Page 45 of Ghosts of the Dead

I grin. “Welcome to our pack, Luna.”

16

AUTUMN

The fire burns stronger now, built up after the attack. There’s enough wood to keep it going for a week.

Caspian built two smaller fires, each set strategically on either side of our camp. They burn bright against the dark, their light stretching over the wreckage of our temporary campsite.

Now, he’s across the lot with Mars, the two of them moving in sync as they drag rotter corpses to the next street over to deal with them in daylight. I tried to help, but one glance at my wrist was all it took before they told me keeping the fires going was more important. I rolled my eyes, but I can’t say I envy them dealing with the stench.

Jace sits on top of the car with his binoculars raised, scanning the horizon. Even in the dark, he watches for movement, for danger. Instead of helping with the cleanup, but he took one brief glance at me and said he needed to make sure no more rotters were on their way. I can’t decide whether to be honored or annoyed, but he’s clearly annoyed with the whole situation.

They told me to get some rest. I tried, I really did, but every time I close my eyes, I hear them. The sounds thoserotters made. The sick, wet gnashing of teeth. The scrape of bones and decaying limbs dragging across asphalt. It’s the kind of sound that lives in the back of my skull long after the danger’s gone.

The sounds are still too fresh. I was asleep when they came, just like when Summer was taken. That’s what haunts me.

I was asleep and weaponless.

This wasn’t like the first time. Even surrounded by the three people determined to keep me alive, who have fought in front of me and beside me to keep me breathing through assassins, rotters, and panic attacks. Yet, I still wasn’t safe enough.

Sleep is a luxury I can no longer afford.

Luna barks from somewhere nearby, but I can’t focus.

I shift on the cold ground. Pebbles dig into my hips, but I barely register the discomfort. I wrap my arms around my knees and squeeze tight. My breath shortens. My pulse kicks. The tremor starts at my fingertips and climbs. My vision narrows.

My wrist pulses under the bandage when I claw uselessly at my pocket in desperation, searching. For what, I don’t know. There’s nothing that can fix this. No medicine, no magic cure, only my mind folding in on itself.

Luna whines, a sound low in her throat. She inches closer, like she knows. Like she feels it, too.

That can’t be right. She doesn’t trust people.

My chest clamps.

I can’t?—

“Hey.” Jace’s voice cuts through the roaring in my head, making me flinch.

I don’t realize he’s kneeling in front of me until his warm hands close over mine. The gentleness in his voice would surprise me if I could think straight.

“Autumn, are you okay?”

I shake my head, trying to speak, but my throat locks. I might as well be trying to breathe through mud.

His eyes don’t leave mine, and I focus on their dark brown color. They’re rich like coffee or dark chocolate, and warm despite the hardness he usually keeps there.

I see the moment realization hits. He understands. Mars told him about what happened when we were first on the rooftop together. I let go of Jace to claw at my throat.

He curses and grabs my hands again. “Look at me.”

I am. His blurry face is the only thing I can see while drowning in open air.

“I’m going to need you to breathe with me.”

He has no idea how badly I want to do that. The fact that I can’t only makes me panic more.

The tremor from my fingertips travels through my arms until my whole body shakes. A pressure starts behind my eyes.

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