Page 26 of After the Fall

“Harper,” I shouted, but she had already rushed to the side of the hiker. His head hung against his chest, but he looked up when Harper sat next to him. “Don’t get close.” I tried not to shout, but I didn’t want her anywhere near the man.

“He’s freezing.” She touched his forehead. “And he’s burning up.” She stormed past me and grabbed a blanket from the back of the sofa, draping it over his lap.

“Tank, ask Gloria for a first aid kit and some damp towels,” she shouted up the stairs.

“Boss?” Tank’s voice replied from the main floor.

“Just do it,” I grumbled.

“Wyatt, how could you?” Harper poured a glass of water from the bar and handed it to the hiker.

The man slapped the water from Harper’s hand. His eyes flashed and he snarled as he bared his teeth at her.

Harper squeaked and jumped backwards. I pulled her toward me and wrapped my arm over her shoulder protectively.

“We’ll take care of him,” I promised. “He has answers, he just doesn’t have the words. And we need to figure out who, or what he is, and what he knows.”

“S-s-sorry.” The man’s voice was hoarse. “Water.”

Everyone new to the room turned to stare at the man, mouths agape, like he’d starting spouting a foreign language.

“He needs water,” I confirmed. Harper moved, but I squeezed her body close to mine. “Atticus. Get another glass of water. It looks like we might get some answers after all.”

THIRTEEN

HARPER

The stranger’shands shook as he chugged from the glass. Droplets of water splashed everywhere, but he didn’t seem to notice or care.

From across the room, Savannah and I made eye contact. I could almost hear her sayingwhat the fuck, even though her lips hadn’t moved. We knew each other that well.

Savannah and I had been friends since the first day of high school. Savannah’s parents had wanted her to attend some fancy private school in the hills, but she’d fought it until they agreed to let her attend Lakeside High, the public high school which happened to be down the street from my childhood home.

I could still remember her walking into the classroom that first day, taking a seat beside me in AP English. She’d flicked her dark hair, glossy with a pink velvet headband, over her shoulder and turned to me. I couldn’t remember her exact words, but whatever she’d said had made me laugh, and from that moment on, I’d been smitten with the new girl from Washington Heights.

Savannah had gotten me through a lot of bad years – years I’d spent lying to the school and to authorities about my mom’sillness. She was the only reason I didn’t entirely hate my teenage years.

It’s funny what the brain remembers. I could remember every moment, every treasured memory with Savannah, yet I couldn’t remember the man I loved.

I was as smitten with Savannah today as I’d been that first day of high school. And as I looked at her now, standing next to Connor in the basement, I admired her bravery and how well she was handling everything that had transpired in such a short amount of time.

Sasquatches. Werewolves. Missing hikers. My dad.

It was a lot to take in, for anyone. But especially for a girl from Washington Heights. And I was grateful to have her here by my side, during one of the hardest times.

The sound of glass hitting the floor snapped me from my thoughts. The cup had slipped from the man’s fingers, smashing into thousands of tiny shards on the hardwood floor. The scream that followed was piercing, sounding more animal than human.

“Fuck,” Atticus muttered.

Savannah and I covered our ears with shaking hands. The sound didn’t seem to bother the men as much, though Wyatt kept touching his hand to his temple, almost absentmindedly.

Wyatt moved his other hand from my shoulder and walked over to the man, bending forward so his face was inches away. The man snarled, foam gushing out the corners of his mouth like a rabid dog.

“You’ve had your water. Now speak,” growled Wyatt.

I knew my boyfriend well enough to know that he was losing his patience, and it made me squirm. Whatever had happened to this man was likely beyond his control, and I hated the way he was being treated, tied up in the basement like some animal.

Connor moved from Savannah’s side to stand beside the two sasquatches. Broken glass crunched under his feet as the threemen formed an intimidating line against their prisoner. But then Connor took a tiny step back, as if he knew his place in the chain of command.

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