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For several seconds, he could only stand there utterly speechless. He’d never heard Hale talk quite so bluntly. But what bothered him the most were the brain cells scrambling in an absolute panic as they shouted, “Is he right? Is he right?”
“No,” Harrison snapped, but he wasn’t sure if he was talking to Hale or the frantic brain cells. He picked up the papers, which were still wrapped in the tight cord, and clutched them to his chest. They had more important things to worry about than a hot-as-Hades kiss.
One that threatened to shatter his entire world.
He shoved that thought aside and silently crossed to the front of the general store. The brightly lit place was empty of people, but the narrow aisles were jam-packed with random goods from grocery items to baby toys to medicine to snow shovels. Main Street appeared eerily quiet. Bodies were still scattered throughout the avenue. The wood on some buildings was scorched, and things were wet in other places as if there had been a sudden downpour he and Hale had missed.
“I don’t see any pestilents,” Harrison murmured. “Well, not any live ones, at least.”
Hale joined him at the window, polite enough to at least keep a couple of feet of space between them. “I think it’s safe to head out. You stay behind me.”
Hale led the way out of the store, with Harrison sticking close enough to nearly step on the heels of his shoes. A heavy silence had fallen over the town. Not even the wind howled and whipped between the buildings. His heart gave some frantic thunks in his chest as if worry were now strangling it. It was only when they neared the library again and saw the Weavers standing among the dazed Guardians that he could take an easy breath. Pestilent bodies littered the ground, some of them still burning. Harrison choked on the scent of cooking pestilents.
Clay, water dripping from his hair, turned toward Harrison and offered him a huge smile of relief. “Good, you and the spell are safe.”
“Where’s John?” Hale asked as he stood beside Harrison.
“Disappeared during the fight, the coward. Once Grey started breaking his mind-control spell, he must have given up.” Clay reached for Dane and tugged him close. Dane was just as wet as Clay, his clothes plastered to his hard frame. “You good, babe?”
“Yeah,” Dane answered, giving him a quick kiss. “I’ll get to work healing.”
“Just don’t overdo it.” Clay patted his shoulder, then turned to Hale. “Thanks for getting Harrison out of all this. Where did you go?”
“We tried to get out of town, but they swarmed the cars. We managed to hide out in the general store.” Hale gave Harrison a look he couldn’t interpret, but it sent another wave of heat through him. Yeah, they’d done more than hide, that was for sure. His lips still felt a bit raw. He resisted the urge to reach up and touch them.
Samuel walked up to them and held out his hand to Clay. “Thank you for protecting the Guardians. Some are a little confused still, while others are just horrified they were taken over like that. I don’t have a count as to how many survived, but so far, most of them did. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Clay shook his hand. “We’re not out to hurt the innocent.”
“Well, I don’t know how you managed to pull this off. I’m just sorry they attacked here in our town. You should have been safe.” Samuel brushed his hands down his still-immaculate suit and looked at Harrison. “We’ll take care of the cleanup so you all can continue your journey. We’re all hoping for your success, of course.”
Harrison nodded at him, that word landing on his chest like a heavy weight that threatened to crush his lungs. Success. What the fuck did that even look like anymore? Closing the rift was success. Blocking the pestilents from this world permanently was success. But would he still feel that way if Hale lost his life in the process? Part of Harrison was screaming no as loud as it could.
Wiley walked up to them, a weary smile on his face. “We need to find a better cloaking spell. I thought the one Harrison and I located would work, but if they were ahead of us, it clearly didn’t. This has just got to stop. We got lucky again that none of the Weavers were killed.” Wiley pushed damp hair off his forehead. “We also maybe want to take a different route to Sedona because the obvious one is just too easy for them to follow us even if they can’t find us magically.”
Clay clasped his shoulder. “I saw you fighting out there. You did well. And your suggestion is a good one. We brought camping gear, so we’ll start using that sometimes instead of hotels.”
