Page 92 of Witches of Dubious Origin
Relief that he was all right had me moving forward before I had the sense to check it. I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him hard. He clutched me close, squeezing me just as tightly. Then his words hit me, confirming what I’d suspected. The only way he could know those things was if he’d been there…in the form of a bird. Furious, I shoved him off me.
“You’re a bird?” I cried. “You’re a fucking bird?”
“A raven, actually.” He jogged back to the driver’s seat. “It’s called aviankinesis. I have the ability to inhabit birds and control them, but ravens are my favorites.”
“So the raven that attacked Ariana, the raven on the roof of the hotel, and the raven on my mailbox—all you?” I asked as I climbed into the passenger’s seat.
“Yeah.”
He’d seen me crying. He’d seen me at my most vulnerable. Anger that he hadn’t told me sent my fist into his shoulder. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“WorkingI can inhabit birdsinto a conversation is not as seamless as one would think. I planned to tell you last night, but I got…distracted.”
Well, what could I possibly say to that? “Fine, but we’re talking about this later.”
“I look forward to it.” He flashed me a wicked grin just before he hit the gas, racing for the labyrinth. The beech trees didn’t offer us entry, so we sped around the thick copse until we spotted an access road.
The sight of the now fully ambulatory teeming mass ofundead in various states of decay was worse than any horror movie I’d ever seen and if I could have scrubbed the image from my eyeballs, I would have.
“There they are!” I pointed to the large boulder by the entrance.
Miles, Olive, and Tariq were standing on top of it, trying to keep the undead scourge at bay. They were failing. Two of Ariana’s minions were trying to pull Tariq off his perch. Miles was holding his shield around them, but the undead were slipping through the weak spots. And Olive was flaming anyone…rather,anythingthat came within striking distance, but even I could see from across the open space that the power of her blue flame was fading. Ariana stood watching from the center of the labyrinth with a smile of deep satisfaction, as if she knew all she had to do was bide her time.
“Can we run her over?” I shouted over the grunting, wailing, bone-clacking noise that filled the clearing.
“I wish. But given that she’s undead, even hitting her with the car won’t kill her. We have to save the others first.”
I knew he was right, but as revenge for the murders of my mother and grandmother, I would gladly have torn Ariana apart with my bare hands.
Jasper sped around the circle. When we were close, he began to honk the horn. The foreign noise stunned the horde, and based on the centuries-old tatters of clothing that some of them wore, I suspected that most of them had been dead since long before the invention of the automobile. The maze must have been built on one of the island’s early cemeteries.
Ariana whipped her head in our direction. I had no idea what sort of power was returning to her fromEl Corazón, butif she could raise this many corpses at half capacity, her full potential had to be significant. Jasper hit a few of the undead as he sped toward our people. One poor bastard bounced right over the roof of the car.
“Sorry, old chap.” Jasper winced. “Nothing personal.”
He braked hard, skidding right up to the boulder. He popped out and opened the back door. “Get in! Get in!”
Miles, Tariq, and Olive didn’t hesitate. As one, they jumped off the boulder, shoving off the undead who grabbed at them, and slid into the car. Jasper got back into the driver’s seat, slammed his door, and stomped on the gas.
The horde, sensing their prey was getting away, began to run after us.
“Hurry! They’re gaining on us,” Tariq cried. Then he let loose a scream of such a high pitch, I clapped my hands to my ears.
“What is it? Are you hurt?” Jasper demanded.
Tariq swatted at something as if he were slapping at a bug, and a bony-fingered hand flew across the car and landed on Olive’s chest. Without altering her expression of mild boredom, she grasped the hand where it clutched at her jacket, rolled down the window, and tossed it outside. She closed the window, turned to Miles, and asked, “What’s the plan?”
27
A crack of thunder boomed and a bolt of lightning ripped across the sky. Abruptly, torrential rain beat down on the car, and I glanced back to see that the horde was sliding in the mud as they tried to chase us. Jasper didn’t slow down, putting distance between us and them, and I felt myself breathe for the first time in what felt like hours as the labyrinth and its inhabitants disappeared from view.
“With a storm like this, the ferry will be closed,” Miles said. “We need to find a place to hide.” He glanced at me. “Do you know of a place, Zoe?”
“I haven’t been here in twenty-seven years,” I said. “I remember Mamie’s house, the beach, and picking blueberries at Berry Blue Acres…Wait.” I paused. “There was a big barn there. It’s the off season for berries. It might work as a hideout.”
Tariq was searching for the location on his phone before I finished speaking.
“Perfect. It’s only a few miles away. Keep following this road. We should be there in five minutes,” Tariq said.
