Lead Me Astray is now published as a Wattpad Book! As a Wattpad reader, you can access Wattpad Books Edition upon purchase and the Original Edition for free.
"Ambitious and fiercely original. Sondi Warner is the exciting new voice we've all been wai...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
September 12 | Daybreak
Kittie Cad gripped the steering wheel with both hands as the cramped Nissan flew down the highway at breakneck speeds. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death," Kittie shrieked, "Lord, please don't let Terrance kill me if anything happens to his car!"
I gripped the door handle, reminded of the high-speed chase to the cabin. We were following the same route except this time no one was in hot pursuit. The hurricane had cleared the roads of any but the savviest and bravest of drivers. And big trucks. One flew past with a loud blast of the horn.
We were gliding through torrents of rain that obscured our view. The windshield had become a waterfall, and gusts shoved the car along like a toy. In the backseat, Zyr and Wallace bracketed Haley and the wolf. I huddled in the passenger seat. We were almost to Ponchatoula, Louisiana. The GPS gave instructions to take the next exit.
Meanwhile, my Empathy flurried with anticipation, my own and everyone else's. I anxiously fondled Zyr's Damascus steel sword. The blade was the only weapon Tegan hadn't sabotaged at the cabin. Now Zyr had given it to me. Small comfort.
Sighing, I wondered how I had gone from my super chill, I-hate-everybody life to trying to save the city from a raving vampire. Raised in a Fundamentalist Christian human family as an intersex Futanari Supernatural, I couldn't have felt more detached from others. Yet, as the Nissan sped down the off-ramp, I had the distinct impression any sense of isolation from the rest of the world was smoke and mirrors.
None of us were alone. Our foils and triumphs were tiny pixels in the big picture of the universe. It felt like everyone in the car was supposed to be there. Each of us had a purpose, and the outcome depended on our ability to conceive that an insignificant detail could be the whole point. Maybe my brain was just regurgitating some Tumblr guru nonsense, but...
Aurie had played things safe in life, which led to her having mostly positive experiences, which allowed her to trust a perfect stranger at precisely the right moment. Maybe I had always felt like a loner because someday she would need a hidden, enchanted apartment. Maybe Zyr's obsession with Darcy Cyprian was in preparation for what we were about to do now, and maybe the case was a pretext for the evidence the three of us needed to make our lives make sense.
I had blanked out, philosophizing, when Kittie suddenly lost control of the car. "Oh, shit!" she yelled. I snapped free of reverie as a collective scream went up. The vehicle fishtailed and banged the guardrail. Sparks flew, quickly extinguished by the downpour.
"Kittie, watch out!" I grabbed the wheel, pointing at the trees we were about to impact. Kittie yanked the wheel back in the nick of time, but it was too much. Too much noise and activity.
With a tortured growl, Zyr slammed his head against the back window. The vicious smack silenced our noisy panic. I gasped at the sickening smear of blood on the glass. A dark bruise appeared at the detective's temple, and a line of red trickled from his lip, but the injury would heal itself. I was more concerned with his unnerving mental regression bleeding through my consciousness.
