my mouth and covered my face. Still moving down the road, I tried to figure out why I hadn’t hit the ground. That’s about the time my possessed best friend began pulling me back into the bed of the speeding truck.
Choking on mud, I kicked the air blindly with my free leg. Jamie continued to reel me back into the bed, so I grabbed the bumper of the truck in an attempt to hold her at bay. On the third wild kick, I connected with something hard and heard a screech.
“Ashlyn, you can make this easy, or difficult. All I wanted to do was go play pool!” Jamie screeched crazily. She pulled at my leg, digging her talon-like fingernails into my skin, anchoring herself physically to me. I cried out in pain and let go of the bumper in shock. Flipping in the air, Jamie slung me back into the truck. All the air was knocked out of me as I crashed back down into the truck bed.
I found myself looking up at the darkening sky. Suddenly it was no longer there. Jamie had eclipsed the now purple sky. Her grin was filled with what looked like moss between her fangs. She lifted her hand and sneered, looking as though she was going to slap me across the face. Her face changed from sadistic pleasure to shock. “Your eyes…” she stuttered, eyes widening. “Ankou, her eyes…are you sure - ”
“Don’t worry about her eyes, Jamie! Yes, I’m sure! Grab her now and get her in the cab before the Protectors come!”
Ankou? Isn’t that who Liam had mentioned yesterday? Protectors? Had I missed something? What was I talking about; of course I’d missed something. My best friend had been a psycho, green pixie for the better half of two years. Most people might have noticed that. At this point I had probably missed a lot of things. Scrambling back from Jamie in her moment of bewilderment, I hit my head against something in the corner of the bed.
A crowbar came across my forehead, which left me seeing stars. The stitches in my head from the last accident pulled apart. The side of my head was quickly being covered in blood. No time to think. There had to be something I could do. Racking my brain, all that came to mind was a self-defense show I’d seen on TV.
Right as Jamie brought her face down to mine, I remembered seeing the victim ram the palm of their hand into the assailant’s nose. Hoping it would be as effective as it looked on the show, I mimicked the action. Connecting with Jamie’s nose, there was an audible crack. Screaming in pain and fury, Jamie fell backward as Andy slammed on the brakes. Jamie lost her balance and slammed into the cab. Holding onto the back of the truck to avoid sliding into Jamie, the crowbar began to slide toward her. I stopped it with my foot and kicked it back up to my hands. Taking aim, I slung it at Jamie, hoping it would connect with her head. She jumped deftly out of the way, catching the crowbar in mid-flight. She grinned. “That wasn’t so smart, mortal. Now you have no weapon, and you’ve really pissed me off.”
She was right. I was totally screwed. Opening my mouth to scream, she brought the crowbar down across my chest with inhuman strength. No pain could compare to this. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe. She had to have broken ribs.
“I missed the chance to kill you last week, but I won’t fail again now, Ashlyn.”
My mind reeled at her comment. When had she tried to kill me last week? Hadn’t we spent the better part of the week together? Then I recognized her mossy hair from somewhere.
When I had been taking Chris back to the house, moss had floated to the top of the water in the pond where Dad died. Only, it hadn’t been moss. It had been Jamie. Chris was right. There had been something lurking under the water. It hadn’t been the Loch Ness Monster, though. It was much more dangerous than that. It had been my
Choking on mud, I kicked the air blindly with my free leg. Jamie continued to reel me back into the bed, so I grabbed the bumper of the truck in an attempt to hold her at bay. On the third wild kick, I connected with something hard and heard a screech.
“Ashlyn, you can make this easy, or difficult. All I wanted to do was go play pool!” Jamie screeched crazily. She pulled at my leg, digging her talon-like fingernails into my skin, anchoring herself physically to me. I cried out in pain and let go of the bumper in shock. Flipping in the air, Jamie slung me back into the truck. All the air was knocked out of me as I crashed back down into the truck bed.
I found myself looking up at the darkening sky. Suddenly it was no longer there. Jamie had eclipsed the now purple sky. Her grin was filled with what looked like moss between her fangs. She lifted her hand and sneered, looking as though she was going to slap me across the face. Her face changed from sadistic pleasure to shock. “Your eyes…” she stuttered, eyes widening. “Ankou, her eyes…are you sure - ”
“Don’t worry about her eyes, Jamie! Yes, I’m sure! Grab her now and get her in the cab before the Protectors come!”
Ankou? Isn’t that who Liam had mentioned yesterday? Protectors? Had I missed something? What was I talking about; of course I’d missed something. My best friend had been a psycho, green pixie for the better half of two years. Most people might have noticed that. At this point I had probably missed a lot of things. Scrambling back from Jamie in her moment of bewilderment, I hit my head against something in the corner of the bed.
A crowbar came across my forehead, which left me seeing stars. The stitches in my head from the last accident pulled apart. The side of my head was quickly being covered in blood. No time to think. There had to be something I could do. Racking my brain, all that came to mind was a self-defense show I’d seen on TV.
Right as Jamie brought her face down to mine, I remembered seeing the victim ram the palm of their hand into the assailant’s nose. Hoping it would be as effective as it looked on the show, I mimicked the action. Connecting with Jamie’s nose, there was an audible crack. Screaming in pain and fury, Jamie fell backward as Andy slammed on the brakes. Jamie lost her balance and slammed into the cab. Holding onto the back of the truck to avoid sliding into Jamie, the crowbar began to slide toward her. I stopped it with my foot and kicked it back up to my hands. Taking aim, I slung it at Jamie, hoping it would connect with her head. She jumped deftly out of the way, catching the crowbar in mid-flight. She grinned. “That wasn’t so smart, mortal. Now you have no weapon, and you’ve really pissed me off.”
She was right. I was totally screwed. Opening my mouth to scream, she brought the crowbar down across my chest with inhuman strength. No pain could compare to this. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe. She had to have broken ribs.
“I missed the chance to kill you last week, but I won’t fail again now, Ashlyn.”
My mind reeled at her comment. When had she tried to kill me last week? Hadn’t we spent the better part of the week together? Then I recognized her mossy hair from somewhere.
When I had been taking Chris back to the house, moss had floated to the top of the water in the pond where Dad died. Only, it hadn’t been moss. It had been Jamie. Chris was right. There had been something lurking under the water. It hadn’t been the Loch Ness Monster, though. It was much more dangerous than that. It had been my
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