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Reaching down, Clay pressed his fingers into the dirt, letting the powers of the earth seep into his flesh. It burrowed into his bones and wound its way around his soul. And with it came a deeper sense of peace and belonging. The feelings of distrust and wariness faded away. The negativity and worry fell off his shoulders and disappeared.
When he looked at Grey again, the lines of distress were gone from his face. His shoulders slumped and he released a deep breath. It was actually kind of stunning to see the change come over Grey. Clay had helped do that. He helped to calm Grey without saying a word, without even touching him.
Maybe there was something more to his powers that he was overlooking. They were about life and connection, but in a very literal sense, they kept him grounded. And to some extent, he kept Grey grounded as well. Possibly even Baer. He’d have to think on this some more.
“I won’t go mucking around in the mind of someone who hasn’t invited me,” Grey started again, but his voice was calm and even. “Anyone who lives or comes into the plantation house is safe from me. I have no desire to learn everyone’s thoughts and secrets.”
“Unless they’re one of the pestilents,” Clay muttered.
Grey looked up at him, and Clay was more comfortable meeting his eyes after his reassurances. Yeah, maybe he saw more than he was possibly admitting, but Grey didn’t seem like the type to share what he might accidentally learn. There was an ugly weight and responsibility that came with these powers. He became the carrier of everyone’s secrets. It was cruel, and if Grey saw even a glimpse of that when he was getting his powers, his reaction made all the more sense now.
“Speaking of monsters, what do we know about the pestilents?” Grey asked.
“Not much more than what the aunts have told us. They’re creatures from another world, and the longer they’re in our world, the more they rot.”
“How do we kill them?”
Clay opened his mouth to reply, but a rabbit was making its way across the open field. He wondered if it was Baer in a new animal form. Definitely the smallest thing he’d seen him try out if it was. He was nearly across the field when a large hawk swooped down, but when it was nearly on top of the rabbit, the hawk let out a piercing cry. It flapped its wings frantically, desperately trying to change direction at the last second. The poor thing nearly fell from the sky but managed to recover and fly away. As the rabbit reached the shade of Clay’s tree, it was replaced by a human Baer.
“Motherfucker tried to eat me!” he cried between frantic pants.
Grey fell over laughing and even Clay chuckled, watching Baer press a hand to his heart as if he were trying to keep it in his chest.
“I thought you were going to stick to predators.”
“I was, but I had to at least try something small.”
Grey’s laughs quieted. “You were trying to sneak up on us.”
Baer’s mouth fell open in shock. “How—”
“You’re very loud with your emotions. Even as a rabbit.”
Clay snickered again—he couldn’t help it. Baer was very emotive and expressive. What he was feeling was clearly written on his face and in his body language. The man had zero poker face from what he could tell. But the nice thing was that Clay always knew where he stood with Baer.
“Whatever. I heard you talking about the pestilents,” Baer grumbled, moving their conversation to what they had been talking about.
“I asked how we’re supposed to kill them.”
Clay shrugged. “Shotgun works pretty well from what I’ve seen.”
Grey narrowed his eyes on Clay. “I can’t imagine we would have been given all these complicated powers if all we needed was a bunch of shotguns.”
“I never said that. I just know shotguns work. Besides that, I think their bodies are pretty fragile and vulnerable like ours. Cut the head off, they die.”
“Stake to the heart,” Baer said. He mimicked a stake being driven through his chest, complete with tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. Apparently whatever emotional distress he’d suffered under Grey’s powers, he was bouncing back.
“They’re not vampires,” Clay muttered.
Baer shrugged. “It’d still work.”
Clay rolled his eyes, but Grey spoke before he could say anything.
“The truth is, you don’t know shit.” He pinned Clay with a hard stare for a couple of seconds, as if daring Clay to argue with him. “None of us know shit about these things we’re supposed to stop.”
“True,” Baer easily agreed.
“So, we need to do some research.”
Clay went cold as he stared at Grey. “What are you suggesting?”
“We trap one.”
“What?” Clay gasped.
“Yes!” Baer said at the same time.
Grey pushed up so that he was sitting on the ground opposite Clay. “If we capture one, we can test out our powers on it. We can figure out what our limitations are. What they’re capable of.”
