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I do as she says. I dart sideways, but the hound is at my heels. The others are in front of me, then they’re all around me. They have me trapped. Heads down, heckles raised, they fix their eyes on me and lick their lips.

I am closing my eyes, summoning every ounce of fight left inside me when the sound of rushing water makes me look up.

A torrent of water sweeps across the roof, putting out my flames and knocking the beasts from their feet. It keeps going and smashes them into the wall opposite me, then I hear Rev yell. She is standing up, reaching out her uninjured hand, pushing the water with a blast of air until it lifts the hounds and throws them over the edge.

They squeal and yelp as they hit the ground.

Someone grabs my hand. I realize it’s Kole. “Nova, hurry.” He pulls me with him. “They won’t stay down long.”

“Snow and Rev.” I turn and see Tanner wrapping an arm around Rev’s waist and helping her to the door, but Luther isn’t having the same success with Snow. He’s crouched next to him, nudging him with an open palm.

“He won’t wake up.” Luther looks up at us. “I don’t like his breathing.”

Shaking Kole’s hand from my arm, I sink to the ground and smooth my hands over Snow’s bloodied shoulder. “Mack, you have to shift back,” I whisper. “If you’re in there, Professor, we need you back so we can carry you home.”

Snow opens his eyes and turns his head slowly to meet my gaze. I stare into his dark brown eyes. They flicker with dots of amber. “Snow, send Mack back to us so we can help you.” I stroke his face. He groans and leans into my touch. Then he shudders, trembles, bends, and breaks until he is Mack again.

The sight of my beautiful professor’s naked body covered in deep oozing wounds brings tears to my eyes. “Help him.” I look up at Kole. “Carry him. Please.”

As Luther helps heave Mack into Kole’s arms, I move toward the stairs.

“Sarah.” Rev’s voice is croaky. “Don’t forget Sarah.”

“I’ll get her.” Tanner passes Rev to me, and I hook my arm around her waist. “The truck’s out back. Go quickly.”

He disappears down the stairs, and the rest of us move as fast as we can. While Kole climbs into the truck bed with Mack, Luther takes the driver’s seat, and I help Rev in beside him. She is deathly pale and closes her eyes as she leans her head back.

“She’s losing too much blood,” I mutter.

Quickly, I pull off Mack’s hoodie, then my thin white sweater. I rip it into strips and I’m about to try and wrap it around her hand when Tanner appears. “I’ll do it,” he says, climbing over me and turning his attention to Rev’s hand. Then to Luther, he says, “Drive. Sarah’s in back.” At the same moment I pull the truck door shut, the howling starts again and Tanner yells, “Luther, drive. Now!”

15

LUTHER

I kick the truck into gear and drive. Fast. As we pull onto Main Street, the hounds spot us and hurtle in our direction. I look in the rear-view mirror and see Sarah sending sparks of something from her wand. Kole stretches out his arms and rips two large trees from their roots, sending them flying into the middle of the street, but the hounds just leap over them.

“Faster, Luther,” Kole barks.

I press my foot on the accelerator, slamming it to the floor, but Pete the vamp’s old beat-up truck is going as fast as it can. Next to me, Tanner is winding a bandage made from Nova’s sweater around Rev’s wrist. Her hand was damn near hanging off, and now she’s conscious but not speaking.

Pressed up against the window, Nova looks in the side mirror and shouts, “They’re not stopping.” She turns to me and, over Tanner’s head, says, “Can they break through the shield at the cabin? If we get there, can they break it?”

I glance at Tanner, and we exchange a look that says neither of us knows the answer. “I fucking hope not,” I mutter.

As we round a corner up ahead and pull onto the road that leads out of Phoenix Falls, the sun hits the windshield in exactly the wrong spot. I’m blinded, for just a second, but I ease my foot on the gas and it’s enough for the hounds to close the gap between us.

They’re running either side of the truck now, bashing their unnaturally strong bodies into the doors.

“Shit.” I struggle to keep the truck steady, then one jumps onto the hood. For an almost-comical moment, it holds its balance but then its legs buckle—like Bambi on ice—and one small jerk of the steering wheel sends it skidding off onto the road.

It tumbles into the trees, but there are at least ten more in its wake.

Winding down her window, Nova sends a spray of flames which engulfs the hound nearest to her. For a good few seconds, it seems unaffected but then she yells, turns up the heat, and it runs away with smoke coming off its gray skin. She does the same to the next, and the next, but she’s getting tired.

In the back, Kole shouts as a hound jumps up beside him. It’s about to pounce when a vine winds tightly around its throat and slams it to the ground. Sarah is cowering now, holding her wand shakily in front of her, aware her spells are of little use.

Kole takes down another hound, Nova does too, and then there are only two left. Sensing they can’t get to Nova while she’s protected by the truck, they slow up but keep following us.