Page 112 of Witch Undecided
Vax’s gaze tracks to the window and his expression freezes. “Fire…”
Cora.
It has to be.
CORA
The fire was spreading fast, drawing the varga to the fence. I used the huts for cover, shrinking into the shadows every time a varga ran past. Some were in wolf form, some ran as human. They seemed so…normal. Mothers ushered their children to safety, men yelled at their women to get inside. I almost felt bad. But they were hunters, predators who feasted on human flesh, and they had my friends and the dire wolf females.
A varga ran past and paused to clutch his belly. He looked up at the sky and let out a moan. I followed his gaze to see the clouds sliding back to reveal a bright round moon.
“No,” he whimpered. “Not again.”
What the fuck? The moon had been merely a sliver a few minutes ago.
Another varga ran into him, shoving him forward, then stopping to steady him. “No time, Bastian. Fire must be stopped first.”
They ran off, and I circled the hut and crouched behind a barrel that smelled like fish. The hut Sloane and The Elites were in was up ahead, and the varga guarding it were gone.
This was my chance. I needed to let them know the coast was clear, and with their magic active again, we could totally fight off the one varga who was inside with them.
Taking a deep breath, I ran toward the hut.
SLOANE
A prickle rushes over my skin, so subtle I almost don’t feel it, but the widening of Jessie’s eyes and Poppy’s soft gasp tell me I’m not imagining it.
The null circle has been broken. Our magic is back on.
Vax is staring out the window, though, and I note how the world outside is suddenly bathed in silver.
“You have to run,” he says, his voice thicker and hoarser than a moment ago. “Get out of here and run.”
“What’s happening?”
He turns to me, his arctic eyes too bright in his face, his jaw elongating. “The moon is about to fill and there will be nothing but hunger. Go.”
“Jessie, rift now!” Poppy yells.
Jessie’s hands are moving in the air, desperately trying to open a rift.
Vax backs away, doubling over, arms wrapping around his abdomen. “It comes early. Too early.”
His face is bubbling, changing, his bones cracking as he morphs. He makes a lunge for the door, but it’s as if some unseen force pulls him back to face us, and when his eyes latch onto me, there is no longer any humanity in them, just bestial hunger.
“Jessie!” Poppy screams.
The air crackles and pops, and the room is filled with silvery light. Vax roars and leaps toward me just as a figure barrels into the room, golden hair and cornflower-blue eyes.
Cora!
She slams into me, sweeping me off my feet and propelling me backward toward the silvery light of the rift. I throw out my arms and grab hold of Poppy’s cuff and Jessie’s arm, and then the world is rushing away.
My stomach knots, bile rushing up my throat, and for a moment Cora’s arms are no longer around me, and Poppy’s cuff and Jessie’s arm melt away.
And then I hit the ground with my back, and a weight lands on top of me.
Cora’s sweet vanilla scent fills my nostrils.
