“Yeah.” Kyle leaned in, agreeing.
“Yes, you should,” Ash said. “Meanwhile, put ice on it and keep your arm elevated so it doesn’t swell. But it looks like you did a good job disinfecting the wound. Most people don’t think to do that—” He paused and glanced at the sheriff, as if he had said too much. Then he took a step backward.
Tucker pushed his way through the adults until he could see my arm.
“It kinda looks like the mark on that guy’s arm, the one back in the grocery store,” he said. “Remember?”
I shook my head. “What guy?”
“Miss MacFaddin, you and your son might want to stay indoors tonight,” Sheriff Kyle said.
“But it’s Halloween,” Tucker said, with a defiant thrust of his jaw. It was the first time I realized that he had put together a makeshift costume while I was gone, some cross between a rapper and a cowboy.
“I’m not sure why we would need to stay home,” I said. “We never found the dead body and you were pretty confident there was no foul play—” I paused, remembering something. “Wait a minute.” I headed toward the bathroom.
“Dead body? You saw a body in the woods?” Ash frowned, glanced from me to the sheriff as if we had been withholding information. “Where?”
I ignored him, scooped my iPhone off the bathroom counter and started scrolling through the applications. “There’s a video in here somewhere,” I mumbled. The video of the dead body would prove I hadn’t imagined everything. There might even be footage here of those two creatures that had attacked me in the woods.
Everyone followed me and stood in the door to the bathroom, staring at me.
“You took a video of it?” Tucker asked. “I wanna see. Jeremy’s never gonna believe we found a dead body up in the mountains! Can I e-mail it to him?”
But I couldn’t find it. All of my settings were mixed up, like somebody had been messing around with my phone. I kept searching, from one icon to the next, until finally I just leaned against the counter, limp. I wanted to throw the phone across the room and watch it break into a hundred pieces, but I didn’t. Instead I just set it down and crossed my arms.
“Something wrong with your phone, ma’am?” Sheriff Kyle asked.
Ash watched me, a veiled expression on his face. He turned his head away before I could look into his eyes.
“Yes, there’s something wrong with my phone,” I answered, my voice cool. “All of my videos have been erased.”
Chapter 48
Mountain Empire
Thane:
They all collapsed on the floor, a colorful tumble of rag dolls, arms limp, masks and costumes askew. I walked in their midst, careful to not to tread on any tiny hands or feet, a sense of awe rushing through me. I’d never had so many humans at one time, and certainly never so many children.
I remembered the stories back home of how Ash and Lily had been lured to this territory by a small boy. One child, only nine years old, had changed their lives, had given them a harvest that made the entire Blackmoor clan wealthy.
And here on the floor lay a herd of nine-year-old boys and girls.
Already I could smell the intoxicating aroma of their dreams, bubbling to the surface like a rich caramel sauce. I longed to sink to my knees in their midst, to dine at my leisure for days, not even stopping to rest. But in that instant I realized that this was only a portion of what I could have. Suddenly I could see a vision of the future—and each step that it would take to achieve it.
I forced myself to look away, to walk to the foot of the stairs. There I called my sister and brother, both loath to leave the meal set before them.
Finally, with the right tone and the proper enchantment, I lured them both downstairs, where they saw the treasure, my treasure, sprawled across gleaming quartersawn oak floors.
I watched, grinning. Sienna stared at the assortment of children as if they were a platter of decadent pastries. She couldn’t speak. Tears welled in her eyes. She glanced at me, suspicious for a moment, as if waiting for the trickery to be exposed.
I admitted it to myself. I had been cruel to both of them.
Like a proper trained dog, River froze at the foot of the stairs, not moving. From time to time, he glanced at the children, his gaze flicking across them as if afraid to stare too long. But always his attention returned to me. He was waiting for permission. Sure enough, he had learned his lesson yesterday.
Now it was time to make them acknowledge me as leader. When they both stared at me, completely obedient, I gave a small nod.
“Feast,” I said.
And they did.
Chapter 49
Almost Blinded