The House in the Woods

Chapter 20

Astera hissed in displeasure as dust blew into her face. She surveyed the wreck, her nose tipped up distastefully. The entire front of the house was destroyed; only a few things were recognizable among the debris. Astera could see the piano struggling to stand under a pile of drywall; it's keys sticking out like crooked yellow teeth. Glass littered the ground like minute jewels, and little fires dotted the debris like smoke signals on deserted islands.

If it weren't for her keen eyesight, Astera might have missed the lovely Chinese girl struggling to shift her way out from under a pile of burning debris.

"Astera," Wei croaked as Astera easily pulled her out, "Where is my family?"

"I don't know." Astera told her, her voice uncharacteristically gentle. "I'm sure they're fine. Are you hurt? Why can't you shift?"

"My legs." Wei's voice was hoarse. "I think they're both broken."

Astera cursed under her breath. "Let's get you out of here."

"But Lei -"

"I'm sure she's fine, let's worry about you right now."

Wei weighed barely anything in Astera's arms, and the vampire wrinkled her nose at the grotesque angles her legs had taken. "Do you know who did this?"

"There were men standing outside, all wearing black. I think they're the same as before."

Astera picked her way through the wreckage, making her way to the back of the house. Remarkably, the back section seemed to be standing just fine. "How many were there?"

"I don't know." Wei sounded anxious. "Fifteen? Ten? Twenty? I saw the grenade and I wasn't thinking logically -"

"Shh now." Astera told her. She could tell the girl was ready to blame herself.

"I should have seen them coming -"

"Shh, I said!"

"Astera?"

She tensed at the new voice. It came from the shadows in the kitchen. It took her eyes only a second to adjust.

"Nigel." She nodded at him and passed Wei into his arms. "She's hurt, be careful. Who else is with you?"

"We have almost everyone, but Sergei hasn't shown up -"

Wei whimpered at this.

"- neither has Jannosh, Myrnah, Lilah or Apollo."

"Tether?"

"I'm here." His voice was resilient in the dark. Lei darted forward to comfort her sister.

"Why are we not looking for the others? If they're alive, we need to reach them." Astera was vaguely annoyed they were all just standing there. Was she supposed to do everything around here?

"Things don't smell right." Tether, as always, was oblivious to Astera's irritation. "They haven't said or done anything since the explosion."

Now that he mentioned it, Astera finally noticed. It was too quiet; there were no shouts, no gunfire, no nothing. Even the rain had stopped. It made Astera's skin prickle - something was definitely wrong.

"Where are you going?" Tether took a step forward when she turned around.

"To find my brother." Astera tossed the words over her shoulder. "He's probably buried somewhere, his room was right where the bomb hit."

"Is Astera Ambrosia actually worried for her brother?" Tether sounded amazed as he leaned against the doorway of the kitchen. "I thought I would never see the day."