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I step over the bodies of the men and women shriveled up, their eyes glazed over with death's glare.
"That's creepy," Frankie shivers out.
"What's creepy is watching the dark ones of our kind trying to tear us apart and then watching our heroes be night stalkers and lycans."
Frankie shakes his head, still reeling from the absurdity of it all, and we continue to trek through the woods, not risking getting still again.
"How about casting an awake spell?" I whisper. "I'd prefer to have a little backup the next time they attack."
"Good idea," he mumbles before he starts chanting under his breath.
"There it is," he whispers as we stare through the thick brush at the black tree in front of us.
My clothes are filthy, my hair is a tangled mess, and we've been on foot for two days - no sleep since the attack - for this?
"How is this supposed to help us find Mom?"
"Like the Tree of Gaya - the root of the light - this is the tree of Tartarus, the root of the dark. If Calypso is close by, this will lead us there," he whispers, careful not to draw any unwanted ears our way.
Suddenly, a white hawk zooms down from the sky, barreling toward us as it screeches in protest.
"Get down, Alyssa! Changer!" Frankie yells.
I squeal and duck, but the haw
k doesn't attack. Instead, it disappears behind the tree. I pull my hands up, ready to go on the offense, when I'm startled from behind.
"Don't use that tree. You'll awaken a thousand souls and yet you'll only have a riddle for what you need to know," a smooth voice says, and my eyes fall on his face in disbelief.
"Thad?" I gasp.
His lips thin, and then he nods while tossing a pair of pants beside the tree. I look over my shoulder to see an a guy pulling them on, his bare body making me blush, and then I whip my head back around.
"I'll tear you apart if you try to touch us," Frankie threatens.
"If I wanted to harm her, I would have already done so. I moved in next door to keep an eye on her once I found out she was living in a town full of night stalkers."
I tilt my head, still stunned into near silence.
"Why? You're a-"
"A vicious killer with a taste for blood?" he laughs out. "Not exactly. Just because I'm a changer, it doesn't make me a killer. I've only killed when necessary, never for a meal. They have blood banks these days. I happen to own a few. Before then, I learned when to stop before I killed someone."
His smug tone doesn't match the sweet boy next door I thought he was, but at the same time, he just got a hell of a lot sexier.
Stupid bad boy complex.
"Changers don't stop, they kill for fun," Frankie objects, his eyes narrowing in scrutiny.
"It's amazing you say that, considering the same was once said about witches and warlocks. You think you're the only ones who've evolved?"
Three girls and two more guys walk up to join him, all of them hiding their secret. Then one girl's eyes glow blue, making me sick.
"Night stalker," I shiver out.
"She's not going to hurt you. She's here to help," Thad says as he walks toward me. "Your mom isn't here - never was. But someone wanted the council to think she was."
"And we're just supposed to take you at your word?" Frankie scoffs.
