Page 101

Just when I’d managed to fall asleep, too...

I squinted at the clock on the oven. Five o’clock. Maybe I was asleep longer than I thought.

A fist pounded on the door. “Open up. Police.”

I hobble-skipped across the living room to get the door, whipping it open just as Fox was sitting up and Shira and Corbin stumbled out of the office. Down the hall, I thought the master bedroom door creaked open, but Everly didn’t emerge.

“Can I help you? It’s so early.” I rubbed the sleep from my eyes while trying to make out the face of the dark figure before me.

“We got a call that some college kids were taking over this trailer. Are you the owner or related to the owner?”

I scoffed and looked at Shira, who came bustling over while tying up a robe. “I am. I’m related to the owner. I’m Rachel Dayan’s niece. She said I could use this place whenever I needed to.”

“Was there a noise complaint?” I asked, leaning in the doorway. Fox loomed over me, giving me all the confidence I needed at my back. “We didn’t have a party or anything. So, is there a problem?”

The officer kept his hat tipped down just enough that I couldn’t make out his eyes. Pen poised over a notebook, I thought he might be noting this all down for a report, but his hand didn’t move. Not a single word was written on the blank page.

Looking past his shoulder, I spotted his truck with the flashing lights. A very plain truck with no markings or decals. No partner either. I didn’t know officers could make house calls like this alone.

Something didn’t sit right with me, but it was too late for second thoughts when the officer pushed in, muttering something about needing to take a look around.

I fell back into Fox, sent off balance by the rough push.

Too late, I realized the lights on the truck were not legitimate police lights. Too late, I realized the officer wasn’t an officer at all.

Too late, I realized Arthur Winter just pushed into the house.

Before Fox could react, Arthur threw me to the floor out of his way and struck his brother with a sharp crack of his fist. I picked my head up off the floor, flinging hair out of my eyes, but couldn’t see what happened—only that Fox was on the ground with blood leaking from his temple.

“Fox!”

Shira and Corbin backed away when Arthur began to grow. Silhouetted by the flashing red and blue lights behind him, his dark figure shifted and morphed into something too tall for the low ceilings in the trailer. With horns like a devil and cloven hooves, the minotaur puffed out a hellish snort.

“Get out of the—” Corbin started to shout, only to be cut off when Arthur kicked out viciously, sending both Corbin and Shira flying back into the kitchen. Cupboards clattered and glass shattered behind the broken shelves.

The house was coming down in pieces with every step or move the beast made. Too big, too big, too big—

I crawled to get to Fox, trying to drag him out of the way when bits of ceiling plaster rained down on top of us. Clouds of debris and dust made it impossible to see more than a few inches in front of me, but the shadow of a monster loomed overhead no matter where I turned.

With great roars, the beast beat the floor, aiming for me and Fox. I screamed with every reverberation and near-miss, rolling, crawling, and scrambling with everything in me to get away. To save Fox.

The sound of water spraying and electricity crackling drowned out the shrieks ringing in my ears. If we didn’t all get out soon, we would be buried alive in the wreckage, but what good would getting out even do? Arthur could just attack us easier in the wide-open space. Unless Corbin was actually good at shifting into things other than birds, Fox had been our only hope to take on Arthur.

The gun. I just have to get to the gun—

Terrified I couldn’t save everyone, terrified it was all going to slip through my fingers before I’d barely had time to hold onto it, I let go of Fox. Just for a moment. I just had to get to my coat that had been hanging on the rack beside the door. The door which was now missing, completely torn off its hinges and flung into the TV stand.

The beast lumbered across the room, and for a moment I feared I wasn’t going to be able to find my coat or the gun hidden in the pocket in time. Arthur would find Everly, and he would take her away from me again.

Through pants and sobs, I dug through the debris, ignoring the splinters and cuts from drywall abrading my skin. At the first touch of the polyester fabric, I wrenched the coat straight up out of the mess, plunging my hand into the pocket, and—

Arthur plucked me up by my bad ankle, holding me upside down in the air.

I screamed both in rage and pain as I swung out instinctively. Punching the minotaur seemed like my only option.

Half expecting to be thrown like another piece of furniture, I braced for impact. It never came though as Arthur bowed his horned head and carried me out the front hole of the trailer to his truck where he shoved me in the backseat. Furry, beastly hands shifted to nimble fingers that fastened a handcuff to one wrist. The other end of it secured me to the door handle.

“What... What are you—”