Page 19 of 3 Shifters to Break a Curse

“You have a fair point,” I said as I stared into the shadows. “Keep your eyes open for any movement. I don’t want to be here longer than necessary.”

“It’s like death… but unlike anything I’ve ever smelled before,” Rin continued. He coughed and sputtered. “Ugh. I can taste it!”

I nodded. “Again, we better get this done and over with before whatever it is comes back.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Rin said, still covering his mouth and nose. “Well, at least we can be sure a shifter didn’t cause the smell. Even the most unhygienic of us have more self-respect than this.”

I frowned, looking for signs of a dead animal to help make that awful scent make sense. Though I wasn’t convinced that was the cause. The scent was worse than that of death. “Nothing I can think of can cause a stench like this. Shifter or otherwise.”

“It is such an unnatural scent,” Rin said as he searched our surroundings. “Like decay and rot and sulfur all blended into one. And that doesn’t come close enough to describe it.”

“Garbage on a hot summer day,” I added.

“I like mine better,” he said.

I shook my head. “Of course, you would.”

We headed around the car, toward the front. Glass sprinkled the asphalt. Not much. Certainly not enough to explain the missing window in the driver’s side door. But enough to prove Toni’s story. So far, things were adding up. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t a whole lot left to explain.

“There’s glass on the ground,” I said. “Be careful.”

“I’m touched you care,” Rin said, jokingly as he moved to the other side of the car.

“Well, at least you’re in a better mood,” I commented.

“Eh, the run really helped,” he said.

I nodded as I scoped out the scene. “Good.”

“So far, things are clear,” Rin said. “I don’t see anything to suggest we’re not alone.”

I nodded as I stared at the driver’s side door. I was surprised there wasn’t blood mixed in with the shattered glass. Particularly along the edge of the window, where Toni claimed Jared pulled her out. With the look of things, she might have broken the window on her own. But upon looking inside the car, I found shards of broken glass as well. The awful hint of decay was more potent in the car, but not by much.

I frowned again. I wasn’t able to make heads or tails from what I saw. Things added up to a point, but there was so much more left to discover. And she was the key to that. I turned toward Rin. “Thoughts?”

“She’s hiding something,” Rin said.

“I agree. Something important wasn’t shared with us. There is more to the whole story,” I said as I reached in and hit the unlock button for the doors.

“Well, whatever she’s hiding, we need to know about it sooner rather than later. Before her little secret gets one of us killed,” Rin said. “Or exposed.”

I nodded. “Agreed. But perhaps we should wait until after everyone has had some sleep.”

“I don’t think putting this off for another day and time is a wise idea,” Rin said.

Some idiot driver cruising on the highway above us decided it was a great idea to blare their horn through the valley as they drove. I shook my head when they passed by then turned toward Rin.

“Well, I don’t think forcing the poor girl to talk about what happened to her will do her or us any good. We wait until everyone has had a chance to rest. Once that happens, we can start to piece together the missing parts of her story.”

“Whatever,” Rin muttered.

I ignored him and reached into the car and grabbed a couple of the bags out of the back seat of her car. Rin grabbed what the last bag. With her things in hand, we turned to head back home. All the while, I couldn’t help wondering what sort of creature would make a scent like that. It was otherworldly and unlike anything I had ever had the unlucky chance to experience before.

I had half of my mind siding with Rin. The more things we uncovered, the more I was thinking having Toni stay with us, however temporary it would be, was a huge mistake none of us wanted to afford.

But before I went off, jumping to conclusions, I needed to be sure turning her away was the right decision. Starting with demanding the answers she kept refusing to give us.

Once we were a fair distance from human influence, Rin and I shifted again and continued carrying Toni’s bags in our mouths. We were much quicker in our animal forms and were able to navigate the terrain more effectively.

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