Time's Daughter (27 page)

“
Mom will take care of it after
we’re done.”

“
It must hurt.”

“
It doesn’t feel good,” he said.
“But I’ll be fine. All things considered, it could have been far
worse. That thing could have bitten me.”

“
Where are they coming—”

Alex had slammed on the brakes to avoid something in
the middle of the darkened country road. My heart jumped into my
throat. A large silhouette coming for us in the headlights was no
moose.

“
Another wendigo! Alex, we can’t let
it—”

“
I know. Can you freeze
it?”

“
Not without touching
it.”

He cursed then maneuvered the car to the shoulder.
Alex was out the door a split second later. He pulled off his sweat
pants as though he meant to shift there on the side of the road
while the thing lumbered toward us.

The black panther tackled the wendigo before I’d
realized he’d finished transforming. He hadn’t explained any plan
to me but I assumed he’d want me to freeze the creature while he
distracted it. I stepped out of the car, crept behind them. Alex
held the creature down so I could touch its foot, freezing it. Alex
pulled back as soon as he realized the wendigo was no longer
moving.

Glass crashing a short distance away was the final
straw. I let out the scream I’d been holding in since the initial
attack.

“
Shhh,” Alex crooned softly in my
ear. His bronzed arms pulled me back for a tight hug.

“
I can only hold one of them at a
time,” I said miserably.

“
It will be okay.”

How could he be so calm when there were
two
of these things?

“
I’m going to distract the one in
the car,” he said. “I want you to freeze it again. Then you need to
call my house and have them give you directions. Can you do
that?”

“
Yes, but what are you going to
do?”

“
I’m going to draw the other one
home on foot.”

“
Alex, no.” I twisted in his arms
until we faced each other.

His slate-blue eyes were far too serious for his
young age. With a bittersweet smile he replied, “It’s the only way
we can make sure they don’t attack anyone else.”

I winced as his finger slid beneath my chin, lifting
my lips to his. It felt too much like a final gesture. He’d just
come back to me after days of being apart. I couldn’t bear the
thought of losing him again.

“
I’ll be fine,” he said. “I can
easily outrun it. I’ve got to shift now before the thing trashes my
car anymore than it already has.”

He pulled me upward onto the tips of my toes for
another firm kiss. I clung to his sides desperately but the soft
fur was already breaking out across his skin.

I jumped back in time for him to fall onto his front
paws and start into a run. The ferocious snarl ahead seconds later
meant he’d already engaged in battle.

The wendigo had gotten halfway through the window
before Alex attacked. With flailing arms the massive creature tried
to fight against the powerful slices the panther’s claws made on
each pass. I snuck around the car to the opposite door as quietly
as I could but its senses caught on my presence. The wendigo pulled
itself away from the fight into the backseat toward me. Recklessly
I pounced on it and froze it in place.

The black panther shot out toward the tree line a
breath later. I made myself get out of the back seat. On my way to
the driver’s side I made sure to pick up his sweatpants. Down into
the front seat I sunk inside the stinky Cobalt.

I took hold of the phone I’d used minutes earlier.
My fingers trembled on the buttons until I got the correct entry
up. Soon it was ringing.

“
Lex!” Abby had answered once
again.

“
It’s Aeon,” I said in a wavering
voice. “I need someone to give me directions to your
house.”

“
Um, one second.”

Anna’s voice spoke next. “Where are you?”

“
I have no idea. We were on our way
there so I assume we’re close.” I trembled from the fear for Alex
more than the cold flowing in through the broken windows. “It’s
dark. There are no street lamps and there are a ton of trees but
the road is still paved. I don’t see lights anywhere around so I
can’t be near any houses.”

“
Okay. You’re probably on Brown. Go
ahead and start driving. Describe anything you see that isn’t a
tree.”

Anna’s calm was inspiration enough draw in a deep
breath and try to focus. “I have to turn on the car. One
second.”

My trembling fingers fumbled with the keys. I
started forward at no faster than ten miles per hour. Driving
wasn’t a skill I’d perfected and I was even worse at doing it in
the dark.

“
What happened?”

“
We almost ran into another one with
the car,” I said. “When I froze it, the one in the backseat woke
up. Alex is trying to lead the other one to you. I’m so scared.” A
terrified snuffle escaped me.

“
The one with you is frozen though,
right?”

“
That isn’t what I’m scared
about.”

Anna’s voice softened. “He’ll be fine. Just worry
about getting here. Okay?”

“
Okay. I see a mailbox. Hold on.” I
slowed in front of it. “Yeah, two thousand and forty one Brown
Street.”

“
Okay, hon. You’re going to have to
drive two miles down this road and look for the Lake Shore street
sign on the right.”

I checked the trip counter on the speedometer and
tried to add two to it. The simple math was nearly impossible in my
frazzled state. My eyes were peeled on the road for wild
life—supernatural or otherwise.

An oncoming car made my stomach flip sickly. I
nearly forgot to turn the high beams down in my worry. What if the
driver could tell there was a seven-foot monster in the back
seat?

Anna’s voice broke into my worried thoughts after
the car had passed. “Aeon? Did you find it yet?”

“
No. I’m doing like ten miles per
hour.”

She gently scolded me. “Honey, you need to speed up
a little more or someone is going to think you’re a drunk
driver.”

“
I can barely drive,” I moaned
pitifully.

“
You have your license?”

“
No.”

“
I’m sure you’ll be fine, Aeon. It
isn’t really that hard. Take a deep breath. Exhale
slowly.”

I did as Anna requested.

“
Feel any better?”

A nervous laugh was my first answer. “Not really.
Oh! I see the sign!”

“
Take the right at Lake Shore.
You’re almost here.”

It was a fib but I didn’t fault her for it. I knew
half of the trip had been on dirt roads. I’d turned onto the first.
I’d wanted to gnaw on my fingernails badly but didn’t dare pull my
hands from the steering wheel.

“
Okay. I can hear the car,” Anna
said fifteen minutes later. “You’re going to come upon a hidden
driveway to your left.” She paused a long moment. “Okay, slow down.
See it?”

The opening in the greenery was so overgrown that I
wouldn’t have seen it if I hadn’t spotted the sparkling eyes of
Anna beside it. “Barely, but only because I see you.”

“
Want me to drive now?”

I heard her voice both over the phone and from
outside the window. “Yes, please.”

She disconnected the phone. We exchanged places but
not before she cast worried glances at the thing in the back. I
hurried around and got into the passenger seat as her foot revved
the engine.

Anna drove like a NASCAR driver up to the house. The
clan converged on the car before she’d turned it off. No one asked
where Alex was, what had happened or why I was in his car without
him. Their primary concern seemed to be ridding the world of the
creature in the backseat.

Drew, Aaron and Antonio removed the wendigo from the
car with ease. The guys made it look easy even though the thing had
to weigh a ton.

A bonfire was already going in the backyard. I
turned away, moving toward the car again because I didn’t want to
watch what followed. My fingernails went to my mouth for a good
biting session as I stood in the lamplight out front.

Alex was out there somewhere. A monster was chasing
him. We’d run into two of them within a half hour’s time. There was
no telling how many more of them there were. He might be able to
easily outrun one wendigo. Could he handle more than one? I hoped
he wouldn’t have to find out.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“
He’ll be fine.”
Anna’s soothing voice did little to chase away my fear. Nor had her
squeeze of my arm.

“
We ran into two,” I repeated my
worries aloud. “There may be more.”

She nodded mutely while looking into the darkness
ahead.

“
And he got pretty scratched up by
the car window,” I added.

Anna’s eyes snapped to mine. Worry flickered in them
before she hid it behind another reassuring smile. “We’re going to
go out after him. You were ten miles from here. If he’s moving at
the wendigo’s speed it will take him nearly an hour to get
home.”

“
You need me. I’m going
too.”

She shook her head. “We’ll make do without putting
you in danger.”

“
But I can freeze it so we can get
it back here.”

Her eyes scanned mine for a moment. “I’m sure he’d
prefer you not be involved in this anymore than necessary.”

The answer irritated me enough to give her the
truth. “I don’t want him involved in it either. But he is. So I
think it’s only fair that I help.”

She gave brief smile. “I know you want to help but
you have no immunity to their attacks—”

“
What if this is why Chronos gave me
my power?” They couldn’t leave me behind. I had to make sure Alex
was safe. “
This
might be the bad thing that happens to
Junction Hill. He gave me the ability to manipulate time for a
reason. I
need
to go with you!”

Anna sighed in defeat. “You can come if you insist.
But you’re staying at the back with Abby and Arnold. Alex will
never forgive me if anything happens to you.”

I threw my arms around her for an impulsive hug.
“Thank you!”

She was smiling when I pulled back.

Crimson flushed through my cheeks. “Sorry.”

Gravel crunching beneath boots meant the rest of the
clan was about to join us. I was ushered into Arnold’s care. He,
the youngest clan member and I got into his gold Cadillac while the
others got into a blue SUV and the black van.

The SUV took point and we followed behind the van
down the winding drive to the road. No one spoke. Even the
chatterbox Abby was grimly quiet. Without the noise of the radio to
distract me I could only soothe my worries by biting my
pathetically stunted nails.

The caravan came to a halt shortly before we would
have turned onto the paved road. Each of the three vehicles pulled
off to the side of the dirt road, turned off their lights and sat
quietly. A moment later Arnold and Abby reached for their handles
as the doors of the other cars opened in synchronization. It was
almost as if they’d coordinated silently. I was clearly the odd man
out.

I could barely make out the two figures beside me in
the inky darkness. “We’re going to shift,” Arnold said gruffly.
“But we’re going to stash our clothes out here. I’ll be right back.
Don’t move.”

I stood stock-still as the sound of their foot falls
quieted in the distance. Several sneeze-like sounds echoed from
ahead.

Rustling in the brush worried me. I hoped it was one
of the Chattan clan but I couldn’t be sure. It was too dark.

A soft nose pressed against my hand startling me. It
nudged me again. I could barely make out the white fur. Something
brushed against my other side. Arnold? His midnight fur made it
impossible to see him.

It was slow going through the trees beside the white
cat. As soon as I heard the scuffle ahead our pace increased as if
the white cat were raring for action. The fight was over in an
instant with little fanfare. She turned with a small snort and
nudged me backward.

After much confusion I was guided back to the cars.
The white cat left me beside the Cadillac before disappearing to
where I assumed her clothes had been left. She rejoined me in her
original outfit minutes later but didn’t speak.

In the glow the van’s interior lights cast I could
see that Drew and Aaron were dressed again. They’d managed to find
two pairs of gloves someplace and were now lifting pieces of the
wendigo onto the van floor.

The thing’s severed head was tossed atop the stack
of pieces. Something grabbed from behind. I nearly jumped out of my
skin but I
did
scream.

“
Shhh,” Alex whispered in my ear.
“It’s only me.”

I turned and threw my arms around him. “I was
so
worried.”

Someone must have lent him clothes because he had on
a t-shirt and track pants. “I was fine. No worries.” He hugged me
tightly. “You should have stayed back at the house.”

“
I thought they’d need my
help.”

Alex’s right arm slid away so he could move us
toward the car’s door. “Now that we know we’re immune in our animal
form, the clan can easily handle them. It’s just the proper
disposal of the body that’s a little tricky.”

He opened the back door of the Cadillac and helped
me inside then sat beside me. Abby was already in the front seat.
She twirled in her seat and smacked the headrest.