Page 119 of Dead Wolf Walking (Bad Moon Academy 1)
As always, the light from outside casts creepy shadows about, but illuminates enough of the room that I can make out the tables, stage, the chandelier, and dancefloor. Frigid air wraps around me as I walk toward the center. Some of my resolve wavers, and I think about running for a few seconds before I shove the notion aside. If I can save Joan, I have to do this. No matter how much I don’t want to.
When I reach the middle of the polished floor, I spin around, searching for the dark tentacles which tried to drag me off to the other world last time. They’re nowhere in sight, though it’s only a matter of time until a spirit shows up. They always do when I’m nearby. I sit crisscross on the floor and close my eyes, focusing on my breathing and trying to open my body to them.
Mom always taught me about focusing on my third eye, but settling on my heart chakra feels more natural. I imagine dark green light leaving my body with every exhale and a vibrant green light filling my chest and spreading through my limbs with every inhale.
A few minutes pass and I start to think I may be wasting my time meditating. Until a cool brush of fingers traces down my cheek. I suck in a sharp breath and snap my eyes open, instantly losing all the Zen I gained in my breathing exercises.
“Where’s Joan?” I ask my phantom friend.
His touch moves from my cheek to the back of my neck, tipping my head back. I can glance to the left and focus on the black outline of his body in my peripheral. He’s squatting in front of me.
“Damn it, answer me,” I growl when he doesn’t try to show me where my wolf is. “You’re strong enough to speak to me, I know you are. You have to help me get her back.”
He slowly drags his fingers over my skin and pulls away. He stands, and I scramble up from where I’m sitting, moving my eyes to where he is.
“You can’t leave,” I say, sounding more than desperate. “Please, help me.”
There’s no answer. No more icy touches.
He left me.
The cold presses in on me, and my breath mists in the air. Shadows grow and rise up the walls, straining to touch me. Maybe he didn’t leave, maybe he was doing what I asked. I search the floor, frantically looking for any sign of movement. Before I can check behind me, something wraps around my ankle and yanks on me hard enough to pitch me forward. I catch myself on my hands and knees, glaring at the spirit behind me. More shadowy tentacles race toward me, ready to take me. They coil around my legs and squeeze me tight enough to draw a whimper from my lips.
I will not lose to a fucking ghost.
Gritting my teeth, I call up the dark power from the beyond. My attention is solely focused on gathering my strength that I don’t notice I’m being dragged across the floor until my hip bumps into the stage.
“Fucking. Shit. Bitch.” Oily magic fills my body and explodes from me, knocking the air from my lungs. I fight to control it, channeling all of that vile power into my hands as I reach toward where the dark tendrils are wrapped around me. Before I touch them, I take a deep breath, dragging even more of the darkness from the bottom of my being and thrust it into my hands. Slamming my palms against the tentacles, I brace myself for the inevitable pull into the other world.
Everything blurs and the room spins until I land in a land of shadows. This isn’t the other world… this is something wrong. A black vortex of nothingness spreads out before me, promising no end to the endless swirling obsidian. Every bit of happiness I’ve ever felt is sucked away.
Images I’ve tried so hard to erase flash in front of me. I see my dad’s prone body in a coffin. Mom’s crimson wrists. Dead eyes. Cold bodies. Stiff limbs. Aunt Lou screaming my mother’s name, grabbing my shoulders, and forcing me out of the bathroom as she drains the bathtub. My chest seizes and I clutch my throat, stumbling away from those swirling images.
“JOAN!”
Another image appears, this one of me lying on the floor outside of the bathroom, my face covered in tears and snot. I’m banging my fists into the ground and calling my mom’s name. I swallow and pinch my eyes shut. For a few minutes, I hoped she’d make it. Hoped I’d found her soon enough and an ambulance would make it in time to save her.
Pressing my palms to my eyes, I suck in a sharp breath. “JOAN!” I scream her name over and over, willing her to appear. I choke on a sob when I start to call for her again. This has to work. Carter’s last words to me whisper through my mind.
Don’t let the darkness consume you.
Had he somehow known what would happen when I came in here? How could he, though? Still, I focus on blocking out the screams from my past and find a happy memory to concentrate on, one that isn’t steeped in death. I settle on one from last summer.
It’s Saturday night and Aunt Lou is at home sick. Adler, Kenzie, and I have a full house between the three of us. The kitchen is down one line cook, but despite all the chaos, we’ve been operating like a well-oiled machine. Kenzie’s running food and taking orders like a maniac, and I’m blasting through dirty beer glasses.
“Slow down, Lightning McQueen,” Adler says as he fills up a beer. He shoots me a wink and slams the tap back. “Things are settling down, why don’t you take a break?”
I shake my head. “No, I’m not taking a break until you do.”
Sliding the beer over to the customer, Adler leans his elbow on the edge of the bar and faces toward me. “Raven, take a break.”
Soap bubbles on my arms as I pull the beer glasses from the wash section and dip them into the clean water before hitting the sanitizing sink. “Adler, you take a break.”
He dips his fingers into the water and flicks me, lips drawing down into a frown. “I’m serious.”
“So am I.” I wipe my hands on the towel I have hooked inside my apron and glance around. He’s right. The majority of the tables have cleared out, and Kenzie’s bringing a ton of dirty dishes to the kitchen.
“See what I mean?” he asks, nudging me with his elbow. “Lou would kill me if she saw I was working you this hard, kid.”
