The Demon's Grave (24 page)

“This isn’t supposed to happen!” He shouted, startling all of us. Hell, let’s put it in perspective: Cody rarely spoke. It was even less since dating Robin who never stopped talking.

I wasn’t sure what to say to him, ‘
I’m sorry
‘ didn’t seem to cut it. Glancing at Read and Aidan for support, they’d seemed to have found something interesting on the ground.

Cody took a deep breath, before saying low. “Damien said that if there was a split in the group, we wouldn’t all make it home.”

The omen blanketed a bitter silence.

Cody whispered, “I hope it’s Robin that makes it.”

Though the words damned the rest of us I still wanted to hug Cody, reassure him that what Damien had said was likely a lie. But, why would Damien lie? To confuse us?

Aidan was the one who changed the subject. “What happened in the house?” He gestured to the water logged building behind us.

Looking away from the midnight sky, Cody glanced at the house and chewed his lips together before beginning. “I found this place and the witch. She seemed okay for the last…‌I guess, two weeks ‘til I realized she had been putting these spells on me when I slept. She wanted to sacrifice me or something.”

I winced as there it was again.
Sacrifice
.

Cody swallowed loud enough for me to hear. “Yesterday Poline came at me with a knife.” Pausing, he squinted at the house. “I uh…‌knocked her out with a chair.”

Our eyes lingered on the swaying flood within the broken window when Aidan said. “Actually, I think that she’s dead.”

Cody paled, and opened his mouth to speak but no words came out.

Aidan and Read found the ground interesting again.

I put a damp arm around Cody’s shoulder. “Listen, it was an accident and it was in self-defence, plus she wasn’t…‌”

“I didn’t mean to,” Cody’s freckled face reddened.

I shook Cody’s arm imploringly. “
Listen
. At least we found you and you’re safe. She wasn’t a real person Cody, just part of the Challenge. Now, we need to find a way out of here.”

I hoped my words were true.

Cody shook his head. “You might as well not bother, Poline let me wander. We’re trapped in a crevice, I think. There’s like this dirty wall that goes all around this area.”

Read looked around them. “Can we climb out?”

Cody shook his head again.

Read stepped back, frustration grinding his teeth.

“You think we’re stuck here?” I asked, feeling a lump in my throat.

Cody shrugged, looking away.

“So, what do we do now?” I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to warm myself. I felt the nightly chill without the adrenaline to keep me warm.

Read and Aidan began to talk about options all at once, waiting to see Cody dismiss or approve each idea with a shake of his head.

It was hard to focus on just one without being pulled into another.

The low growl to our left deadened the chatter. Our eyes caught each other’s in apprehension. Had we all heard it? The time to think up a plan was demolished, our temporary safety gone with a single sound and everyone had heard that noise.

Reluctantly, I turned my eyes before my head, scared to move too fast. The white wolf was hunched outside the tree line. Its head lowered below bunched shoulders.

The growl bared pointed teeth and spiked the white hair around its collar.

I backed up and bumped into Aidan.

The large wolf’s ears pinned back and its eyes glowed as it padded forward.

“I found one in the woods once,” Cody touched his shirt where the dried blood had been splattered.

As if our minds were linked, we all stepped back at the same time. The wolf slunk forward snarling and snorting.

“What does it want?” I asked in a whisper.

“Meat,” Cody replied, then before I could react he broke off in a run.

Aidan, Read and I didn’t hesitate.

I think we were all prepared for it on some instinctual level. Twisting to speed after him, Cody already had a good head start. He aimed for the opposite tree line behind witch’s house. It was the closest escape that wasn’t water filled.

The wolf howled long and loud before looping after us.

Zipping past the house I saw a lattice we could have climbed to the roof, but it was too late. Before I could shout, the house was passed and the wolf too close for us to turn back.

Aidan was already falling behind, and I screamed at him to keep up. I didn’t want to lose him and knew I wouldn’t go back for him. The coward in me would win that argument.

At my backwards glance I realized the wolf wasn’t wasting any time shortening the space between us. It moved at the same intense speed as the Maserati.

In the distance a chorus of howls filled the night.

Any second, my heart would surely smash its way through my rib cage. I felt my knees getting weak.

The white beast slowed to howl a rough response to those in the distance.
He’s calling them
, I thought.

It was a minor lead, but enough to allow hope to spring. I was never a great runner. Cody was the runner and athlete, not us.

Read wheezed to my right, beginning to fall back with Aidan.

I suppose his claims of endurance had been slightly exaggerated.

The resonance of hungry ululations pierced the night in unison. It could have been my imagination, but they sounded closer.

Cody was speeding ahead. Would
he
come back if we fell? I somewhat doubted it. He knew these wolves. He knew what they were capable of and if we were caught, would he even know?

The twisted trees ahead extended branches low enough for us to climb. Wolves couldn’t climb trees. At least, I was pretty sure they couldn’t…‌at least in our world.

Pointing to the greying giants I commanded above the haunting clamor. “Climb!”

I just hoped everyone could hear me as we drew closer and I got ready to jump. I couldn’t miss, I couldn’t fall, I couldn’t stumble; unless I wanted to be eaten alive.

At the idea, I stumbled, almost losing my footing. My ankle rolled painfully, though not enough to send me sprawling. Even Aidan managed to pass me, hopping as if he were in a three legged race.

Cody vaulted into a tree on my right, his height proved useful as he hardly had to jump. Pulling himself up onto the first branch, he made it look easy.

Aidan reached the tree I was aiming for before I did. He jumped and cracked his injured knee into a branch. Bellowing, he didn’t slow and scrambled for precarious safety.

I was running so fast that, if I didn’t time this right, I’d end up slamming into a tree trunk.

Taking a giant step with my momentum, I pushed with my leg as hard as I could, my fingers straining for the first thick branch.

My sneaker found purchase on the scratched trunk, propelling me upward.

It was enough to snag a low branch.

Digging my fingers into the grey wood, I let the adrenaline pull my body the rest of the way up. I could feel the strain burning in my muscles‌—‌every muscle. Though, I didn’t stop until I was straddling the lower branch and looking down.

The wolf’s yellow eyes were narrowed on my dangling shoes. I wasn’t sure how high he could jump, but didn’t want to risk it.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Read climbing higher. At least he’d made it.

Lifting my legs, I heard the snapping jaws below, then Aidan and Cody’s shouts from above.

The wolf just below me was scratching at the dry wood, scarring the dying tree as if it could dig its way to me.

Curling my legs up to my chest, I hugged them, breathing in relief and staring straight ahead. No way was I looking down again. My ankle throbbed, but wasn’t badly hurt from the roll. The bruises on my back hurt worse, so I figured this was a plus.

“Jesus, Nora, you
enjoy
these close calls?” Aidan’s voice floated down and I pretended not to hear the sarcasm.

Pressing my spine against the trunk, I heard multiple growls from below. I squirmed, feeling far too close to them, even at my height.

Glancing up I saw a thicker branch next to Aidan’s perch. “Are there a lot down there?” I asked, standing on shaky legs, keeping close to the tree.

Aidan nodded, his reddish brown hair matted to his head with sweat. “Maybe four…‌no, five now.”

I wiggled my way up next to him without much trouble, grateful for the extra distance.

Sitting on the branch I felt the dryness in my throat. “Thirsty,” I admitted.

“Should have drunk some of that water you almost drowned in,” Aidan replied, his eyebrows raised.

“You’re a riot.” I wiped the sweat from my forehead and saw Aidan smile out of the corner of my eye.

Cody waved from his tree, whose branches intertwined with ours. Read sat just below him, clutching his chest and swallowing every second, he had paled dramatically. He looked ready to ralph.

“Now what?” Cody asked, distracting me from Read.

One wolf snapped its jaws below and another bellowed, raising every hair on my arms.

Taking a deep breath, I gripped the branch between my legs and dared to look down.

Three had their front paws against the tree trunk and locked eyes with me, their hunger gleaming. They stretched as if it could get them closer, while sniffing the air furiously.

I noticed for the first time how gaunt these ones seemed. They had ribs like washboards and pointed hip bones beneath fur that was falling out, leaving patches of pink flesh exposed. Only the first one, the one that had run us down, appeared healthy. It paced between the two trees, watching and calculating. For a second, I believed it was working out the details on how to knock us down.

In the distance beautiful, singsong ululations split the night, drawing dangerously close.

Squinting in the dark I could make out moving shadows through the trees. As they neared, I counted six. They were black and dark brown mostly and each as thin as the next.

“What now?” Cody repeated edgily.

“Well,” Aidan licked his lips. “We can wait up here until we starve or fall out of the tree.”

“There has to be a door somewhere,” I said, picking at threads of hope.

Read finally lost it and hurled vomit over the side. Gripping the branch, he lay on it on for dear life, shuddering.

As the splattering chunks hit the ground, my throat closed enough to tickle my gag reflex. I had to look away and touched a finger to my lips to warn myself not to vomit. I needed to reserve all my energy, not lose it. Especially when the wolves crowded around it and started lapping.

“You okay?” Cody asked, sounding a little green himself.

Coughing and spitting, Read grumbled. “Yeah, sure. Fucking awesome.”

“There has to be a way out of here,” I insisted, wanting to get away from the smell of stomach bile. Craning my neck I peered into the trees, trying to catch a hint of a door.

“We need some ideas,” Aidan concluded. “You’ve been here for a while, Cody. Can you think of anything?”

Cody looked around, the veins in his neck throbbing. He finally shook his head, not looking at any of us.

I tried not to glare at him. He had to know something. He’d been here for three freaking weeks! Instead I gripped the branch with my knees and watched the monsters below with the others.

The wolves started to lie down, watching us from their sides.

Minutes began to stretch and I leaned back against the trunk of the tree, waiting for an epiphany.

“I got away from one once.” Cody almost sounded as though he were thinking out loud and stopped.

We all stared at him, waiting.

When he didn’t continue, I cleared my throat. “What happened, Cody?”

Scratching his arm, he strained his eyes to see into the distance. “There’s a small lake just north of here. I just ran into water after it ambushed me.”

Read asked, still lying on his branch. “You think they’re afraid of the water?”

“I don’t know, but I ducked under and held my breath. When I came back up, it was gone. Thought maybe it was because it couldn’t see or smell me.”

Aidan frowned. “Or it was afraid of whatever lived in the water.”

Interrupting the debate, I asked. “You mean that if they can’t see us they might go away?” To me it didn’t make a lot of sense for hungry wolves to give up so easily, except, this wasn’t a common-sense type of world.

Cody shrugged with a pained expression that seemed to say,
It’s all I got
.

“What about up there?” Aidan asked.

Tilting my head back, I followed Aidan’s gaze. Higher up, the branches weren’t as sturdy as the ones we were on. I doubted we could hide on bare branches.

“There aren’t enough trees for cover,” I said.

Falling silent again, we watched the trees above and then the wolves below until Cody swung a long arm out to point.

I followed his finger past the wolves. It took me several seconds to see the moonlight gleam off a glossy dark surface. Along the edge of the tree line where we had burst through and a few oaks to our right was a black door. But, it wasn’t upright. It was lying flat on the ground, with leaves scattered on top, almost obscuring it from view. No wonder we didn’t see it earlier.

“How do we get over there?” Aidan asked, glancing down at his tender leg.

Cody swung his head left and right so hard I thought he might lose his balance. “The trees are close enough. Maybe we can climb through.”

Read swayed, looking exhausted. “We could do that, but those things will probably follow us.”

“What about a distraction?” I asked.

We looked at each other for ideas. It wasn’t until Aidan broke off a smaller twig from his branch that the idea took form.

His legs gripped the tree as he twisted for a good throw.

The twig sailed past the door and three of the darker wolves bolted for it. They fought each other, their nails scrambling over the slick door. Only one caught the twig in its jaws and snapped it in half. Their disappointment was taken out on each other, snarling, biting and wrestling.

I began to smile and repeated. “
Sooooo
, we need a distraction.”