Page 31 of Cry of the Damned
The tawny wolf stood and glanced around.What is it?
You fell asleep. That’s what!
As Maki shot to his feet, a crash, like someone kicking in a door, sounded inside the building.
“Look for them!” A voice command. It was faint but clearly distinguishable to my enhanced hearing.
“I already told you they left this afternoon. My crew still hasn’t had a chance to clean.” Mrs. Clarice’s voice this time.
There was another crash.
“Stop it!” Mrs. Clarice demanded. “You can’t do that. This is private property. I will file a complaint and you will have to pay for everything you damage.”
Let’s get out of here,Kall said, shifting into his beautiful white wolf.
Everyone else followed suit, Bethel climbing on Novuk’s back. Swiftly, we were off, leaping from building to building until we put several blocks between us and the Academy cronies. One of the buildings had a derelict tool shed, and we decided to hide there, huddled close in the small place while Kall stood guard by the flimsy door.
The sun went up, heating the shed’s tin roof. By midday, it was an oven.
“Rob told them where to find us,” Maki said as we sat, squeezed among cans of roof-patch and rusted gardening tools.
I shook my head, uncertain. “For some reason, I don’t think he did.”
“How could you fall asleep?” Ila asked Maki.
He threw his hands up in the air. “I don’t know. It was quiet, and city food sits so heavily in my stomach.”
“Yes,” Novuk nodded slowly. “It does the same to me, but it’s no excuse.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” Maki pulled on his short blond hair, looking truly upset.
“If it hadn’t been for Mrs. Clarice… I don’t even want to think…” Bethel said. “Why do you think she helped us?”
I shrugged. “Maybe she’s like Zoe. Maybe she secretly hates the Academy.”
“Smart woman,” Novuk put in.
“Do you think she knows we’re...wildlings?” Ila asked.
I sighed. “I’ve no idea.”
Maki narrowed his eyes. “Probably not.”
“But if not, why warn us? To her knowledge, we hadn’t done anything wrong, so she shouldn’t have been worried about us. The Academy guards had come once already, and she brought them to our room.” Ila looked truly confused, just how I felt.
Suddenly, Maki’s stomach growled. Looking sheepish, he pressed a hand to it and shrugged. I couldn’t blame him. I was hungry too. We’d been hiding up here for six hours, and we still haven’t decided what to do. But this inaction had to come to an end. I could feel our time running out. We had to act quickly.
I opened my mouth to say something when Bethel let out a high-pitched shriek.
“What is it?” Ila reached out to touch the witch, but Bethel put her hands up as if to steady us, then her eyes went entirely black and her back shot up ramrod-straight.
“What’s going on?” I asked as my heart sped up.
Ila frowned, looking confused. “Someone is communicating with her.”
“But her coven is miles away,” Kall said, abandoning his watch post by the door and coming closer.
So this trance was how witches communicated at long distances. After the Mesickek pack was attacked by the Academy and the magistrates sent Delthomir and his wife to lure us away from our home, Bethel had been worried that something might have happened to her coven because she didn’t receive a message from them, but it seemed now she was.
