Page 53 of Misfit Monsters
It takes several minutes for him to emerge from the shadows. He gives his broad shoulders a shake, his impressive muscles rippling across his arms. “The trail just kept going to the northeast. I’ve passed a few other scents that have a similar quality, but they’re even older, so faint I’m not sure I could stay on them very far.”
Jonah sighs and peers at the sky. “I don’t know how much point there is in continuing to follow even this creature. It might be roaming at random.”
“An excellent pep talk from the man in charge,” Hail drawls.
I jump in. “It was worth trying. We didn’t have any other new leads. But Jonah, you must need to rest after so much driving.” His fatigue trickles off him like a thin, salty soup.
Jonah shoots me a grateful smile. “I’m doing all right, but I’m not sure how much longer I can keep it up. We’d better find a place to camp out for the night and start tomorrow fresh.”
Mirage spins around and launches himself into a tight flip against the van’s inner wall. “Time to get out of this tin can!”
“Let me see where a good spot would be. We don’t want local police deciding we’re suspicious and interfering with our mission.”
Jonah consults his map and drives until we reach an overgrown lane that leads to a rusty gate. It looks like it’s been an eon or so since anyone’s opened it. The padlock securing the chain is more rust than metal.
I thought the basilisk shifter was loping alongside us, but there’s no sign of him. My forehead furrows. “What happened to Raze?”
As Hail hops out of the van, his voice takes on a disdainful note. “He’s probably off tearing the mortal wildlife into bloody pieces.”
Right. Raze needs to feed to keep up his energy—and he can’t absorb the nutrition he needs simply by hanging around beings with emotions.
My powers might be confusing, but they’re a lot more convenient.
I grab the camping stove and help Jonah set it up on apatch of gravel. By the time he’s cooked his canned dinner and eaten most of it, Raze still hasn’t returned.
Can I blame him if he’d rather not face Hail’s snarky remarks?
The thought that he thinks his team would be more cruel than welcoming sends a pang of sadness through me.
“I’m going to make sure Raze is okay,” I announce.
Hail snorts, which for once I can understand. Anything that could make Raze not-okay would pulverize me in an instant.
But that’s only when it comes to physical defense.
Jonah simply nods. “Stay on the alert for odd creatures. We don’t know when we might cross paths with another one that turns aggressive on a dime.”
I can’t follow scents the way Raze and Mirage can, but my emotional awareness gets more sensitive when I’m familiar with another being. Like recognizing a person when they’re too far away to see their face, just by the way they walk.
I clamber up a low slope dotted with lumps of granite, and an impression I know is Raze creeps into my mind. He’s sated and feeling both satisfied and a little ashamed of that.
The conflicted emotions make my heart hurt more.
I pick up my pace, hurrying through the brush as quickly as my short and unpredictably wobbly legs will safely take me. Falling on my head and needing him to come tomyrescue isn’t the plan.
I can tell Raze has heard me coming before I see him. One crunch of a twig underfoot sets off a pepper-sharp twang of alarm that fades just as quickly.
He can probably smell that it’s me. I hope my scent is at least a little pleasing.
It would really suck if he’s smelling dead fish or gym socks whenever I’m around.
I’ve only made it a short distance farther before the basilisk shifter comes to me. He marches between the trees and stops when we’re in view of each other.
His voice still has a hint of a growl, but it’s mostly confused. “What are you doing, Periwinkle?”
I smile at him. “Looking for you. It didn’t seem fair, after all the work you’ve done on your own today, that you’d have to spend the whole night alone too.”
His expression stays puzzled, his stance rigid. “I’m fine on my own. I prefer it.”
