Page 35 of Wind with a Chance of Wolfsbane

“Mina,” I whispered, clutching her hand in a death grip.

Something darted through the trees behind us. Whatever it was, it sounded large.

Not bear large, but large all the same. Not that I’d know if it showed itself. Unless it got close, I wasn’t going to see much of it, considering I was looking through broken glasses.

Part of me was relieved because the idea of being eaten by a bear was horrifying, so seeing it happen would suck. Another part of me was nervous beyond measure. Apparently, so was my sister because we ended up temporarily blinding one another with our flashlights, which suddenly seemed like they were being powered by something divine, seeing as how they were on the verge of death earlier, in what would have probably felt like a comedic moment had the danger not been real.

“Bright light. Bright light,” I said in my best Gizmo voice, more out of nerves than anything else. I brought my hand up to shield my face.

“Crap,” Mina spat, jerking her flashlight to the side. The beam was no longer aimed directly at my eyes, but all I saw were spots. “Sorry.”

I blinked several times, not that it helped. “Dude, I can barely see as it is. That didn’t help any.”

A noise came from the forest again, sounding closer than before.

“Mina, if we die, I’m going to be so mad at you,” I said, no longer whispering. What was the point? Whatever was close already knew we were there.

“We’re…not going to…die,” she returned, her words lacking conviction.

That witty banter I’d warned her I’d come equipped with kicked into high gear. “You really sold that. I almost believe it. You’ve got motivational speaking in your future. I can feel it. That is, if we live to have a future. You should change your major to public speaking before we start at Grimm Cove College. It’s your calling. Your destiny.”

She grunted. “We’re fine. We’re just jumpy. That’s all. It’s probably a rabbit or something. We’ve been at this for hours and haven’t seen anything remotely supernatural or threatening.”

I opened my mouth to speak.

She cut me off. “Spiders don’t count as threats, Willa.”

“They do in my book,” I supplied, glancing around, waiting for a bear to jump out and eat me or for a spider to fall from a branch and claim victory over me. “Can we go back to the inn now? I’ve seen enough scary movies and heard Helen and her buddies talk about hunts enough to know I don’t want to be out here anymore.”

“Yeah, that might be smart,” she said, staying close to me.

I expected her to protest. To launch into another long run about how much she needed this. How much she wanted to prove she was a natural-born slayer. That she could do what Helen and the others could. What I didn’t expect was for her to agree with me.

Now I was officially scared. Mina had given up on the push to hunt evil. That had to mean the end was near. As she’d already pointed out, Murrays weren’t quitters.

As if on cue, lightning cut through the night sky, its light piercing through varying spots in the forest’s canopy of trees above. It was followed quickly by a roaring clap of thunder so loud that I could have sworn the ground beneath our feet shook.

Mina grabbed me so tightly that her fingernails dug into my hand.

When we didn’t instantly die by way of Mother Nature, I let out a shaky laugh, nudging my sister with my shoulder.

She chuckled anxiously, still holding my hand.

My joyous respite dissipated quickly as a menacing growl came from the exact spot where we’d heard rustling before.

We clung tighter to one another as Mina shined her flashlight toward the spot in question. We were greeted with what I first thought were multiple pairs of glowing eyes, only to realize my glasses were playing tricks on me, and it was just a single pair of glowing eyes reflecting the light. Not that any glowing eyes were great.

I knew instantly what that meant.

A wolf.

ChapterEleven

Jonathan

Jonathan triedto listen to what was being said in the conference room, but his wolf picked that moment to go berserk, clawing at him from within, demanding to be unleashed. The same sense of dread that had come out of nowhere moments ago increased tenfold, nearly taking him to his knees.

Gritting his teeth, he held on with all his might to keep from doing a full shift.

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