The Rising (29 page)

He said something more, but all I caught was that scent, wafting around me now, filling my head.

“Maya? What's—”

I bolted.

As I raced through the forest, I told myself I was just following the scent. But the fact that it happened to lead me away from Daniel helped. Focus on this. This is real. This is important.

The scent grew stronger. Dog? Human? No, it wasn't dog and it wasn't human. It was something in between—

The answer hit me as the scent did, a full blast of it, as if my target was right in front. . . .

But all I saw was darkness. I'd plunged into a thick copse and I could make out the faint glow of a birch tree, but that was it. The rest was black—

Two eyes swung my way. Bright green eyes. Peering at me from the darkness. Then that darkness erupted. A massive form flew at me, black as midnight, green eyes glowing. And fangs. Huge white fangs, bearing down on me.

I turned to run, but the beast was too close. It hit me in the side and knocked me down. Before I could scramble up, before I could even see what it was, the beast sprang. Teeth clenched my throat and pinned me to the ground.

“Derek!”

A girl's voice. The beast stiffened. Not a beast. A werewolf.

He kept me pinned. He didn't clamp down harder, though—just held me there.

“What is that?” the girl asked.

Those green eyes shifted to her, his grip on my throat relaxing a fraction. I unsheathed my claws and swatted at his chest. It wasn't a hard swipe. Just enough to scratch him and just enough to startle him. He let go. I flew to my feet and twisted, backing up, showing him a hissing mouthful of my own sharp teeth.

“T-that's—” the girl stammered. “I guess they aren't extinct around here after all.”

The clouds blew from the moon and light streamed down, and I finally saw what I was facing. It looked like a wolf . . . if wolves grew to two hundred pounds. A massive black wolf with green eyes fixed on me, assessing, considering.

“Okay,” the girl said. “It's backing away. Everything's o—”

I glanced over and she stopped short. She was a little younger than me. Tiny, with reddish-blond hair and blue eyes. I swore I could smell fear waft off her. The wolf smelled it, too, and bristled, growling at me.

“No,” she said, then again, firmer. “No. It's okay. Everything's okay. We'll just let it leave.”

The wolf growled again.

The girl's voice rose. “I said we'll let it leave, Derek. It's not attacking us and I don't want it getting hurt if we can help it. You, either.”

The werewolf—Derek—snorted and gave me a look that said he considered personal injury highly unlikely. My hackles rose and I drew back my lips. He seemed to take that as a challenge, shifting forward, almost swaggering, like a schoolyard bully, certain his smaller target will back down. I considered it. For the sake of making nice, I should retreat. Surrender. Submit. But that was weakness and everything in me rebelled at the thought. So I held my ground.

“Derek.”

The girl's voice was low, annoyed now, and it was almost comical when he shot her a sheepish look. He turned back to me. Considered. Took another slow step—

“No!”

The familiar shout hit with an equally familiar sonic boom of force. It knocked the werewolf off his feet. The girl let out a shriek and ran forward. Daniel raced through the trees. The wolf scrambled up and swung around on him.

I sprang between them. I lowered my forequarters and let out a snarl, fur standing on end. That made the wolf stop. He stared at me. Then his gaze lifted to Daniel behind me. I snarled again.

“The cat—” the girl said.

“Is not a cat,” Daniel said. “Like that's not a wolf.”

“Y-yes. I mean, no, he's a hybrid. Part-wolf, part-dog. I—”

“He's a werewolf,” Daniel cut in. “And she's a skin-walker, another kind of shape-shifter.”

“She . . . ?”

“A friend of mine. Like he's a friend of yours. And I'm going to ask you to back him off. Can you do that, Chloe?”

The wolf's head shot up at the name.

Chloe. The necromancer. That made sense. The other girl was a witch and would have tried a spell by now.

“So you understand me. Derek, right?” Daniel moved up beside me as his voice took on that special tone. “I'm going to ask you to take a step back. Maya will do the same. I'm sure she hasn't attacked you or tried to attack Chloe, so there's no threat here, right?”

The wolf snorted and looked at me.

“Don't even think about it,” Daniel said, an edge creeping into his voice. “You attack her? You attack both of us.”

The wolf snarled. They locked gazes. When it was clear neither was backing down, Chloe came forward and grabbed Derek by the scruff of the neck.

“Come on,” she said. “Please. Just step away.” She looked at Daniel. “You're on his territory, which is never good with a werewolf. Your friend—Maya—startled him, even if she didn't mean to. Plus he really doesn't like you knowing our names.”

“Well, I do know them, which shouldn't come as that big a surprise. Do you really think a couple of kids with supernatural powers are going to accidentally stumble on you? We were at the house earlier. I'm sure Derek smelled us. We were waiting in the forest until morning to make contact, so we wouldn't spook you.”

I chuffed.

Daniel shot a smile over at me. “Yeah, that one didn't work out so well.”

“All right,” Chloe said. “We're backing up. Right, Derek?”

He snorted, but took a step back. So did I. We both retreated a few more, until I was at the clearing's edge.

“I don't suppose you remember where you left your clothing,” Daniel murmured to me.

Chloe gave a soft laugh. “That's always a problem, isn't it? Okay then. You two go find that. We'll meet you here. Hopefully everyone will be in human form.” A wry smile. “Though I'll warn you, he's not a whole lot more pleasant that way. At least as a wolf, he can't talk.”

The wolf growled, but she only laughed and gave him a pat, then tugged him away as we went to retrieve my clothing.

A
S HAD HAPPENED BEFORE
, after I'd passed out, I'd seemed to sleep-undress, which was handy. So my clothing was where I'd left it, still intact.

When I stepped out from my hiding spot, Daniel rose and came over to me. “You didn't get bitten or anything, did you?”

I shook my head.

He exhaled. “Good. I was worried. I don't know if that's how you really do become a werewolf.” He paused. “It could be kind of cool, though. A werewolf and skin-walker hybrid. Time to shift? You pick your form.”

He grinned and I managed a soft laugh. “My luck, it'd be a mix of the two. A shaggy, brown monster with retractable claws and an irresistible urge to chase sticks.”

“As long as it's not an irresistible urge to hump legs and sniff crotches.”

I laughed again, a real one now. “This is why I'll stick with feline, thank you.”

“I'm glad you're okay. Seeing you facing off with that monster was scary enough. I can't imagine what it was like to
be
the one facing off with him.” He shook his head. “We need to have a little chat with your brother about werewolves before he decides to challenge one.”

“Nah. I say we let him try. Take his ego down a notch or two.”

We both laughed and I looked at him, and I felt . . . okay. I looked at his expression and listened to his laugh and I saw nothing more than I'd always seen. My friend. My best friend.

“Everything all right?” Daniel asked.

I smiled up at him. “We should hurry back and talk to them, and hope the others stay sleeping for a while.”

“Rafe's looking after that.”

I looked up.

“I saw him while you were shifting back. We talked. He agreed to make sure the others stay put if they wake up. You and I will handle this first encounter. He seemed cool with that.”

No, he probably wasn't cool with it at all. I didn't care. Well, yes, I did, but I didn't want to. Even if Rafe hadn't ruined my friendship with Daniel, he'd sure as hell tried. He was supposed to care about me. That wasn't something you did to someone you cared about.

“You guys had a fight?” Daniel asked.

I nodded. “Lousy timing, I know. Sorry.”

“I'm sure the timing has a lot to do with it. Everyone's on edge. Whatever it was, he seemed sorry.”

“He always is,” I muttered before I could stop myself. I shook my head. “We'll deal with it. At a much more suitable time.”

“He really does like you, Maya. He fell from a helicopter for you.” His voice dropped, his tone almost . . . wistful. I looked up to see his expression, then quickly yanked my gaze away.
Don't analyze. Do not analyze. I won't do this. Damn you, Rafe.

“We'd better go,” I said. “Before they get tired of waiting.”

I instinctively knew where we'd left Chloe and Derek. When we drew close, I could hear Chloe talking just above a whisper.

“How many?” she asked.

She paused, as if waiting for a reply. I didn't hear Derek's response, but then she said, “And they're all teens? No adults?”

Still no answer, but again she responded as if there'd been one. We stepped past a clump of bushes and I saw them ahead, sitting at the foot of a huge oak. Chloe had her knees pulled up, one arm wrapped around them. Her other hand was entwined with Derek's. He leaned back against the tree. Slumping, as if it was holding him up. His face glowed with sweat and his eyes were closed.

When I'd seen Derek in wolf form, I figured werewolves grew when they shifted, like the ones in movies. They didn't. He was really that big. Even slumped, he was more than a head taller than Chloe. A huge football player of a guy.

Beside me, Daniel whispered, “I was going to tell him off for bullying you. But I'm having second thoughts.”

I smiled at him. “I don't blame you.”

Despite his size, Derek was obviously no older than us. His cheeks were dotted with mild acne and I could see the ghosts of fading pocks, as if it had been much worse not too long ago. Dark hair tumbled into his eyes as he rested with his head bent forward.

“Anything else?” Chloe whispered.

I realized she wasn't talking to Derek. She was looking up. But there was no one there.

“Ghost,” Daniel murmured.

I tried not to shiver. I cleared my throat so we wouldn't surprise them. Chloe still jumped a little, but Derek's head only lifted, eyes snapping open, hand tightening around Chloe's. He got to his feet, inadvertently tugging her up with him. She murmured something and he let go of her hand but stepped in front of her. She sighed, pushed him aside, and came forward with her hand extended. When she saw me step into the moonlit clearing, she hesitated, but found her smile quickly and reached for my hand.

“Maya, is it?” she said.

I shook it. “It is. And this is Daniel.”

Daniel shook her hand. Derek just stood there, until Chloe prodded him and he shook our hands—not without a grumble, though, a low one, almost like a growl.

“I'm sorry I startled you,” I said. The startling had definitely gone both ways, but from the look on Derek's face, I figured the apology was a good idea. “Like Daniel said, we went to the house earlier, and when you weren't there, we decided to wait out here until morning.”

“It's not just you two,” Derek said. “There are others. We know that.”

“A ghost told Chloe, right?” I said.

She hesitated, then nodded. “A friend of ours. Liz.”

“Liz?” Cold fingers touched the back of my neck, as if I was feeling the ghost herself. “Elizabeth Delaney?” Derek stiffened and I hurried on. “I saw her name in some papers the Edison Group had. I noticed because we have the same last name. I'm Maya Delaney.”

Chloe looked sharply to the side, as if the ghost was still there and had said something.

“There's no relation,” I said. “I'm adopted, for one thing, and it seemed to just be a coincidence, but I noticed the name and they said she was dead, so . . .”

I trailed off. Chloe was still looking to the side. Looking at her friend. Her dead friend. The Edison Group had murdered this girl and now I was going to suggest everyone just try to get along? Negotiate with the Cabals? My gut sank.

Daniel took over. “There are four more of us. We're all Project Phoenix subjects. They're in a clearing over there.” He pointed. “Three of them are sleeping and don't know what's going on, but the fourth—Rafe—is standing guard to make sure they don't interrupt while we're talking. Is that okay?”

Chloe seemed ready to say it was fine, but Derek cut in, “What are their powers?”

“A lot of skin-walkers,” Daniel said. “Maya's brother is one and so is Rafe. Neither has shifted yet. Corey's a seleni. Hayley's a xana. I'm a benandanti.”