The Rising

THIRTY-EIGHT

WHEN I WOKE AS a cat, it was as if I hadn’t done more than stumbled and fallen. I sprang up and kept running, pushed by the distant sound of Rafe’s voice and pulled by that smell, that damned smell. Danger, that’s what my gut said. It smelled like danger and I had to focus on this. Find the source of the threat before it found us.

I tore through the woods, following that teasing scent. Running here was different. The forest was different. Not my rainforest, but thick deciduous woods, the ground heavy with vines and undergrowth. After I tripped a few times, I forced myself to slow down and find a path. Then I flew along it until the ground blurred beneath me.

“Maya!”

The voice came from in front of me and I skidded to a stop, panic rising.

“Maya?”

It came clearer now, accompanied by running footsteps and I recognized those steps, just as I recognized the scent. My heart gave a little thud. A good thud. A relieved thud. Until Daniel stepped onto the path and everything Rafe said flooded back.

“I thought I saw you. Yes, I know, I’m supposed to be resting, but Ash snores even louder than you.” He grinned. “I had to take a walk.”

I looked at that grin and I heard Rafe’s words. He’s in love with you. But I didn’t see love. Not the kind Rafe meant. I just saw Daniel with his open, infectious, happy-to-see-you grin. Nothing else. Not in his smile. Not in his face. Not in his eyes.

That was good. Corey was mistaken. Maybe there’d been a time when Daniel thought we could be more than friends, but then he got together with Serena and that changed. He might not have fallen in love with her, but he’d realized he didn’t feel that way about me, either.

Relief. That’s what I should feel, looking into Daniel’s face and seeing nothing more than friendship. So why didn’t I?

My stomach clenched. I turned to leap into the forest.

“Hey!” Daniel said, jogging toward me. “What’s up?” He paused, then scanned the woods. “You’re playing with Rafe? Is that it? I’m interfering.”

He tried for a smile, but there was something about—No. There wasn’t. It was just a smile.

He stopped about a meter away. “You guys out blowing off steam?”

I shook my head.

The grin returned. Brighter? God, stop analyzing.

But that’s how it was going to be now, wasn’t it? Analyzing. His feelings. My reactions.

“Maya?” He hunkered down. “Is everything okay?”

The scent wafted past again and I seized on that. I made a show of lifting my nose and sniffing.

“You smell something?” He pushed to his feet, shoulders tightening as he scanned the forest. “Someone’s out there. Okay, let’s deal with this. You lead . . .”

He said something more, but all I caught was that scent, wafting around me now, filling my head.

“Maya? What’s—”

I bolted.

As I raced through the forest, I told myself I was just following the scent. But the fact that it happened to lead me away from Daniel helped. Focus on this. This is real. This is important.

The scent grew stronger. Dog? Human? No, it wasn’t dog and it wasn’t human. It was something in between—

The answer hit me as the scent did, a full blast of it, as if my target was right in front. . . .

But all I saw was darkness. I’d plunged into a thick copse and I could make out the faint glow of a birch tree, but that was it. The rest was black—

Two eyes swung my way. Bright green eyes. Peering at me from the darkness. Then that darkness erupted. A massive form flew at me, black as midnight, green eyes glowing. And fangs. Huge white fangs, bearing down on me.

I turned to run, but the beast was too close. It hit me in the side and knocked me down. Before I could scramble up, before I could even see what it was, the beast sprang. Teeth clenched my throat and pinned me to the ground.

“Derek!”

A girl’s voice. The beast stiffened. Not a beast. A werewolf.

He kept me pinned. He didn’t clamp down harder, though—just held me there.

“What is that?” the girl asked.

Those green eyes shifted to her, his grip on my throat relaxing a fraction. I unsheathed my claws and swatted at his chest. It wasn’t a hard swipe. Just enough to scratch him and just enough to startle him. He let go. I flew to my feet and twisted, backing up, showing him a hissing mouthful of my own sharp teeth.

“T-that’s—” the girl stammered. “I guess they aren’t extinct around here after all.”

The clouds blew from the moon and light streamed down, and I finally saw what I was facing. It looked like a wolf . . . if wolves grew to two hundred pounds. A massive black wolf with green eyes fixed on me, assessing, considering.

“Okay,” the girl said. “It’s backing away. Everything’s o—”

I glanced over and she stopped short. She was a little younger than me. Tiny, with reddish-blond hair and blue eyes. I swore I could smell fear waft off her. The wolf smelled it, too, and bristled, growling at me.

“No,” she said, then again, firmer. “No. It’s okay. Everything’s okay. We’ll just let it leave.”

The wolf growled again.

The girl’s voice rose. “I said we’ll let it leave, Derek. It’s not attacking us and I don’t want it getting hurt if we can help it. You, either.”

The werewolf—Derek—snorted and gave me a look that said he considered personal injury highly unlikely. My hackles rose and I drew back my lips. He seemed to take that as a challenge, shifting forward, almost swaggering, like a schoolyard bully, certain his smaller target will back down. I considered it. For the sake of making nice, I should retreat. Surrender. Submit. But that was weakness and everything in me rebelled at the thought. So I held my ground.

“Derek.”

The girl’s voice was low, annoyed now, and it was almost comical when he shot her a sheepish look. He turned back to me. Considered. Took another slow step—

“No!”

The familiar shout hit with an equally familiar sonic boom of force. It knocked the werewolf off his feet. The girl let out a shriek and ran forward. Daniel raced through the trees. The wolf scrambled up and swung around on him.

I sprang between them. I lowered my forequarters and let out a snarl, fur standing on end. That made the wolf stop. He stared at me. Then his gaze lifted to Daniel behind me. I snarled again.

“The cat—” the girl said.

“Is not a cat,” Daniel said. “Like that’s not a wolf.”

“Y-yes. I mean, no, he’s a hybrid. Part-wolf, part-dog. I—”

“He’s a werewolf,” Daniel cut in. “And she’s a skin-walker, another kind of shape-shifter.”

“She . . . ?”

“A friend of mine. Like he’s a friend of yours. And I’m going to ask you to back him off. Can you do that, Chloe?”

The wolf’s head shot up at the name.

Chloe. The necromancer. That made sense. The other girl was a witch and would have tried a spell by now.

“So you understand me. Derek, right?” Daniel moved up beside me as his voice took on that special tone. “I’m going to ask you to take a step back. Maya will do the same. I’m sure she hasn’t attacked you or tried to attack Chloe, so there’s no threat here, right?”

The wolf snorted and looked at me.

“Don’t even think about it,” Daniel said, an edge creeping into his voice. “You attack her? You attack both of us.”

The wolf snarled. They locked gazes. When it was clear neither was backing down, Chloe came forward and grabbed Derek by the scruff of the neck.

“Come on,” she said. “Please. Just step away.” She looked at Daniel. “You’re on his territory, which is never good with a werewolf. Your friend—Maya—startled him, even if she didn’t mean to. Plus he really doesn’t like you knowing our names.”

“Well, I do know them, which shouldn’t come as that big a surprise. Do you really think a couple of kids with supernatural powers are going to accidentally stumble on you? We were at the house earlier. I’m sure Derek smelled us. We were waiting in the forest until morning to make contact, so we wouldn’t spook you.”

I chuffed.

Daniel shot a smile over at me. “Yeah, that one didn’t work out so well.”

“All right,” Chloe said. “We’re backing up. Right, Derek?”

He snorted, but took a step back. So did I. We both retreated a few more, until I was at the clearing’s edge.

“I don’t suppose you remember where you left your clothing,” Daniel murmured to me.

Chloe gave a soft laugh. “That’s always a problem, isn’t it? Okay then. You two go find that. We’ll meet you here. Hopefully everyone will be in human form.” A wry smile. “Though I’ll warn you, he’s not a whole lot more pleasant that way. At least as a wolf, he can’t talk.”

The wolf growled, but she only laughed and gave him a pat, then tugged him away as we went to retrieve my clothing.