Ryder wouldn’t have gotten trapped in Beryl’s clutches. My friends wouldn’t have to struggle with their personal fears for my sake.
I hated the position that Alvin had put me in, yet I couldn’t help but think that this was no longer Alvin’s fault. I’d been the one to ask Ryder for help. I’d gone to my friends. If I hadn’t done that, then I would be the only one suffering.
Addie had gotten ahead of me. Something told me she needed to see a friendly face, so I paused and shifted back. My chest heaved with the force of all the energy I’d poured into changing. I had to do this quickly. If Addie got too far ahead, she would get lost deeper in the woods.
Barefoot and naked, I charged after my friend. “Addie! Get back here.”
The trees parted and revealed my terrified friend. I cried out just as her foot caught a fallen branch. Unaware of the branch, she looked back in my direction and immediately fell. Her trip gave me time to catch up.
The forest floor hurt the bottoms of my feet. I couldn’t wait to shift back. Especially now that I had to cross my arms over my breasts.
“Addie?” I asked tentatively.
She didn’t move. Her hair hung over her face like a veil hiding her true emotions. I stepped around her and carefully crouched so I could get a peek at her face. A twig poked me in the rear, but I ignored it because my friend needed help.
“Everything is all right,” I said. “Nothing happened. No one got hurt.”
She made a pained sound that turned into a dismal groan. Burying her face in her hands, she let out a sob. Awkward because of my nakedness, I patted her on the back. If I’d had a change of clothes, I would have pulled her into a hug and let her cry her heart out. The lack of fabric between us kept me from comforting her properly.
Addie deserved more right now. My attention slid back in the direction we’d come. We’d found one of the bodies. I was sure of it. The undead creature had been one of Alvin’s kills. If Addie could bring the girl back long enough for her to speak, then I would have the evidence I needed.
I would never ask that of Addie, though. The body itself would have to be enough. I could go back and unearth it on my own.
“Thank you for this,” I said.
She picked herself up but wouldn’t look at me. “I hate this.”
I had the feeling she wasn’t talking about the pile of dead leaves and twigs that’d broken her fall. The memory of the undead creature crawling out of the ground haunted me. I would see it when I closed my eyes tonight.
“You know you can talk to us about this kind of stuff. Right?”
Addie hung her head. “It’s better to just ignore it.”
I made a sound in the back of my throat. “And when that happens a second time?”
“That wasn’t the first time. This…it happens a lot. My grandma used to raise chickens…” Addie’s voice trailed off.
I had the worst image of an army of headless chickens storming through my mind. I shuddered and tried to shrug it off. I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting when it came to Addie’s arcana, but this was not it. Cerri had known, somehow. Perhaps my friend paid closer attention than I did.
Maybe I was just drowning in my own problems.
“Let’s get back to the road,” I said.
Addie didn’t say anything. The clouds leftover from my storm blocked out the sun and left Addie’s face bathed in flickering shadows. I wondered how many of those shadows were light and how many were from her arcana.
I stepped away and shifted once more. After, I laid on the ground for a while, my limbs too heavy to lift. Shifting this many times, back-to-back, drained me of energy. I felt as though I’d been able to do this in the past. When I tried to remember what I’d had to eat for the day, I realized that I’d missed breakfast, like a fool.
By the time I returned, Addie had pulled herself back together. She seemed impassive, like nothing had happened at all. That made me worry there would be a fallout that she would have to deal with later. I couldn’t help her through that, as badly as I wanted to.
My co-workers at Bad Moon Café were like pack to me. Hell, they were more pack than the shifters I knew. Involving my friends in this had been a bad idea. I would get them hurt, eventually.
I had to figure out how to handle this on my own. If I could stop leaning on others for support, then no one would have to get hurt. That meant figuring out this arcana inside me. If I could do that, then there was a chance I didn’t need anyone else. I wouldn’t have to put those I loved in harm’s way.
I led Addie back to the road. She had a few scratches on her arms and a smear of dirt across her cheek, but she looked fine otherwise. When I turned to look back at where we’d come from, I committed the landscape to memory. The clouds even broke to let a bit of sunshine peer through and illuminate the scenery.
Now that I knew where the body was, I would be able to come back. For now, I climbed into the backseat of Addie’s car and dropped down for a nap. The sky trembled in warning. My presence had brought a storm with it, one that would likely rage into the night. I thanked the sky for giving voice to my frustration when I couldn’t.
Several women had died at Alvin’s hands. I’d watched one dig herself out of a shallow grave. My heart broke for her. Alvin had preyed upon her. He’d chased her through the woods and filled her last moments with fear. The others must have felt the same.