Page 69 of Shifter's Dream

Trevor pounded up the porch steps. Cats flooded out from under them to surround him. Reed searched the cats for Wiz’s two-tone face, but didn’t see him.

“I don’t actually know who Rex and Soren are,” she told Trevor.

He pushed in the house and she followed. Some of the cats came in, most stayed out. “Troy will fill you in on all of that as soon as possible. You’re sticking with me for now.” He went straight through the room to a long table along the back wall, selected a few items from it and began putting them on, explaining them to her. “This is a flak jacket. The medium will fit you. The helmets, you’ll need to try on.”

Reed tried on a helmet. “This is so surreal,” she said. By that time, the only parts of her left uncovered were her face, her arms and legs. She could hear people talking in other parts of the house. A woman laughed from somewhere upstairs.

“Follow me,” Trevor said, when she was suited up to his satisfaction. He took off through a door, heading through an ordinary-looking kitchen. Trevor didn’t slow, pointing out the kitchen window as he passed it. “That’s where we’re going.”

Reed saw only the very top of a bluff, with forest on both sides, and a landslide of stilled rocks piled on top of each other that looked to have revealed an ugly gash in the bluff face.

“Surreal,” she whispered again.

Out the back door they went, through a back porch and down some steps, through a makeshift tunnel of what looked like armored ATVS, leading them right to the forest.

When they stepped inside the cover of the trees, Trevor stopped her. He looked into her eyes and said, “You know that Troy won’t shift, right?”

She shook her head back and forth, slowly. She hadn’t known that.

Trevor’s face was set, telling her this was a very big deal. “He can, we are almost certain hecan, because sometimes he shifts in his sleep, so we think he’s scared that if he does, he won’t be able to get back to a man again.” He shrugged, his love for his brother shining clearly in his expression. “He won’t talk about it, and I haven’t pushed him.”

“Willhe be able to change back to a man if he… you know… shifts?” Reed asked, her voice small and still in the darkened forest.

Trevor’s expression didn’t change. “We don’t know.”

Reed struggled with that for a moment, then let it drop. She had no time for worry, she had a job to do, and it was one that only she could. “Hang on a second,” Reed told Trevor. She left the path, feeling the eyes of more than just Trevor on her. There were wolves in the forest, but good wolves who were protecting her. She reached out a hand, and laid it on the trunk of a large tree.

She didn’t know what to say or do, so she whispered… “Hi.”

She didn’t get words back… just a… a feeling.

She whirled around to face Trevor. “It’s a trap,” she said.

“What kind of a trap?” Trevor asked, his voice hard.

“I-I can’t tell. Just that there’s…” Reed put her hand back on the tree trunk, not feeling stupid anymore, not feeling afraid anymore, only feeling certain of what she knew. “There’s nine men in the forest, they are divided into three teams and their plans are to lead you all to the…” She shook her head, not able to translate what had flashed through her mind. “A spider? A crack? I-I can’t make sense of it,” she finally said, sounding like she was asking. “They’ve got your missing officer.”

“Alive?” The word was more of a bark than anything.

“Yes,” Reed whispered, seeing that very clearly. “Alive, but tied and ready to be thrown into… into …” She shook her head. “I can’t tell.”

Trevor’s face showed controlled relief. He nodded his head at her a few times. “Do you know where the teams are?”

She touched the tree again. “All I get is holes in the ground. And spiders. I might know if I get close to them.”

“Fair enough,” Trevor said, heading up the path. “Let’s go.”

“Wait,” Reed called after him. “We’re still walking up there?”

Trevor motioned at the trail. “These woods are too thick for the ATVs, and the trail is not wide enough. We’ve got dirt bikes on their way in, but they haven’t arrived yet.”

“No,” Reed whispered. “I mean, because it’s a trap. Aren’t we heading right into it?”

Trevor nodded his head, then pointed out their armed guards, moving with them in the trees. “We’re the cops. Who else is going to do it?”

42 – Future

Twenty minutes later, the forest began to thin, and Reed knew they were getting close. Her legs and lungs burned from the uphill climb. She ran her hand against the tree trunks that were close enough to the trail to touch, trying desperately to understand the information that was being sent to her, trying to sort out the shapes and images in her head, but so far she was no closer to knowing where or what the spider was or what the image of a crack in her mind meant.

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