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“Walk, mingle,” Widow Herbert said as I stalled out at the edge of the gathering.
“Dosomething,” Jaysa barked.
I moved, even as my entire body seemed to be seizing up, and began to weave into the crowd. I couldn’t appear to be hiding from all the alphas roaming around this place. Charlie had walked over earlier with his friend’s family and was offering no distraction.
I felt like a boxer, dodging and weaving so I didn’t have to interact with any of the problematic shifters in the group.
I made my way toward Gillian, then let her ramble on about her coffee plant’s brown-tipped leaves for half an hour. For some reason, she thought I could fix it. As far as I was aware, I was not Mother Earth. Although I was discovering some new abilities lately, it seemed as if they leaned toward the darker spectrum of life’s cycles. There was a better chance I’d kill it than heal it.
I was standing there, waiting for a steak and having moved on to my next incredibly boring topic of Murrey’s cow not getting pregnant, when the sound of heavy footsteps started. A shiver shot through me, and the skin on my arms puckered up like a plucked holiday turkey.
I looked at Murrey, the disgruntled owner of the cow, who was still chatting away about the various techniques he’d tried. The steps grew louder, pounding through the air, like I was at a concert with heavy bass, and yet no one seemed to notice? How was this possible? Not even the alphas who were spread out in the gathering seemed aware.
“Murrey, do you hear footsteps?” I asked, cutting his sentence short. At least, I thought he’d still been talking.
“Huh? There are people walking all around us.” Murrey narrowed his eyes in confusion.
“No. Like thundering steps,” I said, knowing my clarification would do nothing for him. He didn’t hear them. No one did.
I scanned the area, looking for Jaysa, which was completely insane. Now Iwantedto see a ghost. But she had shown up shortly after the noises last time. Maybe those were ghostly stomps?
Screams disrupted my search. Everyone, including me, turned toward the noise just in time to see Haggy falling to the ground, a hand clutched over his chest. Shifters might not get diabetes, but it appeared they did have heart attacks.
As everyone swarmed around Haggy, I stood there immobile as a blur in the distance caught my eye. Another chill brushed my skin, this time settling into my bones. It was like suddenly being thrown into an arctic pool. This was the source of the unearthly footsteps. My instincts screamed not to look at it, and yet part of me was drawn to it. Without consciously deciding, I looked anyway.
A young girl I’d never seen was walking toward Haggy. She had long black hair and skin so light it almost looked gray. She stopped, switched directions, and turned toward me. My lungs ceased to expand and my body began to tremble.
I wanted to run, but if she was what I suspected, it wouldn’t do me any good. After all, everyone knew you couldn’t outrun death. She stopped uncomfortably close, examining every inch of my face and then body with a thoroughness that made my skin frost.
“What are you?” Her voice didn’t match her youth—she sounded like someone ancient, with a heaviness that nearly reverberated through the air, vibrating my bones. Everything about her seemed to have the gravitational pull of a black hole. Her eyes were like dark orbs that felt as though they could steal your essence in a blink if she wanted. Even standing here, terrified like I’d never been in my life, a part of me wanted to reach out and touch her.
“A woman,” I said. “A human,” I added, wondering if that was the confusion.
“No, you’re not,” she said immediately.
I didn’t argue. I didn’t want to speak.
Her eyes roved up and down my body, as if she were drawn to me more than the dead.
She was going to kill me.Iwas dead.
I gasped, searching the crowd for Charlie. Would I be able to say bye to him?
As if she could hear my thoughts, she grinned just slightly. “No, not yet,” she said. “But I shall see you again.”
I nodded, trying to keep my thoughts blank.
She turned and walked to Haggy’s body, and I took in a shuddering breath, and then another. She glanced back at me and then walked away. She walked right past Duncan, who didn’t so much as glance at her—no one did—and faded into the night.
I reached out to a nearby table, bracing myself.
Duncan turned, narrowing his eyes on me before he headed over. Everyone else was too consumed with Haggy to notice me.
“I didn’t realize you knew Haggy so well. Are you all right?” Duncan asked, stopping beside me.
“I’m fine. Just startled, is all.” I took a step back. I already had enough problems surrounding him—I didn’t need the trouble his attention brought. “You should go help handle things.”
“Don’t worry about Pips. I’ll watch over her,” Kicks said, putting his arm around my waist.
