The Fate of Destiny (Fates #1) (17 page)

Farris noticed it all. Every tiny detail. How his coat fit snug across his shoulders, how his body folded into the driver's seat. She could see him stalking down a runway in Milan with his brooding good looks. He was edgy and driven and determined all at the same time.

“
What?” she asked. Self conscious at the way he was staring. “What aren't you saying?”

He smeared a hand over his mouth and almost spoke two or three different times. Each time he fumbled the words, couldn't spit them out.

Two car doors thumped closed behind them. Beelah and Theron had gotten out of the Charger.

Farris became aware she and Emerson only had seconds to talk.

Emerson moved his hand and smiled in the end. “C'mon, let's go. I wonder if Henson kept any extra wood or anything in his barn.”

She was disappointed that Emerson wouldn't, or couldn't, say what was on his mind.

Maybe tomorrow.

A quick smile preceded her reach for the door handle. Beelah wrenched it open before she could.

“
Hey, Farris, Theron had a great idea. Instead of trying to rebuild the steps to the loft, why not just move into the bedroom Henson designated for you in the farmhouse?” Beelah said.

Farris climbed out of the Chevy and closed the door. Her head hurt. Her back hurt.
Everything
ached.

“
I don't know, Bee. It seems...weird. Like I shouldn't just move in now that he's gone.” Of course there would be more room. More room for her things. For her stories. All temporary until someone showed up to kick her out.

“
It's safer than the loft,” Beelah argued. “Henson would have wanted you to stay where it was safest.”

Farris thought about it. She knew Beelah was right. Henson had told her time and again to use the farmhouse if she needed it. Had dedicated one of the spare rooms as her own.

“
It doesn't sound like he would have minded,” Theron added.

“
She's not staying in the loft,” Emerson said, coming around the front of the truck. He handed the keys to Farris.

She palmed them with a
look
at Emerson. He ignored it.

“
Theron, help me get the chest out of the truck,” Emerson said.

Theron swiveled toward the gate, yanked until it opened, and pulled the chest over until he and Emerson could hoist it from the bed. They carried it toward the porch, climbing the stairs as easily as if they moved furniture for a living.

Beelah snatched the keys out of Farris' hand and went to unlock the door for the boys. They stowed the chest just inside against the wall.

“
I guess you're right. I need to get some clothes from the loft though. The ladder is still where I left it. Later I can worry about fixing the stairs enough to get the furniture and stuff out.” Farris caved under the pressure not to sleep in the loft.

“
I'll do it. You're in no shape to climb,” Emerson said, stepping back outside. He started walking along the front of the farmhouse with the intent to round the side and head back to the garage.

“
You're not going through my clothes!” Farris, aghast at the thought of him in her dinky tiny closet, marched after him. It hurt to walk that fast.

“
I'll just grab jeans and a sweater or something.” He glanced back. “And a scarf.”

So he'd picked up on her penchant. “I don't think so.”

“
You're not climbing the ladder.”

“
I'm not
dead,”
Farris pointed out. She saw Emerson's shoulder twitch.

“
And you're going to stay that way.” He swung out of sight around the side of the farmhouse.

Beelah and Theron followed in their wake. Theron was snickering.

Farris walked around the side of the house, heedless of the chill in the air that bit at her bare legs.

“
Emerson...Emerson...what is your last name, anyway?”

“
Why, so you can use it as a weapon?”

“
Because I should know it.”

“
It's Ferrera. Emerson Ferrera,” Theron said from somewhere back there.

Emerson scowled at Theron over his shoulder but didn't stop walking. “Thanks, man. Thanks a lot.”

Beelah hid a laugh behind her hand.

“
Emerson
Ferrera!”
More amused than annoyed, she wielded his name with a wealth of haughty emphasis behind it.

Emerson sighed melodramatically.

Farris thought it felt good to release some of the tension with harmless teasing, even if she hadn't meant to go here to begin with.

Halfway between the house and the garage, the night lit up with growls. Farris was so surprised that she stopped dead in her tracks and swung a look toward the corn field. Tall, green stalks swayed in a gentle breeze.

She noticed that the others had stopped walking as well.

“
What was that?” Farris asked. She didn't hear the growling any longer.

“
I'm not sure. Did it sound like growls to you?” Emerson asked.

“
That's what it sounded like to me,” Theron chimed in.

“
Ew, that was scary.” Beelah crept forward until she crowded close to Farris.

“
Whatever it is, maybe it's just passing through since it went quiet.” Farris glanced from the immense corn field toward the farmhouse. She judged they were twenty yards from the back porch and thirty from the garage.

Through the stalks, a cacophony of menacing growls rose into the air. Glowing pairs of eyes, too many to count, blinked into existence.

Emerson turned around, slowly, and began walking toward her.

“
Everyone move. Back toward the farmhouse. And whatever you do,
don't
run. Not unless they break cover and charge.”

The words were barely out of Emerson's mouth before an explosion of howls and barks preceded a stampede from the corn fields.

. . .

Farris caught a glimpse of matted, grungy fur and sharp teeth just as she pivoted on the ball of her foot to start running for the farmhouse. In that second, the glow from the moon illuminated a hoard of hurtling bodies. The pack burst from cover, lips peeled back, saliva dripping from their jaws.

Shock made it difficult to function at first. Farris bounced off Beelah who stood there with her mouth hanging open, eyes wide.

“
Go, go,
go!”
Emerson shouted. He grasped both sides of Farris' shoulders and propelled her forward, forcing Beelah to stumble or run.

Theron yanked on Beelah's elbow to help galvanize her.

“
What is it, what is it?” Beelah wailed. She staggered from the impact of bodies, then got her balance and ran.

Farris didn't have time to answer. Not with Emerson pushing and shoving and using his chest to block her back. His breaths came in harsh rasps, hands guiding her toward the porch stairs. He released her once she recovered from the tangle with Beelah and Theron.

Gaining momentum, she hit full stride. Any aches, pains, dizziness and muzzy headedness instantly vanished in favor of the fight to live. Adrenaline surged through her veins, making her scalp tingle.

Theron hit the porch first. Leaping the stairs, he landed and yanked the screen door open.

“
Keys, where are the keys?” Emerson asked.

“
Beelah has them!” Farris started to pat her pockets when she recalled Beelah snatching them out of her hand in the driveway.

“
I dropped them back there!” Beelah pointed back the way they came.

“
We need keys!” Theron shouted.

Behind them, Farris could hear the grunts, growls and snarls of the pack.

Closer. Too close.

“
Kick the door down!” Emerson all but flew up the steps on Farris' heels.

“
No time! They're coming!” Theron swiveled Beelah away from the door and shoved her to the right just as a furry body hurled through the air.

It landed with a crash and a thump against the bottom of the screen.

Beelah screamed and toppled over one of several chairs lining the porch.

Emerson picked up one of the other chairs and threw it behind him. A yelp sounded shortly after.

Farris bolted down the porch the other direction, dodging furniture. One of the wild dogs veered away from the pack and took three great strides before leaping into the air. She could see it from the corner of her eye, about to attack.

With chaos ensuing behind her, Farris hit the deck. Straight down, banging her elbow, knee and chin. It got her out of the way of the dog, however, which slammed into the wall of the farmhouse. Scrambling forward, she scuttled behind Henson's favorite rocking chair and then had to use it as a weapon.

Another dog, this one half white half black, jumped the railing with more cunning than the last one showed. She banged the rocker forward, connecting with the dog's muzzle. It yelped and stumbled back.

Tripping over the hose, Farris regained her balance and bent down to pick it up. Connecting a palm with the spigot, she turned the water on as high as she could. The attachment at the end of the hose had several settings; mist, spray and stream. Depressing the lever, a stream shot out the end, driving back three hounds that had vaulted the railing onto the porch.

In periphery, she saw Bee, Theron and Emerson fighting the pack in different places along the porch. They used what they had at hand to avoid the snap of sharp teeth and raking claws.

Beelah screamed. The sound terrified Farris but she didn't dare look away from the three mangy beasts looking for a way around the stream of water to get at her. They snapped and snarled, baring their teeth, darting away from the water when she shot it straight at them.

Theron shouted, Emerson cursed. A crack of wood and a yelp came a moment later.

Then another boom; Emerson kicked the back door in.

“
Farris! Work your way over here!” Emerson called. Cut off from her by five dogs, he battled back from their lunging attacks with the screen and the broken spindles from a rocking chair.

Using the strong stream, Farris inched her way down the porch toward the back door. Just another ten feet.

The other five dogs scrambled around, darting in for Bee and Theron, who stood in front of her best friend with a chair thrust out so the four legs would keep the teeth away from their skin.

More animals meant more places to spray, which left Farris temporarily vulnerable on one side for a few seconds at a time. The dogs knew it and waited for the right time to strike. One particular snap came so close to her shin that she felt the rush of air past her skin.

Jumping back, she turned the water on the dog. It scrambled away.

Beelah and Theron managed to squeeze past Emerson and the final dog to get inside the farmhouse.

“
Five feet, Farris! C'mon!” Emerson shouted.

“
There are too many!”

“
You got it, Farris. Just drive them back and get to the door.”

Three feet.

Two.

With an arc of angry beasts around her, Farris made one last sweep with the stinging stream then threw the hose and ran.

Emerson was right there; he pulled her inside and behind him, closing the screen and then the door with a bang.

Farris leaned against the wall while the furious beasts clawed and snarled. She heard them race up and down the porch, looking for a way in.

“
Oh my gosh. What just happened out there. Why are there so many?” Farris asked, out of breath from the fight.

“
That was nasty,” Theron declared. He had several long scratches along one forearm, proving the dogs got a little too close.

Beelah, shaking like a leaf, crowded next to Farris. “W...why...why did they attack? What's g...going on?”

Farris patted Bee's hand reassuringly, when she didn't feel reassured herself at all. She caught Emerson giving Theron a hard, unhappy look that she didn't understand.

“
I don't know, Beelah. Emerson, what is it?” Farris wanted to know why Emerson looked so...angry.

He thrust a hand through his hair and reached out for the light switch. When he flipped the lever, no lights came on.

“
You've
got
to be kidding me,” he snarled, ignoring Farris. “Theron, help me check all the windows down here. Grab a chair to block the back door with, too, as well as the front.”

“
Emerson, what's going on?” Farris asked again.

He stopped in front of her and peeled his jacket off. The arms and hem had several torn segments. “I don't know, Farris. But something is
way
wrong here. We've got to secure the house. Right now.”

She nodded, not about to stop the men from making the farmhouse a sanctuary. “What can we do?”

“
Look for flashlights, candles and matches. You know this place better than anyone.” Emerson hung his damaged coat off a peg and stalked away with Theron to begin the process of securing the windows and doors.

Dizzy from the sudden cessation of action, Farris hugged Beelah and released her. “Let's go.”