Page 43 of The Omega's Bloodline: Part One

“Maybe because she’s waiting for someone to be reckless enough to go out there?”

“Can you please let me try?” I set a hand on his chest and he softened despite his hesitancy. “I’ll let you know if she starts moving. I want to find out what she wants.”

He growled low and huffed. “Fine, but I’m coming with you.”

“More than fair.”

He followed me outside and Seth trotted along after us, still in his small form. The chill from overnight lingered, but the birds were already singing and the ground was slick with dew. It was reassuring that the forest seemedalivecompared to the freaky silence from last night.

The woman didn’t move from her spot and her expression seemed almost relieved to see us. We paused a fairly safe distance away. She was fuzzy and translucent, with straight brown hair that fell to her waist over a white peasant top and bell-bottom jeans. She didn’t feel malevolent to me. My unease was probably a normal human response to somethingweird.

“Hey,” I said, for lack of anything better. “Are you just out here being spooky or do you need help?”

She tried to speak, but when no sound came out, she held up two fingers.

“Okay, you need help.”

She nodded.

“Is it something I can help with?”

Another nod.

Lo, you’re freaking me out, talking to air.Seth brushed against my ankles.

The woman wrapped one arm around herself. Seth pressed more firmly against me.

“How do I help?”

She pointed into the woods.

I wasn’t really excited about going into the forest with her. “Um, you’re going to have to give us a bit more information. They’re not going to let me go traipsing into the Appalachians with you.”

The woman paused. I guess it wouldn’t be easy to explain if you couldn’t talk to someone and also couldn’t show them what you wanted. Her form shimmered and red blossomed over the front of her shirt. She lay down in the dirt and stared at me with blank eyes.

Oh shit.

My stomach heaved. “Were you murdered?”

She nodded from her place on the ground and pointed in the woods. Her body had to be in there. Maybe all she wanted was to be properly laid to rest. I sucked in a deep breath and stepped forward. Caden’s hand locked around my wrist.

Where are you going?

“Into the woods. She needs us. Do you feel anything dangerous?”

I don’t, Seth replied.

Caden glanced around and shifted into his panther form, his whiskers twitching.Just because we don’t sense something wrong doesn’t mean there’s nothing dangerous.

“Well, keep your eyes peeled and we’ll leave if we need to.” I turned back to the woman. “Show us where your body is.”

The forest took a deep breath. The ground rippled beneath my feet as the wind made the trees whisper. What the fuck? I paused at the edge of the trees, listening. Resting my fingers on the branch of the nearest tree, I focused, trying to sense if something was wrong, but it felt like the normal forest to me. I decided to take it as a sign that I was doing what I was supposed to. A rational person would be terrified, but calm settled over me.

Caden shoved himself between my legs, forcing me to ride on his back for a quick escape, and Seth shifted into his panther form as well, following so close my leg was sandwiched between them. We walked into the woods for about twenty minutes, the two panthers getting increasingly agitated. I stroked a reassuring hand over their fur every so often.

“How much further?” I asked.

The woman turned slowly and all the hairs on my arms stood to attention. Her spirit sank into the ground at her feet and I slid off Caden despite his growl of protest.

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