Dylan was unturned; he was weaker. But with the sheer adrenaline, panic, and the years of rehearsal, he broke the Empyreal’s neck.
‘Dylan, grab the wheel!’ his father roared, as the Empyreal beneath his father’s grip bucked – thenscreamed.
Bells jerked, waking with a start as the car spun.
Dylan reached around his father, who had leaned over to the Empyreal in the driver’s seat, and stabilised the wheel as the Empyreal suddenly stilled. He caught his father’s snarling reflection in the rear-view mirror – the pure, wicked darkness in his bloodshot eyes.
Then, his father reached over the dead Empyreal and kicked him out the door, climbing into the driver’s seat. Wind ripped through the car until it slammed shut.
‘I’m sorry, I couldn’t let them take us in,’ Dylan panted, sitting back.
‘It’s all right, son,’ their father said, though his grip on the wheel was tight.
‘What’s happening?’ Bells asked, her eyes losing their bloody hue.
Dylan explained, collecting the gun from the dead Empyreal between them and handing it to Bells. But the swerving of the car and ditching of a body had tipped off the trailing SUV. ‘Did you See anything?’
‘I – yes.’ Her eyes shot to their father, anxious.
A pit opened in Dylan’s stomach. ‘What?’
She cut off when something in the rear-view mirror stole her attention and the blood seemed to drain from her face. Dylan twistedas the boot of the SUV behind them opened, other drivers around it swerving.
Then a creaturecrawledout the back.
‘Dad?What is that?’ Dylan demanded as something that could only be described as demonic loped after them down the road.
Their father cursed and slammed on the accelerator. ‘It looks like a Fomóir beast.’
Cars jerked out of the creature’s way, some shoved by one of its razored, monstrous arms.
Bells gripped her gun, barely containing her hysteria.
‘What’s the plan?’ Dylan asked.
‘We get to the Castlerigg stones,’ their father said, veering the car to the right and towards the A66. ‘Stone circles were safeguards against deadly creatures in the early days: you would get inside and wait for an Empyreal to rescue you. If we get inside, it can’t reach us.’
‘I won’t be able to shoot from here without hitting the other cars,’ Bells shouted, twisting in her seat to aim out of the back window.
‘It won’t kill it anyway; you’d need a demi-god or a transformation.’
If they needed more proof the Wake were Fomóiri, they had it.
‘Why would they unleash it?’ Bells cried. ‘They’re exposing supernaturals!’
‘Either it’s camouflaged, or they want to create mass panic,’ their father said, his face severe as he jerked the car, speeding past shocked drivers. ‘We’ll only know when we see the news.’
‘What happens when we get to the stones? We’ll be trapped,’ Dylan asked, kicking the Empyreal he’d killed out of the door, in the hopes it would distract the chasing monster. The car was momentarily whipped with air. He hauled the door shut again, regretting every damn decision he’d ever made.
But they were in control of the car now. If they could get away, they could contact Callum and find a way to get Nicole out. Dylan dived for the compartment where the Empyreals had stored their phones.
‘If we get in the stones and activate them with blood,’ their father answered, ‘it seals the protection so the other Empyreals will be trapped outside and forced to transform to kill the beast. Hopefully it’ll take some of them down and we can deal with the rest.’
‘It’s gaining!’ Bells shouted.
Despite their father’s skilled driving, they scraped several cars with searing metallic screeches and bright sprays of sparks. He slammed on the horn and blasted past, but most vehicles veered out of the way of the approaching creature.
Swerving onto country lanes, they narrowly missed colliding with other cars until the structure was in sight.
