Page 29 of Back in the Hunt

Arawn and Fletcher had already left for Roanoke. Nox had classes to teach and Nelson was headed into the office for the day. “What’s on your agenda?” Nox asked Everly.

He shook his head, glancing at Bryn and Merlin. “Whatever’s on their agenda,” he said, shrugging.

“Afraid you can’t come with me today,” Merlin informed Everly, then glanced at Bryn. “Jeff is taking me to Rockville and Bethesda to check in with a few friends so you’re on duty here,” he said and Bryn offered Everly an apologetic grimace.

“I have a few certifications that I have to renew soon, so I need about an hour to knock out some forms online and pay some bills. We can try another walk afterwards. Doubt we’ll come across another body so we should make it around the block this time,” he added as he held up two sets of crossed fingers.

“Yes! I love walks!” Everly cheered and was looking forward to his day with Bryn as he saw Nox, Nelson, and Merlin out.

Everly used the time while Bryn was on his laptop to make sure the coast was clear for their walk. He checked allthe windows and didn’t see any scary shadows so he carefully opened the front door and peeked around it.

“Don’t go too far, Ev,” Bryn called from the study.

“I won’t. Just looking at a butterfly,” he said and silently apologized for fibbing as he eased out onto the stoop and leaned to see over the wall on the other side of the yard. He stepped out and held onto the rail as he rose on his toes but Everly still couldn’t see the road on the other side of the wall.

His hand was sweating around the rail as Everly tiptoed down the stairs and took a few cautious steps onto the grass, his eyes darting around the yard. He jumped to see if anyone was on the sidewalk on the other side before ducking and hurrying to the wall. Everly tripped, smothering an “Oof!” as he skidded onto the grass.

“Slow down,” he told himself as he dusted the dirt off his hands and got back to his feet.

Everly made it to the wall and pressed his back against the bricks, listening for cars and pedestrians. He could hear a dog barking down the street, but everything sounded clear so he leaned to peek through the iron gate.

A pair of empty black eye sockets stared back at Everly from behind a pair of cracked and bent wire-framed glasses. They rested, crooked and rusted, on the small, chalky, gray face of a child and a scream caught in Everly’s throat when it reached for him. The child recoiled as if the gate’s bars had burned it and it snarled and spat at Everly, its head flopping sideways as it studied him.

“Go away!” Everly whispered shakily, then jumped back when it dove at him. Once again, the iron gate repelled it and the child hissed as its cracked, dirty hands swiped at Everly. “Go!” Everly begged it and screamed when it opened its mouth and he felt cold and weak.

He pulled away, crashing onto his bottom on the grass. Everly rolled and crawled, scrambling to his feet. He ran right into warm muscle and safe, strong arms.

“What happened?” Bryn asked, alarmed as he scanned the yard and the street behind Everly.

“It was—!” Everly looked back at the gate but the scary dead child was gone.

“What did you see?”

Everly wasn’t sure anymore. “Um…” He checked again and wondered if he’d imagined the whole thing.

They had talked of little else but the shadow child Bryn had encountered in the Nothing and that Ronan O’Sullivan had reported seeing when he was attacked. But there was nothing there now, the sidewalk and the street looked perfectly peaceful. Everly didn’t want to be the boy who cried wolf and he didn’t want the front yard to be off limits. He gave his head a shake and smiled at Bryn, deciding that even if he had seen something his hellhound scared it away.

“It was a butterfly but I couldn’t get a good look at it before it flew over the fence.”

“Are you sure?” Bryn didn’t sound convinced as he searched behind Everly. “I heard you scream and you looked scared when I came out.”

“I wasn’t scared,” Everly replied quickly. “I…tripped and I just screamed because I tripped.” He willed his shoulder to shrug and it eventually did. Everly smiled brightly up at Bryn. “I was trying to see a butterfly and I screamed because I tripped, but I was not scared,” he summarized.

The furrow in Bryn’s brow deepened as he blinked down at Everly. “It’s really hard to know when you’re being weird.” He laughed it off and went to step around Everly. “Ready for that walk?”

“No!” Everly pushed against his chest. “I changed my mind! I don’t really like walks now.”

“You don’t like walks now?” Bryn’s voice rose and his brow cocked. “What’s going on, Ev?”

“Nothing!” He glanced at the house behind Bryn longingly. “I would just rather stay inside because…” Everly’s eyes widened and snapped to Bryn’s when he remembered that Nox, Nelson, and Merlin wouldn't be back for hours. “We have the house to ourselves!”

“True… But wejust…” Bryn said with a pointed look. “We already pushed our luck once today,” he said but Everly grabbed his hand.

It took a hard yank to get Bryn moving and his steps dragged as Everly towed him back to the front door. “We can make out in the study.”

“That sounds like a bad idea. There’s no one here to stop us from going too far.”

“You will, if you promise we won’t,” Everly said and Bryn’s head cocked.

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