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I chuckled to myself, but Chloe turned on me. “You were no better. Was that a fork or a shovel, because I couldn’t tell the difference.”
“You’re right. I ate too much. I won’t do it again, Mammy.”
Chloe elbowed me, lecturing us both until my eyes glazed over. I was so tired and full that it took me a moment to notice that goosebumps had formed across my skin. I blinked a couple of times, the light from the streetlamp blurring out into a hazy aura. Emma violently shivered, and I realised how cold I felt.
“Margo?” Chloe said. “Are you okay?”
I looked at her, feeling out of it, as though my feet weren’t actually on the ground.
“Margo,” she said more insistently, pinching my arm. “Your eyes!”
Something clicked inside me, and it was as if I woke up from a deep sleep. The cold had crept in around us, surrounding us. Tendrils of death went from caressing Emma to Chloe and back again, almost like a hand reaching out to them. I couldn’t understand what was happening.
“Run,” I whispered. “Something’s going to happen. Catch up to the others. You have to run. Quickly.”
They hesitated.
“Now!”
Weariness and full stomachs forgotten, the girls dashed after the others. The threads of death following them simply stopped. I stumbled, confused, then snapped out of it and ran after my friends.
A figure stepped out of a doorway, blocking my path, cold fingers reaching for my neck before I could think to react. Eli. Why hadn’t anyone noticed his return?
He whirled me around, shoving me towards the doorway. “You have it, after all."
I tried to remember the things I had learned in self-defence, but in the heat of the moment, I reacted wildly, blindly, too panicked to think straight.
I ducked, spun, broke away in an attempt to run, but he gripped my plait and yanked me back. I fell on my backside, my eyes watering as he tugged at my hair. He gripped my throat again, hauling me to my feet too easily. I couldn’t breathe. My vision blurred. I kicked out at him, connected, but he barely reacted to that. I couldn’t even scream.
We had moved away from the streetlights and into the darkness of a short alleyway. He pinned me against the wall, his forearm pressed against my neck. He lifted his knee and pressed it against my thigh. I struggled, but he was stronger, and the cold made it hard to think.
“You saw,” he hissed. “You saw me deciding who to hurt. What exactly did you see? Can you wield it? If you can, I might keep you alive.”
He pressed harder. I grew dizzy, black spots attacking my vision. Death came from his fingertips. I felt it all over me. Could he coax it into being? Or was it his intentions I felt? I didn’t understand anything except that I had to get away from him.
He didn’t notice my hand reach for his face until I was already digging my nails into his cheek, my fingers stretching for his eye. I didn’t get far, but he let go of my neck only to slam me against the wall. Pinning me yet again, his smile cold and cruel, he lifted his arm to strike. He shuddered as a loud thud rang out. To my surprise, he let me go.
It was then I noticed Tammie behind him, her shoe in one hand. She kicked Eli between his legs as hard as she could. He crumpled over. She swung her bag at his head and then reached for my hand to pull me away from him.
We backed away. Tammie slipped her shoe back on.
“Run, Margo,” she said, bracing herself as Eli straightened, touching the back of his head. His hand came away bloody, and he grinned.
I grabbed Tammie’s sleeve to make her leave with me, but tendrils of death were already snaking towards us. Worse, like my dream, hands reached out from behind Eli’s head and clawed at his face. He didn’t react. Was I seeing things? Was he making me see them?
Eli stepped forwards, his hands outstretched and his smile wider than ever. I saw my breath as puffs of smoke while Tammie’s hands began to tremble. Death was heading straight for her.
“Stop it!” I cried out. “Leave us alone!”
He advanced on us as Alison flew past us, a low growl the only sign she was close to setting her wolf free.
I managed to grab her arm, shouting, “Alison, no!”
She froze, looking back at me in horror, but the tendrils had spread to her, too, and by the widening of her eyes, she felt them.
Tammie pushed us both behind her, her arms out wide. “She’s not going with you, you sicko!”
He held out his arms, his fingers constantly moving as though summoning power. Death whirled around us now, closing in on us, the taste of it making me want to throw up.
