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I couldn’t disappear on Charlie. He’d lost too many people.
“Tell Groza the ceremony did nothing—if that’s what she’s worried about,” I said, trying to take a step back and put more distance between us.
“She doesn’t want to hear it. There are no negotiations. Our orders are to kill you, and that’s what we’re going to do.” Walter and Berman took two steps forward, getting closer.
“What if I go now? No one will know I’m alive. I’ll just sneak away without a word.” At least I’d live to see another day, and I could go in and sneak Charlie out at a later date. If I was dead, he was on his own.
“That’s not good enough. She’s made up her mind. You need to disappear—for good,” Walter insisted.
This was it. I was dead. I wouldn’t get a chance to say goodbye to Charlie. He wouldn’t even know I was dead. I’d just disappear on him. There had to be some way out of this. Did I run? It was a long shot, but better than trying to fight the two of them.
I threw my stick at them, and then ran as fast as I could. It was a joke. One of them got a handful of my jacket within seconds. Walter jerked me backward with a force that sent me stumbling.
I managed to stay on my feet as I swung around and punched wildly. I’d tried to aim for his throat, but my fist connected with his chin—his neck was practically nonexistent. My punch was too feeble to have any kind of effect, but I wasn’t going to stand there and let them kill me without a fight. I pulled my arm back, launching another shot at him—then I realized his face had contorted, his mouth opening on a gasp, agony written all over it.
I glanced around, wondering if someone had arrived to help me, perhaps gotten a blow into his back or a shot that I hadn’t seen.
It was only the three of us, though.
Berman was staring at Walter, looking as dumbfounded as me. He stepped closer, staring at his friend. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Walter didn’t say anything, but there were gurgling noises coming from his mouth.
“Walter!” Berman yelled, as if that would somehow fix his friend.
Walter clutched his throat. Seizing the moment, I broke free, only for Berman to catch my arm after two steps.
“What the hell do you think you’re—”
Berman’s words were cut off by the deep groan that redirected our attention back to Walter, whose face was turning a shade of gray I’d never seen on a person. This wasn’t the pallor of someone deprived of oxygen, but a dark, lifeless gray, akin to that of a slug—a hue entirely unnatural to humans, or shifters. The groan stopped as he stood motionless. Then he just tipped over and dropped to the ground, all stiff, like a domino, his knees not even bending on the way down.
“What did you do to my…” Berman’s voice trailed off as he stared at his hand encircling my wrist. With a squeal that contrasted with his brutish frame, he released me. He held up his hand, letting out another small squeak.
The hand that had been gripping my wrist was turning gray, the same shade that Walter had turned.
We both watched, paralyzed, as it spread to his wrist. I finally stepped back—not out of necessity, but out of an urge to distance myself from what was happening. What I might’ve done…
“Stop it,” Berman said. He made no move toward me, though.
I shook my head helplessly. How could I halt something I hadn’t meant to do? Would I, even if I could? These two had tormented me for months and then come here to kill me. I’d be an idiot to save them. But it wasn’t a choice anyway. I had no idea how I’d done it or if it could be undone.
Then it happened: Berman shrieked—a sound of pure horror—as his hand broke from his body, falling to the forest floor and shattering into pieces.
He reached forward, grabbing me, his desperation overriding his fear.
A lethal feeling of cold shot through me, eerily similar to the bolt that had hit me during the ceremony. He dropped instantly, convulsing on the ground.
Gray started creeping up above his collar. His eyes rolled back into his head.
They were both dying, if not already dead.
I stood there in the forest, more terrified than when my life had hung in the balance.
Jaysa appeared suddenly beside me, her gaze fixed on the fallen men.
“You’re really here, not just in my head? This is all really happening?” I was hoping this was a hallucination, hoping Groza had drugged me.
“No, I’m here,” she confirmed. She looked down. “And they’re dead.”
