Page 32 of Secrets at Dawn
He loved the strand of trees next to the bookshop. They were just a few giants in all their protective leafy glory. It was a great spot for doing homework or reading.
They felt different when he passed them. There was something ominous about them, something tainted.
The hair raised on his neck. He stopped and stiffened.
Stopping ended up being a mistake. It seems he had been making a few of those lately.
But it wasn’t anyone he recognized. He’d expected to see the dickwads, but it was a wolf, one much bigger in his human form than Toby.
The man came out of the trees as if he’d been a part of the shadow. Toby hoped the shadows made the man appear larger than he really was, but when he stepped into the light, the wolf was actually bigger. Toby’s head wouldn’t clear the guy’s shoulder.
Despite the guy’s size, he appeared normal. He wore glasses and a flannel coat that had seen better days. Behind the normalness was an emptiness that Toby had never encountered seeing in the depths of someone’s gaze before.
“You didn’t do what you were told.” Giant Dickwad didn’t have an expression when he spoke.
He threw a blue powder in Toby’s face. He didn’t have a choice but to breathe it in before he could stop himself.
He coughed when it entered his lungs.
And then his vision blurred. He tried to shift, not bothering to take off his clothes, but as hard as he tried, he couldn’t make his wolf come out.
He panicked. It was just long enough for Giant Dickwad to throw a punch. Of course, he aimed right for the gut, making all the air in Toby’s body escape. Toby clutched his gut. His stomach and intestines also wanted to run for cover. The next punch unbalanced him, and he landed on his hip. Hard. He coveredhis head, anticipating kicks. And they did come. One right after another.
For one second, Toby let the fear take hold, and he forgot how to stay calm. He forgot everything his father had ever taught him. He smelled his own blood. It trickled down his side where his shirt rose when he had fallen.
He forgot it all until the moment he didn’t. He heard his dad in his mind.Absorb the pain. Don’t let it consume you. Grab his foot.
They’d been simple instructions, but challenging to execute in the moment, when fear was the only thing he knew. His muscles remembered the lessons, even when his mind seized up as though it were a faulty engine.
He reacted, focusing on his pain, breathing through it until he couldn’t feel it anymore, and all he knew was air entering his body. In and out. That was it.
The kicking had a pattern. It came and then retreated. Kick. Pain. Retreat. Kick.
Toby grabbed the foot and turned as he held on to the hard sole of Giant Dickwad’s boot.
The bigger someone was, the harder they hit the ground. So Toby heard it when Giant Dickwad lost his balance. The ground shook, like tremors after an earthquake.
Toby tried to magic the giant away, but his magic disappeared along with his wolf. He stumbled to his feet, clutching his stomach. His pain was concentrated there.
The world was blurry, but he grabbed his backpack. That had somehow stayed next to his body. The world was a mess of colors without substance. He saw the shape of the bookshop. He saw the black door. And he knew when someone had opened it, standing on the sidewalk.
Toby stopped. For the first time in his life, he whimpered, expecting another attack.
“Holy shit.” He saw a person move and then come closer. “Oh my god. Holy crap. That other guy is getting up.”
The person led Toby toward the bookshop and inside. Toby heard the lock click into place.
“You’re safe. I locked the door. He can’t get inside. But I have to let you go to call the sheriff.”
The man released him. He heard the guy talking, but Toby couldn’t make out the words.
His senses faded to nothing. He tried to find something to brace himself against when his legs wouldn’t hold him up anymore, but he crumbled to the ground. Darkness closed in on him.
Chapter Seventeen
Griffin was covered in fine white powder when the phone rang. He thought about letting the call go unanswered and just calling back later, when he wasn’t elbow deep in drywall dust. He had a gut feeling, so he grabbed his cellphone.
His dad’s picture flashed on the screen.
