The weekend could not have come fast enough.
Despite the fact that Ben had periodically been dropping off the work that I'd missed and Tucker's daily visits, I was beginning to lose my mind being stuck in the house for the last three days. However, I was able to watch my mom start to go back to normal which almost made up for it. The nights that she cried were getting fewer and further between. Truth be told, I'd get beat up all over again if it meant she'd go completely back to normal.
It was late when Tilly texted me that she was waiting outside my house. Being careful not to wake Harry or my mom, I padded softly down the hallway in my socks. Neither of them would be keen on the plan that had formed in my head.
A door creaked open behind me and I froze.
Harry's dark curls popped out from his bedroom door. Our eyes met, mine wide and his sleepy.
He rubbed his eyes. "Just...use protection."
"H-Harry, what?"
"Tucker," he mumbled, still looking half-asleep, "tell him I'm not ready to be an uncle."
He turned and reentered his room leaving me in the hallway, shocked and very confused. Obviously, Harry had a very different idea of where I was sneaking off to. Shaking that off, I jogged (best that I could with healing ribs) to Tilly's car toting the bag of things I'd collected from inside the house.
"Alright, Nancy Drew, time to tell me what the hell we're doing."
I held up the bag full of snacks and coffee and smiled at her. "A good old-fashioned stakeout."
Tilly snorted, thinking I was joking. After a long look at my face, she realized that I was still serious. She sighed.
"Alright, whatever. I'm in."
An hour later, Tilly and I had driven past the third property listed on Owein's real estate portfolio searching for any sign of the woman I was looking for. It was the fourth property that we came to when we finally spotted something strange. We pulled up to a strip of buildings in the downtown area. The parking lot in front of the buildings were abandoned, apart from one single car. Tilly parked across the street, facing the front of the buildings and the parking lot.
"So are you going to quit being so cryptic and tell me what we're doing here?"
I, however, was distracted by the lone car in the parking lot. I barely registered what Tilly had asked as a strange sensation ran up and down my back- that was never a good sign.
"Do you recognize that car?" I asked, disregarding her question and rolling down my window to get a better look.
"No, and Lou-"
"I swear I've seen it before..." my voice trailed off as I searched my brain for an answer.
"LOU!" Tilly shouted, finally grabbing my attention. "What are we doing here?"
I turned to face her, tearing my eyes away from the red sedan that sat a couple hundred yards away. Tilly's hazel eyes were wide and slightly concerned by my lack of response. My back still tingled with that same strange darkness. Meet with A. Get C. Find D.
"Get Codex. Find Delia," I repeated to her once again the words that Owein had whispered in my dreams. Tilly finished it for me.
"Meet with Alice Galloway."
My smile grew wider as she began to catch on. "We're going to find the Hunters."
Tilly gave my smile a blank stare, processing what I'd said. Snapping to life, she put the key back into the ignition ready to drive away. I put my hand on her arm, stopping her.
"You've lost your mind! Seriously, Lou," she admonished, beginning a rant, "You know that Hunters are not only partial to killing werewolves, right? They're not huge fans of witches either! Nope. No. No way."
I pushed my feelings of calm and power into Tilly and watched her visibly relax. Her previously tense shoulders sagged a little and she let out a long, slow breath. As feelings of ease filtered through her, I felt an emptiness fill me. I tried to ignore it as she eyed me suspiciously.
"I know what you just did."
"No, you don't," I waved her off, "I think Ben had the right idea to look for Delia in the properties that Owein owned. Except, I don't think that Delia is in any of them."
"You think the hunters are," Tilly finished and I nodded.
"Owein was working with that red-headed bitch to get the Codex from the Denvers pack. That's why he attacked them- he was searching for it."
Tilly's eyes widened at my theory and then narrowed in confusion. "But why did he need the Codex? I thought your father-"
She was cut off by the sound of someone's throat clearing outside the car. Tilly's eyes went wide with fear and my stomach dropped before I even turned to my own window. My friend's fear was finally understood as I turned and stared straight into the barrel of a gun. Barely processing anything else, a face appeared in the window and it grinned at me. Swallowing nervously, I was finally able to speak.
Thankfully, my voice didn't shake. "We were just talking about you."
Alice's satisfied smirk began to grow as she pointed the gun to my forehead. She made a 'bang' sound with her lips and I shuddered. Tilly, next to me, began to mutter something under her breath that sounded a lot like gibberish. The cold metal of the gun pressed harder into my temple.
"Hey, Sabrina the teenage witch, shut up or the psychic dies- simple as that."
Tilly's mutterings immediately stopped and Alice nodded her head to something that we couldn't see outside the car. Tilly's door opened and another hunter stood pointing another weapon at her. She swallowed loudly as the other hunter motioned for her to get out with the barrel of his gun. I, however, was trapped inside the car with Alice's sick smile.
"What happened to your face?" She asked, grimacing at my bruises, "It's uglier than I remember."
I shot her an unamused look. "Funny. I was going to say the same thing about you."
She let out a loud, booming laugh and I cringed a little at the sudden sound. She took a step back from the door and forced me out of the car to stand beside Tilly. Despite the fear I could feel rolling off of her, she was staring back at the two hunters with an impressive amount of stoicism. Her lips began to move, but barely and imperceptibly. Neither of the hunters seemed to notice.
Recognizing what she was doing, I knew I needed to keep their attention on me and off of the witch next to me.
"Where is Delia Joy" I demanded.
Alice looked me up and down and I knew I must have been a sight to see. My hand was at my side, holding my ribs and my face looked like it had gone through a meat grinder. She seemed satisfied at my appearance and I clenched the fist next to my side. Tilly drew in a sharp breath, but I didn't dare look at her.
"1010 Highway 84. Room 10."
My eyes narrowed at her words. She had actually given me an address. The smile on her face told me that she certainly knew something I didn't- and it was dangerous. I wasn't sure what the address was for but I filed away the information in my head.
"Just like that? You'd give up the location so easily?" I asked in disbelief.
Alice cocked her head. "Not like you'll be able to use the information where you're going. Malcolm," she looked at the other hunter and motioned to Tilly. "Kill her. Unfortunately, we need the psychic."
"NO!"
The other hunter clicked his safety off and raised the gun to Tilly's head. She continued to mutter as Alice grabbed my arm, pointing her own gun at me and I searched my head for all of the training I'd done with Malik. Three things happened very quickly.
1.) I twisted out of Alice's grip, my ribs screaming in pain, and drove up with my wrist to knock the gun out of her hands.
2.) There was a gunshot, but I wasn't sure if it was from Alice's gun or Malcolm's.
3.) A familiar spark of electricity climbed up my spine, replacing the darkness that had taken root. Only one person ever gave me that reaction.
Alice made a desperate grab for her fallen gun and flashes of a familiar dark-haired boy raced for it at the same time. Malcolm, aiming his gun at Tucker, was suddenly tackled to the ground by a large creature. The brown wolf looked up at me and I recognized her immediately. Megan. She motioned with her head for Tilly and me to back up behind the car as she grappled with the hunter. Frantically, I eyed my best friend who was grabbing a blood-soaked shoulder. She'd been shot and she was losing blood, quickly.
Alice was retreating back to the parking lot, the gun had been kicked away from her and Tucker was closing in on her, a murderous look in his eyes. He was still human. He turned his head just an inch to look at me as he stalked closer to her, his eyes zeroed in on the hunter.
"Lou," his voice was low and deadly, "take Tilly back to the warehouse."
"Tucker..." I began, but Alice cut me off.
She smiled sweetly. "So, you're the asshole who dumped my sister for a psychic bitch. Shame. We could've been in-laws."
Tucker's fists clenched. I swallowed as I watched him approach the red-headed hunter. She didn't look afraid, in fact, she looked just as murderous as he did. A dark, cold fear spread itself throughout my stomach. Tilly groaned next to me in pain. Tucker's dark eyes flashed blue.
"Lou! Go."
More hunters had begun filing out of the building shouting orders and directions at one another, but they were almost drowned out by the sudden roar of inhuman growls I heard from the trees behind the car.
Alice looked at me and pointed. "Don't let her leave!"
The scene before me was unfolding like a slow-motion car wreck. The hunters rushed forward to meet the emerging wolves as I helped Tilly into the car. She ground out in pain as I situated her into the seat. I recognized Ben's familiar wolf, standing guard by the car as I helped her. Our eyes met, and his were wide with panic. He nodded once at me, seeing that we were safe, and charged headlong into the fight that was ensuing between hunters and werewolves alike.
That dark, deep, and cold fear swept across me once again.
I had to focus, instead, on getting Tilly somewhere safe where I could heal her without the chaos surrounding me. As I got behind the wheel, I noticed the red sedan speeding toward us, about to collide into the driver's side. I slammed the key into the ignition and twisted. Tilly's old Volkswagen burst forward, the wheels shrieking before the other vehicle crashed headfirst into us.
I watched from the rearview mirror as the sedan slammed into the light post that we'd just been parked beside and a figure emerged from the car that tried to smash us. My eyes widened and I instinctually slammed on the brakes as I recognized the familiar features of Tucker's ex girlfriend.
Rose.
As I looked back at her in the mirror, the chaos of fighting wolves and hunters surrounding her, the corners of her lips pulled up slightly in a smug smirk. She raised her hand in a gross attempt at a wave. Tilly's small gasp of pain was enough for me to speed away without sparing the girl another thought.
Tilly laughed, a little breathlessly and I looked at her with growing concern that she was starting to become hysterical. Instead, she looked back at me with calm, level eyes. But she was giggling.
"Are you laughing?" I asked, slightly freaked out by her reaction.
She chuckled again, her laugh was weak and breathy. She still seemed to be holding it together and I chalked that up to the adrenaline that must have been pumping through her blood- a lot of which was sleeping through the fabric on her shoulder.
"At least we found the hunters," she wheezed out.
I shot her a side-look and she laughed again. My heart was pumping wildly at the situation we'd just left. The fear that had crept in as I watched Tucker approach Alice was growing till it spread throughout my entire body. Somehow, I felt that I'd know if something were to happen to him like an ache in my stomach. But, then again, does anybody ever know?
"Yeah," I murmured back, "at least we found the hunters."
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HI! Thanks for reading! SORRY FOR THE UPDATE FIASCO BUT TO MAKE IT UP TO YOU ILL BE UPDATING (2) CHAPTERS TODAY!!!
Lots of action in this chapter! Let me know what you think!!!!!
Rose???? Thoughts???
(ps Megan saved Tucker's life...I'm just saying (; )
Stay safe. Be kind.