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“I can’t wait to go for a run with you.”
My eyes burned, and the next moment, they were wet. Something that hadn’t happened to me for many years, and I was glad she couldn’t see me. I swallowed the lump in my throat.
“Me too,” I replied quietly.
By the time we returned to the house, Clare was already in her room. A couple of grimoires were missing from the library, and I knew she wasn’t planning on sleeping tonight.
I didn’t want her to overhear us again, and I didn’t want to spend the night away from Spencer either, so when we climbed upstairs and Spencer was about to open her bedroom door, I shook my head and dragged her to my room.
Once inside, she stopped and eyed it in the dim light of the lamp.
“I can tell that this is a lone man’s bedroom who likes spaciousness.”
“Do you like it?”
“Dark wood bed, dark chocolate bed sheets, and all the mysterious paintings of nature. I love it.”
She smiled, crossed to the arch that led to the bathroom, and peeked inside.
“I think I still have grass on my back. Can I take a quick shower?”
“There’s no rush. Let me help you.” I turned on the tap and then gently pulled off her dress. “And I think I have grass on my back too.”
* * *
Holding her in my arms, I watched her fall asleep. For the next couple of hours, I laid my eyes wide open, thinking, remembering everything I’d learned from my research in the last month, trying to find a solution, the answer to one single question—how to save Spencer?
And, of course, I wasn’t the only one still awake.
I heard Clare’s door open, and then her footsteps as she descended the stairs.
I carefully got out of bed, put some clothes on, and followed her.
ChapterSixteen
SPENCER
It was the middle of the night, and I was in the woods. Shifting my feet carefully, I was moving toward this strange, terrifying noise, trying to find its source. It sounded like there was someone in pain.
Don’t be ridiculous. It could be a wild animal. Turn around and run,the inner voice kept telling me. But I couldn’t stop. What if it was a human, someone who needed help?
I reached a fallen tree, and even in the darkness, I could see that all the branches were covered in fresh foliage as if it had just been cut down. The noise was coming right from behind it. I peered through the foliage, but it was too dense, and I didn’t see anything. I moved down its thick trunk as quietly as I could. Then I pressed my hands to its mossy bark, and when I was about to look behind it, a giant wolf-head rose before me, and its glowing red eyes stared right into mine. Its fangs and jaw were covered in blood, and as the wolf’s growl rumbled in the dead silence, my heart stopped, and I heaved a deep breath, filling my lungs with air for a scream that never came.
I sat bolt upright in the bed, with both my hands pressed to my mouth. Realizing that it was just a dream, and remembering where I was, I dropped my hands, gulped some air, and looked around.
“Finn?”
He wasn’t in the bed. And he wasn’t anywhere in the room either.
Maybe he went for a run?
Still panting, I leaned over his side of the bed and picked up his phone from the bedside table. It was 2:14 a.m.
At this hour?
I got up, grabbed the towel hanging on the back of the chair, and headed to the hallway, wrapping it around me. From the top of the stairs, I looked down into the living room. There was no one there. In the corner of my eye, I caught Mom’s bedroom door, which, to my surprise, was ajar.
I tip-toed to the door and peeked through the gap.
