The creatures reached for me, too, and they, too, missed, but again that wave of revulsion turned my blood into corrosive acid. I stumbled backward, smacked into a car. The monsters kept me in their sights and closed in on me.
The rage expounded in a starburst of energy, propelling me forward. Id make contact this time. Nothing would stop me.
And you know what? I was right. I punched and I made contact. The waves of revulsion were replaced by frigid cold. Id never been this cold in my entire life. Tremor after tremor shook me as the creatures grabbed for me, trying to latch on to my arms, scratching me. I spun out of the way, my muscles stiff, as if Id never before used themand thats when I saw myself leaning against a car.
But I was here, fighting. Wasnt I? Orwas I like Cole? Was my spirit now, somehow, operating outside my body? But how could that be? Cant process this, either
The confusion cost me dearly. Fingers tangled in my hair and jerked me to the ground.
My dads advice played through my mind. If you fall, go down swinging.
Yes! Id trained for this. I could do this. I arched my back, giving my arm more room to fly backward. My palm slammed into the creatures nose, sending him propelling backward. I lost several strands of hair, but I was freed.
I straightened, twisted, and kicked out my leg, nailing another creaturethe femalein the stomach and sending her propelling backward, too. She ghosted through a car, only to stand on the other side and shake off her disorientation. Her gaze locked on me, and I knew she planned to come back for more.
Shed have to wait her turn. The one Id sent to the ground had turned over, was sitting up and reaching for me. My teeth chattered as I kicked his arm, then his jaw, and though he twisted with the momentum, he remained focused on me.
How was I supposed to disable these things for good? And where was the third one?
Never lose sight of your enemy. Youll regret it. My dad had also told me that.
As with everything else, hed been right.
From behind, trunklike arms wrapped around my torso. I felt a humid puff of breath against my neck. Crap! I slammed my head back, hitting the creature with as much force as possible. His grip loosened, even as my brain protested the action with a sharp lance of pain. Spinning, I doubled tapped him in the jaw with so much power, I think I severed his spinal cord.
As he fell, teeth flew out of his mouth like pieces of candy. But when he landed, he, too, seemed unaffected by the damage. He stood, his head remaining at an odd anglebut still he moved toward me.
In the back of my mind, I knew something just as odd was happening beyond our little fight club circle, but I couldnt yet reason out what it was. Something to consider later, I supposed. If I survived.
I had to survive.
My three opponents converged.
I punched one, then another, while kicking the third. All three extended their arms toward me, and I darted out of the way, still punching, still kicking. The more we fought, the harder my heart pounded, and the more excited they seemed to become. The more excited they grew, the faster they moved.
When one of the males at last managed to shackle my wrist with his fingers, his grip was so strong I couldnt bust free. He tugged me to the ground. I went down swinging, just as before, but he held on, flashing his teeth at me.
I couldnt let him bite me. Couldnt die like this.
But no matter how I twisted or how hard I bucked I still couldnt free myself.
Both the female and the other monster dropped to their knees beside me. There were only three of them, but it seemed as though they possessed a thousand hands, holding me down, ripping at my clothing, their faces loweringloweringwhen they bit me, I screamed.
Blistering, sizzling pain struck, though it failed to melt the ice that encased me. I was a toxic mix of too hot and too cold, dyingwanting to die. Their teeth burrowed through my skin, their faces seeming to disappear inside me. It was as if they were actually gnawing on my bones without spilling a single drop of my blood.
I fought and fought and fought to no avail. One of them finally stopped chewing, then the other, then the other. Though they maintained a steady grip on me, they peered down at me in horror, as if theyd tasted something disgusting.
Suddenly one of the males seized up, an arrow protruding from his neck. He swatted at it as he fell forward and landed beside me. Without him holding down my ankles, I was able to kick the female in the chin. She stumbled backward. The other monster released me of his own free will.
Cole was behind the woman an instant later, reaching around and flattening his palm over her heart. A white light erupted between them, blinding in its intensity. It remained only for a moment, a single snap of fingers, but when it vanished, Coles arms were empty, the female gone.
He raced to one of the males, then the other, producing the same blinding white light. A second later, he was hovering over me, and our gazes met. We were both panting, sweating.
II Couldnt speak. Hurt too badly. Could barely breathe. Darkness swallowed me whole, and I lost sight of him.
Maim The word whispered through my head, followed by another, just as bad.
Kill
The urge to do both filled me. Maimkill
Destroy
Dont say a single word, Cole rasped. Stay quiet until I can put you back together.
I wanted to tell him to help me, to take me to a hospital, please, please, please, but no matter what I tried I could no longer force my voice to work.
Maimkilldestroy.
Yes, I thought next. Yes. I would. I must. That would make everything better.
Maim
Something pricked at my neck, stinging. This will help, he said.
Kill
Something heavy fell on top of me.
Des
I inhaled sharply as my mind blanked and my eyelids popped open. Cole was still hovering above me, looking concerned and beautiful and so wonderfully alive. But the pain, even though it was fading, hadnt gone away. I hurt.
Thats the last of them, but more could be on their way. He grabbed me by the upper arms and hauled me to my feet. My knees gave out, and he swept me up, carrying me to his Jeep.
My body, I managed to whisper. I looked toward the car, where Id left it. And what a strange thought to entertain. Only, I wasnt there any longer. Howwhen
I glanced at my arms. My wrists were nicked and bruised, bleeding, as if theyd truly been bitten.
I glanced at Cole. He was just as nicked and bruised. Are youokay?
Im fine. He got me settled inside the car, claimed the drivers seat and revved the engine. As he burned rubber onto the road, he made a call. Parking lot, he said. Ten are down. I checked, but there arent any more nearby. Yet. Ive got Ali, she was bitten, so you need to take care of this.
That was it. The entire conversation.
What about Kat and the others? I asked, my voice stronger now, with far less grate. And besides a few minor aches, I was beginning to feel normal again.
Theyll be rushed out of there and kept safe.
As he maneuvered down the street, I twisted around to catalog the carnage we must have left in the lot. Butthere were no bodies. No blood. There were people, though. Many living, breathing people.
A tremor moved down my spine as the thing that had bothered me while fighting at last crystallized. There were people walking around, talking and smiling, looking for their cars, but they were oblivious to what had happened.
They didnt see us, I said. How could they not have seen us? Wed been right there, right in front of them, grunting, groaningkilling!
That last word echoed through my head. Killing. Killed. Kill. Id helped him kill those monsters. And I was glad the monsters were dead, I was, but Will we go to jail for this?
People saw our bodies standing there, not the actual fighting. So no, you wont go to jail or even to an insane asylum. Plus, no evidence will be left behind.
I chose to believe him. I would have freaked out otherwise. Would have? I thought as a hysterical laugh built inside me. Id hoped to talk to Cole about this, but not like this. I dont understand what just happened. We left our bodies.
Yes.
How?
His gaze jerked toward me then back to the road. Have you never done that before?
No! I shouted. Of course not.
Well, youve answered one question for me at least. You can see them. Therefore, Ill answer this one for you. How calm he sounded. You cant fight evil in your natural form. Whats in the spirit realm has to be fought in the spirit realm.
Evil. Spirit realm. Sothe monsters were spirits? That would explain how theyd disappeared inside my dad and mom. That would explain why they could move, even after receiving deathblows. That would explain why no one else had seen them. But that failed to explain how I had seen them.
If theyre spirits, howd they leave footprints in the forest? I asked.
I never said they left the prints.
But
I wasnt saying they didnt, either. They can leave tracks. But you cant always assume its them. There are always people chasing them.
Wait. What? You?
Plus a group of others, but thats all Im gonna say about that.
Frustrating! Could he not see how desperate I was for this information?
Still I said, All right. Ill drop the group of others. But tell me this, at least. If I fought the monsters while I was inspirit form, why am I bruised? And how did your crossbow hurt them?
Spirit and body are connected. What you experience outside always manifests inside. As for the crossbow, I brought it with me, like my clothing. Whatever I was wearing on my body was accessible to my spirit.
I would never ever be without a weapon again. So whwhat were those things?
You still dont know? he asked.
No. Well, I had already admitted my father had been right. Evil was out there. Evil was real. My silly belief that we were somehow separate from it had been shattered, yes, but now, I knew those pieces could never be glued back together.
And yet you knew how to fight them.
Not well enough, I snapped. What my dad had taught me about hand-to-hand had helped, yeah, but hed had no idea what he was truly up against because hed never truly fought. Hed always run.
Tell me everything, Ali. Its time.
Yeah, it was. At long last, the things Id hidden from others and even from myself came spilling out. Maybe because Id never felt more vulnerable. Maybe because I knew Cole would believe me. Bottom line: I had to trust someone, and for better or worse, Cole was it.
My dad saw them. He was so afraid of them, he tried to teach my sister and me how to fight them, just in case we were ever cornered. But wed never seen them, and we thought he was crazy, so we paid very little attention to his instructions. Not that he knew what he was doing. He thought he could take them down with a gun. Then he died one night, all of my family died, and I saw the monsters for the first time. Theyate my parents.
Cole listened, his knuckles bleaching of color on the steering wheel.
Why did I start seeing them that night? How long have you seen them? Do the others know about them? If so, can they do what we did?
So many questions, he said. Give me a minute to decide how to break this to you.
Tell me now, I wanted to scream. Instead, I remained quiet. I wanted the answers, but I also feared them. They would change my life.
Again.
Was I ready for another change?
What would my dad have said about this? His face twinkled through my mind, his blond hair disheveled, his blue eyes glassy. After all the horrible things Id said about him over the years, all the times Id shut him down, he and my mom had been the only ones on the right path.
Daddy, I projected toward the sky, hoping he could hear me. Im so sorry for doubting you. Im sorry for every awful thought I ever had about you, and for all the times I wanted Mom to leave you and marry someone else. If I could redo my life, I would take you seriously. I would love you and accept you and help you.
First, lets get something clear, Cole said. You cant tell anyone what happened tonight.
I know.
Not even Kat.
I know! If I had treated my own father like a candidate for a straitjacket, how would my new friends treat me? Yeah, that one didnt take a lot of thought. Id be shunned, laughed at and publically humiliated. No, thanks.
Cole cursed under his breath. Grab the wheel and steer toward the suits. Now!
What I said, thinking hed cursed at me. Wrong! Two monsters had ambled into the road, and they were headed straight for us. Right on their heels were five walking hazmat suits.
Ali!
As ordered, I grabbed the wheel. Cole palmed a blade, and with his free hand wrapped around a lever on the Jeeps roof, he leaned out of the open doorway. His other hand, the one clutching the blade, stretched outand kept on stretching, that part of his spirit rising out of his body.
His blade slashed across several of the suits, a hissing sound filling the air.
I think I screamed. My brain was too busy trying to figure out what had just happened to be sure. Those are real live people, Cole! At least, I thought they were.
A second later, he was back in his seat and driving, his blade put away, as if nothing had happened. I didnt hurt them, just opened their suits to send them home.
Okay. I could deal with that. Next time, do me a favor and go for the monsters. Wait. Next time? Oh, no, no, no. I didnt want to do this again. Id learned my lesson.
They werent the biggest threat.
But
If Frosty and the others stumbled upon the hazmats, theyd be in trouble, their attention divided between the humans and thewhatd you call them? Monsters. So to answer one of your earlier questions, yes, my friends can see them. He flicked me a quick glance. And now you have another thousand questions, dont you?
Of course not. But what do you call them, if not monsters? Why were those people wearing suits? I mean, if the suits help, why dont you and your friends wear them? Or do you? See, only four questions.