, I finally managed to get onto my own two feet.
Jordan glanced at me as he passed, a nefarious smirk playing in my direction and flashing a fang too large for his mouth. His fingers curled and fattened, becoming more like paws. Black claws spiked from the tips.
His face compressed while his jaw jutted forward.
The change was so subtle I couldn’t see it happening until it was done.
Like in the cabin, only two seemed uncomfortable with it. They squirmed, doubled over, and straightened like a kid that had to pee.
Jordan’s legs had changed as well. His thighs were larger than any man’s I had seen in my life; they stretched against his dark, loose pants to the point of tearing. His calves, however, were loose, as if his legs had lost them entirely, and his knees were backwards. Backwards! Each step he took looked awkward and alien.
I looked to my friends several feet away, closer to the barley field.
Whenever Claire thought the werewolves were watching, she ushered me closer in frantic, short waves.
Inching away from the tree, I heard a snarling hiss.
Jordan stared at me, black lips peeled back, revealing rows of sharpened canine teeth, saliva dripping from the corners of his mouth. To the young wolf-boy, Jordan said, “Keep her away from the rest of the group. The rest of you…” He turned towards his three uncomfortable companions. Their breath quickened as their bodies contorted and snapped with each change. “Go into the woods until I call for you.”
None of them appeared relieved.
Jordan held Aidan by the back of his shirt, twisting it in his oddly shaped hand.
“What are you going to do?” I asked uneasily, feeling my stomach flip in anticipation.
The three canine fledglings broke into a run, straight at me.
Snapping my ar
ms up to protect me, I bit back the swollen scream in my throat and pressed back against the tree as hard as I could.
I felt the wind from the three runners as they rushed by in a flurry of feet.
Waiting two heartbeats, I dared a peek above my arms. I could hear Jordan laughing long before I saw him.
I glanced over my shoulder. The three were nothing but dark figures against the moonlight.
The dark-eyed boy still stood between my friends and me.
Phoebe looked ready to pounce on his back, her body rigid.
I shook my head at her. I wouldn’t have someone else die trying to save me. The thought provoked a twist in my heart.
“What do you want?” I demanded.
Jordan’s red eyes found me. “I thought I made that clear, sweetie. Revenge.”
Letting Aidan’s shirt go, he swiped at him, miraculously missing. At first, I thought he caught him for sure, yet there was no blood as he stumbled away.
“Don’t let him bite you!” Read shouted from the side. Wolf-boy snapped his elongated jaws at Read, spittle flying from his thinned lips.
Part of me wanted to race in and stop Jordan before he could do any damage. Perhaps something in my posture alerted the dark-eyed wolf-boy, because he began to growl.
He half turned to watch the others as well, keeping us all in his peripheral vision.
Aidan faced Jordan squarely. He should be running instead. Jordan had haunted Aidan when he was younger, teased and bullied him relentlessly. In our first Challenge, Aidan almost didn’t make it. What scared me even more was the fact that he might not make it through this one.
I had to think of a way to help him.
Wolf-Boy on guard appeared to be watching Jordan and Aidan, but I knew he kept closer attention to us.
A blurry movement drew my attention back to the two by the house.
Jordan lunged at Aidan, claws outstretched.
Aidan stumbled back, eyes wide and panicked when he lost his footing.
Before Aidan fell, four sharpened claws sliced through his shoulder. Blood arched through the air, splattering crimson threads across the grass.
Aidan cried out, reaching to grip his shoulder. At the same time, he ducked as a closed fist swung out to nail him in the jaw.
Jordan’s momentum swung him farther, exposing his back.
Perhaps it was the shock from the new wound, but Aidan retreated instead of attacking.
I saw Read run his hands tightly through his hair, grimacing.
Phoebe started to dive in to help Aidan when wolf-boy bolted forward, blocking her completely. He moved so fast that it made my insides twist.
But could this one boy stop us all at once?
Hearing Aidan scream, I turned to see Jordan’s long mouth clamped on Aidan’s calf. Jordan’s pants had completely torn at the thighs, the seams having stretched to their limit. He was on all fours, gripping Aidan’s leg.
I reached back and grabbing a branch. It wasn’t big. My hand fit around it easily enough to snap it free from its tree.
I contemplated throwing it, knowing it would be about as useful as if I started slinging toilet paper rolls at him. Instead, I bolted forward, using the tree to push myself off. If I could poke the werewolf in the eye or anything to get him away from Aidan, I’d have to try.
Jordan shook his head, and Aidan’s screams became louder, mixed with a pain that struck my worst fears.
Wolf-boy was on me before I made it two steps.
He threw me to the ground. My head hit the dirt, the hollow shockwave that followed making me dizzy and unfocused.
I heard Phoebe yelling, but she wasn’t coming to me.
Wolf-boy didn’t have as much time to react.
I blinked away the spots in my vision in time to see Phoebe kick. She caught Jordan hard enough in the ribs to make him yelp in a half-wolf, half-humanoid way.
His jaws released Aidan, and Aidan scurried back like a crab.
Wolf-boy caught up to Phoebe, allowing me time to get up.
I saw Joel and Read dart forward and Claire stay back. She hopped from foot to foot and wound herself into a knot with indecision.
Phoebe was slung backwards, airborne for several seconds, before landing against me.
I tried to catch her and ended up cushioning her fall instead.
The scratches on my back throbbed, but they didn’t crack open.
Phoebe rolled off of me as I struggled for breath. She was on her feet as Wolf-boy attacked Joel. He wasn’t as far along as Jordan, but he was on all fours, making each step doubled and quicker.
Aidan swung at Jordan as he bolted at him again. To my relief, I saw his knuckles collide with Jordan’s tender snout.
Jordan yelped and backed away. He gave his head a hard shake, a very dog-like thing to do, and wasn’t prepared for Aidan’s kick to the side of his head.
On all fours now, Jordan slunk low to the ground, growling. His face was completely unrecognizable. Golden brown hair covered his body, his clothes torn and loose. If he wasn’t completely changed already, then there wasn’t much more for him to complete.
Rolling to my feet, I tried to decide who to go for first: wolf-boy or Jordan?
Jordan tilted his head back to howl when Joel hit him in the throat with the flat edge of his hand.
The gurgling choke caught wolf-boy’s attention.
I hadn’t noticed before, but wolf-boy had been stalking toward Claire.
Claire, who hadn’t screamed but rather backed away into the field, held her trembling hands outward in a pleading truce.
Aidan yelled, and I looked up just in time to see him coming.
He slammed into me.
Together, we hit the earth.
Admittedly, annoyance struck before the impact. I’d just managed to get up for the third time only to find myself sprawled on the ground again.
“Aidan,” I wheezed.
Cursing, I struggled to back away when I saw his face. Hair sprouted everywhere on his body.
When I heard the growl deep within his throat, I gasped.
Powerful jaws snapped behind us.
“Nora,” he whispered. “I could hear you.”
I stared at him, shocked. “Hear me what?”
“After you disappeared. I heard you,” he groaned and rolled onto his back, away from me.
As I struggled to my feet, I felt a hand helping me. It was Read, but he wasn’t looking at me; his eyes were focused on Aidan. “Come on, we don’t know what will happen with him. He might turn on us.”
“No,” I protested, “he couldn’t.”
“If this Challenge is about horror stories, then yes, he could,” Read said flatly before letting me go. He didn’t look at me once before sprinting to join Joel, who had wolf-boy on the ground and was pummeling him in the face.
Jordan prepared to leap at Phoebe, who had recovered the stick I had discarded during one of my falls.
She swung it threateningly. Despite its size, it seemed like it could do damage with her wielding it.
Jordan dove at Phoebe, and I screamed for her to duck, but there wasn’t enough time.
The impact sent her flying back at Joel and knocked him off of wolf-boy. Together, they tumbled. Before they stopped rolling, Jordan charged them.
Wolf-boy twitched but otherwise didn’t make any moves to stand or sit up.
Read redirected his attack for Jordan instead.
At the same time, so did Aidan.
I held back the scream that itched in the back of my throat as Aidan bounded toward Jordan on all fours. He wasn’t completely changed, but his face was elongating. He had hair all over him, and his thighs and ribcage were doubling in size. His fingers grew shorter, into something paw-like, as he slammed into Jordan’s side.
Unlike Jordan’s golden brown fur, Aidan’s was a deep brown-ish red. The color distinction became far more noticeable as the two collided in a ferocious, violent frenzy.
Snarling and biting, they broke apart, r
ounding each other with their ears back. Oh yes, ears. Aidan’s ears had managed to sharpen and lengthen, becoming even fuzzy.
The more I watched, the more I could see the details in Aidan’s change. I blinked away the strain in my eyes as Phoebe pulled me closer to her, Joel, Read, and Claire.
We watched helplessly as the two wolves lowered their heads at each other.
The guttural growling that erupted promised brutality.
Jordan attacked first, striking for Aidan’s throat.
Jordan ducked his head and snapped his jaws onto his opponent’s flank. He tried to yank Aidan onto his side.
Growling, Aidan bit Jordan’s front leg hard enough that blood stained the golden fur.
Jordan yelped, letting go of Aidan.
The two broke apart again, circling like they had done before.
“Don’t let him howl,” Joel whispered to our group. “That could be the call he was talking to the other three wolves about earlier.”
I didn’t want to fight three more werewolves and doubted Aidan would be up to the challenge either. Nodding in understanding, we braced ourselves in case we had to run in. No one dared leap into the fray while the two of them were chopping jaws and scratching at each other’s eyes with their claws.
This time, Aidan struck first. They rolled together, closer to us.
Dodging out of their way, I nearly tripped over wolf-boy. One narrow hand caught my ankle. I turned in time to see wolf-boy’s dark eyes meeting mine, briefly.
Aidan fell over top of him, and the hand at my ankle fell away.
Phoebe yanked me to the side to avoid the two wolves as they snapped at each other, oblivious to anyone else around them.
Looking back, I saw the chunky crimson on wolf-boy, his eyes glassy and long gone.
One of the fighting wolves had gutted him in their need to rip out the other’s throat.
My gag reflex kicked in the moment I realized I looked at an intestine in the bloody mess.
“We should run somewhere,” Read said, dragging my morbid attention back to them. “Maybe inside the house until this is over.”
Joel preemptively moved toward the shack.
The Haunting Page 23
