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CHAPTER 52
RAIDEN
It had nowhere to go. We had it sealed off and contained within the halls of Shadow Creek.
“Open the doors,” the entity’s many voices rang out, sounding like it came from everywhere and nowhere. Beside me, Carter recoiled, going ashen within seconds. The sound grated down my spine. I couldn’t imagine anyone ever getting used to the sound; hollow and horrifying distorted voices, all talking in unison.
“There,” Gunnar said, causing all of us to turn and stare as the column of mist accumulated in the middle of the hall, pulsing with newfound urgency.
The witch was the first of us to step forward, but she had no time to utter a single word before the mist closed in on her, gathering around her like a swarm of angry bees.
“You?” The entity barked, “release me, now, or -”, the woman didn’t give him time to finish, as she lifted her palm and blew over her hand, uttering a word I didn’t understand. Grey powder scattered, mixing with the mist and the entity drew back, ripping itself away from her.
Warped panic wrapped around us as the distorted voices yelled out from all sides, angry and frustrated. The entity was losing its composure. This was good.This could help us. We just needed it to slip up, make a mistake so we could use it to our advantage.
“Calm down, Host Crawler,” the witch said, “we only want to talk.” Her voice was tender and soothing. She didn’t look fazed by the entity’s unearthly presence at all.
“I don’t have anything to say to you,” the voices spat, mist gathering in a column again. This time further away from her.
“Why are you so interested in the young girl’s body?” The witch asked, tilting her head, greying strands of hair falling over her soft features.
Silence.All of us stood there, listening. Waiting. My heart raced, beating wildly within my chest. It had gone deathly quiet. No one made a sound or even breathed. Slowly, the mist started to disperse and disappear.
“Where has it gone?” Gunnar asked, turning in place, searching for any signs of the mist.
“He can’t go anywhere,” the witch replied, “Host Crawlers are spirit-like entities. They feed off the energy of others, like a parasite. Without a host, they’re quite weak and possess very limited power.”
Gunnar snorted and continued his search.
“They can’t move things around, squeeze through tiny spaces or open doors, which means that he is stuck in here with us.”
Gunnar interrupted the witch just as she was about to continue, “if it’s like a ghost, can’t it move through walls and shit?” he asked, waving a hand in the air.
The witch chuckled. “No, they’re not like the ghosts in cartoons. They can’t move through anything without having its consent to do so first.” I cringed at her use of words. Consent. What Lily had given all those years ago. “Because a door or wall isn’t a living being able to give consent, the Host Crawler won’t be able to access it and ultimately move through it.”
Gunnar stared at her, gaping.
“People, on the other hand, can be persuaded.” Her eyes met with mine for a split second, as though she could read my thoughts. The blood in my veins turned to ice. “If a person gives his or her consent, it will be able to enter and take complete control of that person.”
Bile pushed up the back of my throat and my stomach contracted painfully. Gunnar’s hand landed on my shoulder as I pressed a palm to my mouth, swallowing. Swallowing.
“Easy,” he said, “easy.”
I didn’t know how much more of this I could take, but the witch continued. “In other words, they get their strength from the body they occupy. The host.”
I leaned forward and steadied myself against an adjacent wall.Breathe. Breathe.I willed air to move in and out of my lungs. Swallowing some more bitter bile.
“That must be why he was after Lily, because of her strength,” Carter said. I didn’t look up but heard the witch agreeing with him.
“But when it attacked Lily yesterday, the door was locked,” Gunnar interrupted. “Lily wouldn’t have locked it.”
I looked up then. That was true. My gaze moved to the witch, hoping for answers, but Gunnar continued, “could it have been this Host Crawler-thing? Could it have locked the door, somehow?”
The witch drew her brows together, “definitely not,” she said without hesitation. “It must have been someone else. Someone on the outside, working with the entity.”
“Well, fuck me,” I heard Gunnar curse as he rubbed the back of his neck, and two worried blue eyes slid to me.
Alpha Mathew was unusually quiet. Standing near the wall with one arm folded over his chest, the other bent and pressing a fist to his lips. His eyes were cast down to the ground, staring at nothing. His jaw flexing, brows furrowed.
“Host Crawlers can only control air movement and sound,” the witch said.
Everyone stared at her as realisation dawned. Someone must have been working with it. A wolf within our pack. Hollow manic voices laughed again in the distance. My mind raced through faces of pack members, trying to create a shortlist of possible suspects.
“Host Crawlers can’t survive long without a host body,” the witch finally said, ignoring the uncomfortable silence. “The easiest way to kill it would be to deny it access to a host and wait for its energy to deplete.” She said it like it was the easiest thing on earth. A walk in the park. “It’s therefore of utter importance to deny it access to your minds at all times,” she concluded, eyeing each of us individually.
Gunnar flicked his eyes to mine, exchanging another worried look. Carter beside him visibly swallowed, a light shimmer of sweat forming on his brow. Ultimately, we were stuck in this mess together. All of us.
