Page 73 of Such a Feral Little Lamb
I open my mouth, but before I can speak, a sound carries over the increasing wind.
A scream.
“That’s Rae,” I say, exchanging one glance with Blake, who for a second is wide-eyed, terrified, before I turn on my heel and race in the direction they should be.
Mason is quick on my heels. It takes a few minutes for us to get there because Rae is still shouting—and so is Callum, I think—but the wind keeps carrying their voices in all different directions.
“Rae?”
“Isaac? This way!”
I turn the corner and see them. The three of them—Rae, Callum, and Emma. They all stop when they see us, and Rae rushes over, tears in her eyes.
“It’s Autumn,” she says. “She was right behind me, I swear it, but then I turned and—”
I finish the sentence when Rae struggles to take a breath. “She’s gone.”
Chapter Twenty
Masonspringsintoaction.“Emma, you’ve been with her all day. See if you can trace anything of her. Anything at all. Callum, stay with her.”
Callum looks worried, too, but nods and follows Emma further down the street. They stop and Callum stands tall as Emma closes her eyes, hands stretched out.
“What about me?” Sal asks.
Mason frowns, looking between me, Rae, and Blake. “You need to take them back up to the church and bring the others down to help.”
“What?” I snap. “Mason—”
“No.Weneed to take care of this. Someone is hunting in our town. I won’t let them take any of the rest of you.”
“And what, we’re going to be safe in that church?” Blake says. “Anyone could just walk in!”
Mason shakes his head. “No, they can’t. You’ll be safe up there. But you have to stay in the church or the graveyard.”
“We need to help search,” Rae says. She’s got control of herself now, no tremble at all in her voice.
“You need to be somewhere safe. If we’re keeping an eye on you, then we’re not looking for your friends.”
Sal’s expression darkens when I grab Mason’s arm and pull him aside. He goes easily, and the look on his face tells me he doesn’t understand why we’d argue about this.
“You have to let us search,” I hiss.
“I told you I would keep you safe, little lamb,” Mason replies, not bothering to keep his voice as low as mine is. “And I mean what I say. We’ll be able to search faster without the three of you. We know where we’re going. We can all use our magic to seek them out.”
“And if they’re in the woods?”
He shakes his head. “Then we’ve already lost them.”
“Mason—”
“No more discussion. I need you to go to the church. Ineedyou safe.”
“Ineedto find my team.”
Mason scowls. What choice do we have, I suppose. If they refuse to search with us, we’re pretty fucked, but they’ll move faster with us, not without.
Still, I waver. Mason’s not the only one to see it.
