Page 19 of Flock Around and Find Out

“There’s no cure?” Galen broke in. “No way to save those who catch it? How does it infect others? How do we keep it from spreading?”

The raven shook his head, an unnerving smile on his lips. “You don’t understand. This isn’t an infection of the body, of the individual. You can’t stop it because it doesn’t spread, at least not the way you expect. It is an infection of the source energy, the Spirit energy that makes you a were. I’ve seen three clans fall to this in the past, and each time, it wiped out the entire clan until there was nothing left of them.”

I struggled to remain crouched, to not lose my balance as his words hit me, as the reality and gravity of what he’d said became clear.

Worse, he didn’t look all that upset over it. “You know that includes you, too,” I pointed out. Perhaps that was cruel, but the way he so easily accepted death pissed me off.

“Of course I know. I’ve been alive long enough to see exactly what happens to Spirits, what we do to others, to each other. I remember a dragon I took care of in his last days, the way he writhed in pain, consumed by it. He asked if this was a punishment, if it was the gods telling us we’d committed some unforgivable sin. I assured him no, that wasn’t it. We weren’t forsaken—that was unthinkable. Now that I feel it, though, now that I can’t grasp the control I used to have, now that the energy churns through me so slowly, sloshing around like milk left out to curdle, I wonder if he wasn’t right. Did we anger the gods? Did they turn their backs on us? All I know for sure is that I have seen this happen before, and I have never seen it solved or stopped. You should ready yourselves, because soon the council will lose another clan.”

Chapter Five

I wanted to kill him.

Sure, I had that feeling a lot, a general desire to rid myself of annoyances that bothered me, but it was usually less intense.

With Knot, though, I had no question, especially after he’d yet again pulled me through my dream to somewhere.

I wanted him gone. Out of my life, out of my head, out of this entire universe.

“You shouldn’t frown like that,” he said.

“Why, wrinkles?”

“No. I have a thing for wrinkles, actually. What can I say? Older women are hot. It just scrunches up your eyes and makes it harder to see dangers.”

Just as he told me that, my foot caught an uneven piece of sidewalk and I pitched forward. I’d have hit the ground if not for Knot grabbing me in an easy grip, pulling me against him to save me.

Fine, that was impressive.

He smirked, telling me he knew it, damn it. If anyone didn’t need their ego stroked, it was this asshole.

“Last time I saw you, you were running like something was after you.”

“Something’s always after me. If I stopped living just because of that, I’d never get anything done.”

“You get things done?” I pulled away from him to stand on my own.

“Of course, important things.” He tucked his hands into his pockets as we walked side by side.

Where were we? Everyone spoke English around us, which made it a rare visit. Knot tended to pick other counties, but the accents told me it was somewhere in America. A long street was in the center of the town, and people wore cowboy hats. That gave me some suspicions.

Then I spotted the thing that nailed in where we were. A large pen of longhorns sat at the end of the street, and I recalled the cattle drives down in Texas. Where was it?

“Dallas Forth Worth,” Knot said. “I like to eat barbecue here.”

“That seems a bit rude, don’t you think? I mean, you sit here and eat cow in front of cows?”

Knot bumped his arm against mine. “You know, I find it so charming how naïve you can be. It’s cute and rare, especially after everything you’ve been through. Come on, let’s go to this place I know. They put the food on a huge tray and you’ll have never tasted anything so good.”

As twisted as it might have been, I had to admit, the foodwasgood. I wasn’t sure how I could even taste it, given I wasn’t actually here.

Not that that mattered to Knot. He’d asked for a table for two, despite the way the server had given him a strange look and asked if the other person was coming.

Knot had smiled and not addressed the question, as though it hadn’t mattered. He’d ordered two meals, two drinks, all of it. I’d been able to interact with the items, but no one seemed to notice, which made me suspect the food wasn’t floating in the air.

In short?

I was again made aware of the fact that while I still wasn’t sure who or what Knot actually was, he sure as fuck was powerful.

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