“True.”
Before he could say anything else, another girl slammed into the cafe. Her cheeks were ruddy with cold, her long black hair wild about her head and her eyes had a look I recognized all too well. Terror. “There’s something like a bear in the parking lot.”
Every teen jumped up and ran to the window. One of the gamers knocked over a stack of books. He jumped the pile and pressed his hands and face to the glass. “That’s no damned bear.”
I caught a streak of brown through the parking lot and figured out pretty quickly that whatever was out there moved too fast for a bear…or a human. I pulled my dagger and Nikolos’s from my wrist sheaths.
Rory turned when my chair creaked and his mouth fell open when he saw the knives. I laid them on the table and pulled off my hat so I could tighten the bun I’d twisted my hair into. They’d seen my hair already—not that I truly cared. I still wore the hat mostly just to blend in. Since the battle with the Dweller, I’d found myself caring less and less about what people thought when they looked at me.
A loud groan of metal sounded before a crash and I glanced outside to see a beige S10 pickup rolling across the parking lot.
“My piece of shit,” Tea Bag whined.
“You all need to stay inside.” Without waiting for their agreement, I picked up my knives and ran out the front door.
Chapter Six
“It’s Bigfoot in basketball shorts,” Phro said.
My first thought was ghoul . Thick tufts of golden-brown hair covered it from head to its…whoa, its feet were on backward. Not a ghoul then—they had hooves instead of feet. The thing moved fast, racing around the cars in a zigzag pattern that made me dizzy. It caught sight of me and slowed, steps growing more awkward. The shiny red shorts looked ridiculous. Baggy and striped, they should have been to its knees…but it didn’t have any.
I stared, unable to wrap my mind around how he—because now I saw it was definitely a he—could walk, hell, function , with his body all jacked up like that.
He stopped about twenty feet from me, narrowed his already slash-eyed gaze and showed me fangs. At least five inches long, they jutted over his thin lower lip and they glistened with saliva as he opened his mouth wide and released an ear-splitting roar. Sounded like a jungle cat and a wild red fox had twisted their howls together into a higher frequency.
The noise stabbed into my ears and I winced and tightened my fingers around the knives. He lurched another step toward me, the sounds coming from his throat dropping to low, growling noises.
“If that’s its only form of communication, you’re in trouble.” Phro curled her lip. “It’s so dirty. I bet it stinks.”
He did. “Smells like those white flowers that show up on Bradford pear trees in the spring. Kind of like garbage. And I think he understands us because he’s getting angrier.”
I had no idea what he was. In all the years I’d tracked down stories of supernatural creatures, he was new. I vaguely remembered reading about a creature with backward feet, but I didn’t know how to take him down.
Phro said I should study more. I’d kind of been hoping Castor and Blythe would take care of that part, leaving me to kick butt. I liked that part.
He jumped and my eyes flew open wide because I hadn’t been expecting him to be that agile—not without knees. I stepped aside, stabbed out with my right hand, but my knife only glanced off his thick pelt. He tried to grab me and I dodged long fingers that thankfully didn’t have claws. I leapt at him, grabbed two fists of hair…and it was hair instead of fur, long, dirty strands that tangled around my fingers. But I got a good grip, so I swung him around hard and slammed his head into the side of an SUV. He grabbed on to the rearview mirror, his strange legs scrambling to stand.
“You need knees, dude.”
The thing growled again and his toes curled behind him as he sprang into the air. This time, I
Before he could say anything else, another girl slammed into the cafe. Her cheeks were ruddy with cold, her long black hair wild about her head and her eyes had a look I recognized all too well. Terror. “There’s something like a bear in the parking lot.”
Every teen jumped up and ran to the window. One of the gamers knocked over a stack of books. He jumped the pile and pressed his hands and face to the glass. “That’s no damned bear.”
I caught a streak of brown through the parking lot and figured out pretty quickly that whatever was out there moved too fast for a bear…or a human. I pulled my dagger and Nikolos’s from my wrist sheaths.
Rory turned when my chair creaked and his mouth fell open when he saw the knives. I laid them on the table and pulled off my hat so I could tighten the bun I’d twisted my hair into. They’d seen my hair already—not that I truly cared. I still wore the hat mostly just to blend in. Since the battle with the Dweller, I’d found myself caring less and less about what people thought when they looked at me.
A loud groan of metal sounded before a crash and I glanced outside to see a beige S10 pickup rolling across the parking lot.
“My piece of shit,” Tea Bag whined.
“You all need to stay inside.” Without waiting for their agreement, I picked up my knives and ran out the front door.
Chapter Six
“It’s Bigfoot in basketball shorts,” Phro said.
My first thought was ghoul . Thick tufts of golden-brown hair covered it from head to its…whoa, its feet were on backward. Not a ghoul then—they had hooves instead of feet. The thing moved fast, racing around the cars in a zigzag pattern that made me dizzy. It caught sight of me and slowed, steps growing more awkward. The shiny red shorts looked ridiculous. Baggy and striped, they should have been to its knees…but it didn’t have any.
I stared, unable to wrap my mind around how he—because now I saw it was definitely a he—could walk, hell, function , with his body all jacked up like that.
He stopped about twenty feet from me, narrowed his already slash-eyed gaze and showed me fangs. At least five inches long, they jutted over his thin lower lip and they glistened with saliva as he opened his mouth wide and released an ear-splitting roar. Sounded like a jungle cat and a wild red fox had twisted their howls together into a higher frequency.
The noise stabbed into my ears and I winced and tightened my fingers around the knives. He lurched another step toward me, the sounds coming from his throat dropping to low, growling noises.
“If that’s its only form of communication, you’re in trouble.” Phro curled her lip. “It’s so dirty. I bet it stinks.”
He did. “Smells like those white flowers that show up on Bradford pear trees in the spring. Kind of like garbage. And I think he understands us because he’s getting angrier.”
I had no idea what he was. In all the years I’d tracked down stories of supernatural creatures, he was new. I vaguely remembered reading about a creature with backward feet, but I didn’t know how to take him down.
Phro said I should study more. I’d kind of been hoping Castor and Blythe would take care of that part, leaving me to kick butt. I liked that part.
He jumped and my eyes flew open wide because I hadn’t been expecting him to be that agile—not without knees. I stepped aside, stabbed out with my right hand, but my knife only glanced off his thick pelt. He tried to grab me and I dodged long fingers that thankfully didn’t have claws. I leapt at him, grabbed two fists of hair…and it was hair instead of fur, long, dirty strands that tangled around my fingers. But I got a good grip, so I swung him around hard and slammed his head into the side of an SUV. He grabbed on to the rearview mirror, his strange legs scrambling to stand.
“You need knees, dude.”
The thing growled again and his toes curled behind him as he sprang into the air. This time, I
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