The two hunters took me to the woods.
Apparently daemonic rituals couldn't take place in normal places like a grocery store or a library. No, they had to be in the creepy dark woods. The wind bit through my sweatshirt, chilling me to the bone as the two hunters gripped each of my arms and pulled me through the thicket of trees. Neither of them made any contact with my skin. The observation almost made me want to chuckle.
Almost.
Instead of fear in my stomach and in my bones, I felt resolved. I knew what I had to do, and I knew that Tucker and my family were safe. As long as Tucker wasn't anywhere near the ritual, then my father couldn't succeed. The lie that Rose had told him would've taken him far away from West Acres. His absence, at least, would buy me more time.
When the hunters slowed their pace, I could fully look around at my surroundings. Much of the woods in West Acres looked the exact same, and I had spent far too much time wandering through them. But this was an area I knew I'd never actually been in- but I'd dreamt of it.
The river where Tommy Joy died.
What looked like a crowd of people had gathered around the small river on both sides. As we neared the crowd, I realized that many of them had their hands tied behind their backs like me. I assumed they were the sacrifices or, at least, the ones that the Codex said he needed. Two of each creature: witch, faerie, werewolf, vampire, and daemon.
My stomach dropped when I recognized some familiar faces.
The witches- two women I'd never seen before stood the furthest away from me and both of them had resilient looks in their eyes.
The faeries- Rhiwallon and one of the other emissaries looked full of murderous hate at being held captive and rightfully so. The anger on their faces mirrored mine.
The fair folk were standing next to two unfamiliar men with the strangest aura I'd ever seen- blood red. Vampires.
Malik, the Denver pack's daemon, stood next to the other daemon sacrifice... Noah Joy.
Little Noah had tears on his cheek, looking up at Malik in confusion and terror. Pure and undiluted hate for my father at causing the six-year-old such torment fueled my walk. The little boy hadn't known- none of us knew that Noah was unlike his brothers, but my father did.
There only needed to be two werewolf sacrifices, but sparing any of the Joy boys wouldn't satisfy my father's desire for revenge. Ben, Elias, and Lucas were all held by their own hunters and I swallowed thickly. Ben caught my eye and a mixture of relief and panic flooded his features.
I, however, only felt panic as I looked to my father and the boy at his feet.
Familiar brown eyes connected with mine, and my stomach dropped. My heart thumped painfully against my ribs.
They had forced Tucker to his knees, and he knelt down in front of my father, like a perverse image of a bow. The two of them were the closest to the water. From the tense set of his shoulders, I knew Tucker could sense me growing closer.
Dark energy threatened to spill out of me as I looked at all of them, spread around the waterfront and being held by people who hated their very existence with my father leading them.
"Glad you could join us, Eloise."
His voice made me want to scream. The unrestrained and utter terror I saw in Tucker's eyes in fear for his brothers and in fear for me, distracted me. The hunters pulled me to my father's side, so I was standing above the eldest Joy boy. His eyes searched mine, and I realized that there was no time left. I'd hoped that his absence would give me more time to figure out a plan- figure out a way to stop my father.
But I had nothing. And so when I looked at my father, no witty comment or brave remark came to mind.
"Fuck you."
My comment seemed to amuse him as he hardly glanced at me. Johnathan was alight with a different type of energy than I'd ever seen in him. Everything he'd been planning for years was about to come to fruition. The hunters pushed me down beside Tucker on to my knees, his warmth went past my sweatshirt and heated my arm.
Johnathan turned to the two other hunters, and Tucker took the chance to lean over to me.
"What's the plan?" he whispered.
I sighed. "The plan was for you to go to the psychiatric hospital to find me like Rose told you to."
He raised an eyebrow at my tone.
"Rose is a terrible liar," he said dismissively. "You should know better than that. If you're in danger, then I'm not going anywhere."
If I could've thrown up my hands, I would've. I watched my father and the hunters carry large metal crates to sit in front of each of the creatures. They placed them on the rocks in the river, water crashing around the sides of each of the crates, slapping the titanium in a loud rhythm. I wasn't sure I wanted to know what was inside. Hunters on both sides of the river began to line the bank with candles.
"And look where that got us," I mumbled.
"So, that brings me back to... what do we do?"
"What? No wolfing out?"
Tucker shook his head, his teeth gritting. He couldn't point, but with a nod of his head he motioned toward a familiar figure speaking with my father and pointing to the book in their hands- the Codex.
"Is that..." my voice trailed off, a dark pit forming in my stomach as I took in the gray hair, the wrinkled face, and the cloudy eyes. Feeling my eyes on her, the old woman turned and her face twisted up into a cruel smile.
"The reason you couldn't help my mother wasn't because your father was too powerful, Lou. It's because he had help," Tucker's voice was sympathetic as he watched my eyes narrow at the old woman, "I can't shift. She's suppressing me."
The old woman moved away from my father, watching me carefully with the same excited glint that my father had in his eyes. My fists tightened behind my back. Questions raced through my head. Did Tilly know? No, I thought, Tilly would've stopped her.
But still I watched her grandmother walk toward me, her clouded eyes narrowed and I swallowed past the thickness in my throat. Sophia Angelos hated werewolves, that came as no surprise, but it was shocking now to see how deep her hate ran. She spared Tucker no glance but stood in front of me, looking down at me the same way my father had.
"Forgive me if I don't shake your hand," I spat, "I don't trust traitorous witches."
Sophia's weathered face twisted sharply, and it reminded me of the youthful face I'd once imagined. The one of a witch who'd lost the man she thought she'd spent the rest of her life with. Over the years, bitterness sank deep into wrinkles and revenge sat on her mind, so when she looked at me now I saw only a shell of a woman- one consumed with hate.
"It's a shame your boyfriend and his brothers won't get to see the new world we'll build," now she glanced at Tucker, "One without wolves in control. One where my kind get what they're due."
I felt him stiffen beside me.
"You think he'll help you?" He laughed, darkly, sounding unfamiliar. "He wants one thing, and once he gets it, you and your kind won't matter to him anymore."
She didn't seem bothered by his words. In fact, she seemed to have already considered this as an option and found that it was suitable to her needs.
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, don't you know, boy? He needn't care about the witches... so long as he cares about the downfall of the wolves."
I was at a loss for words. This would crush Tilly. Familial disappointment was a feeling I had become accustomed to, but it wasn't something I wished upon my best friend. Sophia turned away from us with another pleased smile. She exhibited the same kind of electric energy that my father had- energy that didn't bode well for our situation. A strange power radiated off of the witch as I realized the spell she'd used to subdue the wolves from shifting had extended itself to me.
If my power was electricity- pure energy- than hers was earth, dirty, gritty, and a wall in front of me. Her magic was powerful and creeped closer to me across the ground my knees were digging into. As she walked away, she left behind the whispered words of a spell and I found the breath stop in my lungs. Her magic stung, like small bites against my skin as the grittiness pervaded my brain. I could taste it like sandpaper on my tongue.
Tucker's eyes widened as he watched me, concerned as I tried to suck in air to my lungs. Voices pounded in my heads- sounds like screams and white static rang in my ears. I ached to cover them with my tied hands, but knew that whatever she'd done was inside my head. It was as if the ley lines themselves were wrapping around my neck, shouting in my ears, inhibiting me from focusing on anything else.
"Lou," Tucker's voice was panicked, "Eloise, look at me. Focus on my voice."
The pulsating of voices like drums bombarded every thought, and I squeezed my eyes shut, overcome by the sudden pain of the invasion. The humming that I experienced constantly seemed to amplify tenfold. My heart picked up speed and my hands felt clammy. The loud thrumming wouldn't stop. I groaned, keeling over so face pressed into the dirt, the sounds growing louder within my head. My skull felt as if it were being sheared apart by the sounds, splitting it in two and leaving my brain defenseless for the wailing of the ley lines.
Piercing shouts echoed within and I felt Tucker shift closer to me, his warmth did little to silence the cacophonous sounds.
"I-I can't," I breathed, "m-make it stop."
"Sunshine, baby, please. Please. Look at me."
The desperation in his voice rang like a bell through the painful screams. I did. I looked at him. His eyes were flickering from brown to blue in a strange strobe. His abilities, like mine, were no longer under his control. Whatever Sophia had done, had caused my abilities to run rampant, inhibiting me from fighting against them, from fighting against my father. What she'd done was amplify every part of me that connected to the ley lines.
I was being overloaded with energy, and it was killing me.
His eyes focused me, seeming to lull the voices only slightly, and allowed me time to form a thought. I squeezed my eyes tighter, desperately trying to feel out for the ley lines. The loud hum and screams that met me were disorienting. There was so much magical energy running through this area of the woods that everything sounded fuzzy and my abilities went haywire, splitting into my skull like a hammer, as soon as I tried to access them. They were rejecting me- she'd blocked me. I grunted in frustration and pain, watching through eyes I could barely open as my father continued his set up, Sophia chanting strange words by his side.
Electricity from Tucker jumped onto my skin.
"Touch me," I demanded, through the splitting of my skull.
He stared at me in confusion. "I- what? Lou, now is hardly the time-"
"No, you idiot," I groaned. "It helps focus my abilities. Touch me."
Tucker's dark brow raised, but he didn't object. Instead, he glanced around to make sure nobody was watching us too closely. They were, of course, but the way he moved to grab my fingers seemed much more affectionate than purposeful to the hunters' gaze. As soon as we made contact, my mind started to clear. The static and the screaming seemed to waver as he squeezed my fingers, allowing me brief moments of relief between bouts of pain. His face scanned mine.
"Better?" he asked.
"Better."
My mind was my own again.
With a deep breath, I closed my eyes- ready to fight back.
______________
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
Anyway, those are my thoughts on that. TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK!
THANKS FOR READING!
WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN NEXT?
WHO DIES? oops.... shouldn't have spoiled that (;
Stay fabulous, everyone.