books 1 - 3

by Ella J. Smyth

  He didn’t have a lever to twist it the way he’d learned years ago, so this would have to do. The bleeding certainly seemed to slow down. Honi kept up a flow of whispered reassurances, not sure if she could even hear him. If this were him injured on the ground, he would need somebody else’s voice to hold on to.

  Once he was finished with the tourniquet, he opened her pants and pushed up her shirt to look at her other wounds. He blanched at the sight of a full circle of deep lacerations on her side. Just when he thought it couldn’t be any worse. The size of the wound the attacker’s mouth had left, made him realize how close he had come to losing her. If the hyena had bitten her more towards the front of her torso, he’d be looking at her insides hanging out. Nausea rose up inside his throat, and he choked down a sob.

  He allowed himself a split second of feeling the pain of her not being in his life anymore, then he fought down the desperation. She was still alive, and he would make damn sure she’d stay that way. He couldn’t do anything about her hip wound, but although the bite marks looked gruesome, they were barely bleeding anymore. The leg wound was life-threatening. The tourniquet would cause the tissue to die off very soon but hopefully Adi would make it to hospital quickly enough to save her lower limb. And if they had to cut it off, so what? At least she’d still be alive!

  “Come on sweetheart, you’ll be fine. Stay with me, help is on its way.” He repeated the same words like a mantra. Maybe it was his imagination but her face relaxed a little as he assured her over and over again. For the next few minutes, he sat next to Adi and held her hand while he prayed for her to last until the ambulance arrived.

  Finally he heard the siren’s wail come closer, and his head dropped in relief. Thankfully the hyenas had slunk off. That was another complication that Honi had no idea how to deal with. What would have happened if the ambulance had pulled up, and the pack had still been there? Since nobody else could see them, would they have slunk in when the EMTs opened the door and finished the job? Could Ho’neo have fought them off? He shook his head again. There was no point wondering about it now—they were gone. Honi waved at the men when they jumped out of the back of the ambulance.

  They worked quickly and efficiently and accepted Honi’s explanation of a dog attack. He held it together reasonably well, but when the EMTs had loaded her into the back of the ambulance and driven off, he allowed himself the luxury of falling to pieces. He couldn’t stop thinking of Adi’s tired eyes, black with pain, as she looked at him. When she had closed them, he had been sure for a split second that she had left him.

  He sank heavily to the gray floor and leaned against the wall. For a few moments, his eyes stared sightlessly at the puddle of blood in front of him. This must be shock. One of the men had offered to take him to the hospital as well, but he’d refused. He was fine. Adi would be looked after properly, and he couldn’t be any help if he went with her.

  He needed to figure out how to stop the attacks. John. He needed to reach John. The shaman was the only one who had unearthed even small bits of information. He couldn’t focus— his thoughts were all over the place. His arms around Ho’neo’s neck, he buried his face in the wolf’s mane, glad for the comfort his friend provided. It took him several more minutes before he felt ready to make the call.

  Just as he grabbed his phone, a police car pulled up outside. A young officer in full uniform opened the door and walked a few steps into the hallway before stopping, his eyebrows shooting up at the sight of the carnage. “Are you Mr. Fisher?” he asked politely. When Honi nodded, he stepped gingerly through the blood. “You called in the dog attack, correct?” he continued after introducing himself. Again Honi nodded blankly.

  “You saved her life, you know.” At that, Honi looked up at him.

  “I already spoke to the hospital. The injuries your girlfriend sustained are consistent with an animal attack. I would like you to give a witness statement, but there’s no rush. You can come to the station tomorrow.”

  Honi smiled gratefully. He grabbed the young officer’s hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. “Look, you’ve had a shock. Are you okay to get home by yourself?”

  The concerned look the officer gave him finally snapped Honi out of the disbelieving state he’d been in since he’d seen Adi lying helpless and bleeding out.

  “Thanks for your concern, officer. I’m fine. Just glad my… girlfriend is okay.” His girlfriend. If she survived. “How is she? Did they tell you anything?”

  “Well…” The young man hesitated. “I’m not really supposed to say, since you’re not family…” Then he mumbled to himself, “Oh what the hell,” before looking at Honi with sympathy in his gaze. “They brought her straight through into surgery to save her leg. She got mauled badly and lost a lot of blood, but she’ll live. She’s gonna be fine. Why don’t you go home, clean up and go see her in a few hours?”

  Honi looked at himself, at the blood that had soaked into the knees of his jeans and somehow gotten onto his shirt as well. His hands were covered with brown splotches that flaked as he absentmindedly picked at them. He needed a shower, no kidding. But before that, he’d call John and figure out a way to fight back against whatever the hell was going on.

  Freshly showered and changed, Honi walked briskly towards the hospital, his wolf by his side. Ho’neo pushed against him, drawing as much comfort from his human as Honi did from him. Honi hoped that he could see Adi or, if he couldn’t, at least find out how she was. He had left several urgent messages for John, his voice sounding increasingly frantic.

  On the last call, he’d had to hang up mid-message because he was hyperventilating so much. He couldn’t afford a panic attack, not now, when Adi was fighting for her life, alone in hospital. Honi had no idea what had caused the spirit animals to attack the girl or if they would try again with Adi lying in a room, defenseless.

  He was torn between needing to see her and wanting to get more information. Honi pulled his phone out of his pocket and pressed redial. His stupid old-fashioned ring tone trilled right at that moment and startled him into dropping the phone. Cursing, he bent down and quickly made sure the screen wasn’t cracked. The protector case had done its job, and when Honi saw John’s name flash across the screen, he quickly slid his thumb across to answer.

  “I got your messages, what’s up?” The relief of hearing his old friend’s calm voice nearly brought tears to Honi’s eyes.

  “Adi, she…” Honi gulped and tried again. “She was attacked and nearly died, John. If I hadn’t been there, she would have bled out and, and…” He stopped again.

  “Slowly now, tell me what happened from the beginning.”

  And Honi did. He told John about how Adi’d been hurt in her dream and that she was now in hospital. Being forced to put the events into some sort of order helped him calm down. John didn’t say anything for a long while when Honi was finished. Honi could almost hear the wheels turn in his mentor’s head.

  Eventually John asked slowly, “Did Adi seem different to you before the attack?”

  Honi thought for a moment. “She was really tired. She looked exhausted, actually.”

  “That makes sense. You know how I told you about the kid who was killed by spirit animals? His friends told the investigators that he did everything he could to avoid sleeping. One girl was so freaked out by his behavior she was convinced he was on something, but tox panels came back clean.”

  Honi hummed. “If he’d had nightmares like Adi had lately, that could explain it. She was terrified after the last one.” Then a thought occurred to him. “Oh man, I wonder if she took something to keep her awake? Amphetamines, maybe?” It would certainly explain her strung-out appearance this morning.

  “Don’t ask me, all I ever did was weed back in the day,” John replied drily. “The point is,” he continued, “if a walker refuses to enter the spirit world, the balance shifts. Spirit-walkers are the intermediaries between our world and the spirit world. Their existence balances the worlds and keeps
the passage open for all.”

  ”Which means…”

  “Which means that because Adi refused to accept her gift, the spirits turned against her and are trying to pull her in by force. And they won’t stop.”

  Honi’s stomach dropped. “You mean they won’t stop until she’s dead?”

  “Or unconscious or asleep. She’ll have to confront them while she’s in the spirit world, and only then might she be able to find a way back.”

  “Unless she’s dead.”

  John agreed with a sigh. “Unless she’s dead like that boy in Weatherford.”

  After Honi hung up, he stared at his phone, his hand resting on the wolf’s head. John had no clue how to face the spirit creatures. Other spirit-walkers were inducted at an early age and able to move freely between the worlds. The only other time the shaman had come across another spirit-walker who didn’t believe, the boy had met a terrible end. Honi shuddered. He could only imagine how scared he must have been, attacked and torn to pieces by monsters only he could see.

  Slowly a plan began to take shape in his mind. First of all he had to check on Adi. If she was okay, he would make sure she stayed that way. If she had woken up, he would explain what he had learned and insist that she continue training with him once she was released from hospital. In the meantime, he would stay with her twenty-four seven if need be, to watch over her. Ho'neo would help. His wolf loved Adi as much as Honi did.

  His eyes closed, Honi sat slouched in the only free seat in the crowded waiting area. The molded white plastic seat was permanently stuck to a metal bar in a row of four seats. Whoever had designed this must have been a very short person, Honi decided. He couldn’t spread his legs and get comfortable.

  A really heavy woman with a toad stuck to her head pushed against his left arm. To his right, an equally big guy, a fat poodle peeking out from between his legs, leaned against him. Between the two, he was squashed in like a paperback between two bookends.

  He moved his head forward and tried to sit up straight. The second he relaxed, his butt scooted forward towards the edge. Obviously the designer had thought sloping a chair seat forward was a really good idea. He huffed in exasperation, and while he scooted back for the nth time, he checked his phone again.

  He’d already been waiting for over an hour. The nurse had refused to tell him anything about Adi’s condition, but when he’d explained that he was her boyfriend and that Adi had no family, she’d softened a little and at least told him that she was still alive and in surgery. His nose wrinkled when the smell of hand sanitizer mingled with the unpleasant scent of illness. All he had to do was look at the spirit creatures accompanying their humans to know who was sick and who was visiting patients.

  A large cat, maybe a cougar, lay at the feet of an elderly man. The man had nodded off, his head lolling forward while he snuffled occasionally. The cougar mirrored his pose, his large round head resting on his crossed paws. When he looked at Honi, his eyes were covered in a film of white goo, its muzzle dripping a clear liquid.

  Honi wrinkled his nose in distaste, and the cat sneezed in response. Then his eyes dropped closed, and the animal went back to sleep. For the next few minutes, spirit animal and patient took turns sneezing and snuffling. Honi was glad he sat some distance away from the pair. He wasn’t keen on catching whatever they had.

  Then the doors opened, and a trolley was pushed in by a nurse. A tired-looking lady followed closely. The nurse pushed the bed against the wall and smiled at the boy lying motionless under the blue hospital-issue blanket. His mother rushed up to grab his hand.

  “The operation was successful. Don’t worry, he’ll be fine”, the nurse said reassuringly before she walked off at speed. The mother looked after her, doubt written into her face. Honi watched as she bent lower and whispered at the child. His heart sank as he looked at the little fur ball cowering at the boy’s feet. A pink tongue licked a toe sticking out from underneath the rough cover.

  “Hey baby, look at me,” she said and smiled at the little face when he turned his head.

  Honi couldn’t hear any more, but he didn’t have to, to know how sick the kid was. The little puppy tried to stand up but sank down again in exhaustion, its eyes dull and its tiny body wracked with fits of coughing. It didn’t look like it would last much longer.

  Honi looked away, his eyes stinging. He’d always hated hospitals because the spirit animals gave away whether their humans would make it or not. This kid wouldn’t. Very soon an orderly pushed the bed towards the rooms, watched by dull eyes, greedy for even a little change in the dreary limbo of the hospital waiting room.

  The smell of disinfectant and the silence, interrupted by the occasional shuffling of feet, was grating on his nerves. Honi sighed while staring blankly into space. He shuffled his feet, then stretched his back and eventually got up to find a candy machine. Sugar had always calmed him down when he was a kid. Funny how his parents had never agreed.

  As he opened the wrapper and took a bite of the sweet bar, his thoughts returned to Adi. He had only known her for a couple of weeks really, and for most of that time she’d irritated the hell out of him. Yet she had become such an integral part of his life. He literally spent most of his moments awake and sometimes asleep thinking about her. When she was with him, he felt better. When she was away from him, he worried about how she was doing.

  He shook his head at himself and grimaced. Somehow she had managed to get under his skin. Overcome with anger at the unfairness of it all, he slapped the wall next to the machine with this palm, then dropped his forehead against the painted surface and suppressed a sob. She had to live, she just had to!

  "Mr. Fisher?"

  Honi spun around. A nurse in her fifties stood behind him, her friendly round face wearing a serious expression that didn’t promise good news. His eyes widening, he braced himself.

  "Yes? Is there any news on my girlfriend?"

  The woman looked at him with pity in her eyes. "Miss Gutseel has not yet regained consciousness. We were able to save her leg in surgery, but she also sustained head injuries. She’s in the ICU right now in an induced coma to give her body time to recover.”

  Coma? Honi stared at her, then sagged in relief. Induced coma didn’t sound too bad—at least she was alive. For a while he hadn’t been at all sure she’d make it.

  "Can I see her?”

  "Of course."

  The woman turned around, and Honi trotted after her, feeling slightly dizzy with apprehension. He had seen on TV how people supposedly reacted when they saw their loved ones lying in hospital beds, hooked up to machines. Looked like there was truth in the depictions.

  It was shocking. Adi looked tiny, pale against the white bed linens. Bandages covered much of her arms and, he assumed, her legs. A plastic tube was fixed to the side of her face, with crisscross plasters holding her mouth open slightly. She was so still. There was no movement other than the rising and falling of her chest. She didn't look asleep. If Honi hadn’t known better, he might have thought she was dead.

  The wolf made a mournful sound and walked straight up to Adi's face. He snuffled and stuck his nose against Adi's neck, then whined, knowing that Adi wasn't well. Honi would have loved to join in. His hand searched blindly and found her fingers. He squeezed slightly in the hope of getting some reaction from her, a shudder, a tremble, maybe even a squeeze back. There was nothing. Her hand was as limp as that of a dead body.

  Honi pulled up the only chair in the room, an ugly thing with dirty fabric seat and scuffed metal legs. Then he sat until the sun had disappeared behind the gunmetal-colored window frame. He didn't feel the time pass, too deep in his thoughts. Adi had been so afraid to fall asleep and had fought to stay awake for days. Now the spirit animals had made sure she had crossed to their world.

  Would she ever be able to come back? He wasn't sure. What if the spirits attacked her in the other world? What if, at this very moment, Adi was fighting for her life? There was no way for Honi to know.

/>   He sat upright as a thought entered his mind. What if there was a way for him to enter the spirit world? After all, he did it all the time during meditation and in his dreams. The only problem was that he had very little control over it. Even during meditation, he could only maintain spirit-walking for an hour or so, before it drained him mentally, and he had to return.

  But what if he could somehow prolong his stay in the other world, just long enough to find Adi and get her back? Honi jumped up and looked out the window. Somewhere out there was Adi, maybe fighting for her life, and he might have found a way to help her. His tiredness was wiped away by a renewed spike of hope, of energy. All along, all he could do was wait, but now he had a plan.

  He stepped closer to Adi's bed, bent down and placed a kiss on her forehead. "I will join you very soon, and I will get you back. I promise."

  He took one last look at the motionless girl, then turned around and walked out of the hospital, his wolf by his side.

  12

  Adi sat up with a jolt and looked around. The disorientation made her head spin. One moment she was bleeding out, lying on the dirty, scuffed linoleum floor, and now she found herself sitting on top of a hill that she recognized. This was the third time she’d found herself in this place, and neither of the previous two times had been particularly pleasant.

  Adi stood up, brushing herself down and checking for the injuries she’d sustained in the attack not long ago. The excruciating pain when those disgusting doglike creatures had torn chunks of flesh out of her calf was emblazoned in her memory. She slid her palms over her shins and marveled at the fact that the skin was completely undamaged. Then she straightened and allowed her eyes to take in the landscape around her.

  As far as the eye could see were hills and more rolling hills, layered in green-gray silhouettes into the distance. Far on the horizon, a dark forest stretched for miles. A mild breeze played with her long hair, which hung loosely around her shoulders. She couldn’t remember taking the rubber band out of her hair. Slowly she turned in a circle, taking in the glorious landscape in the distance while trying to get her bearings.