A foot collided with my side, and I rolled, coughing as I tried to desperately get air into my lungs.
Then everything froze. I wouldn’t have noticed it, except for the sudden silence in the mall. It was mega-eerie.
Claudia’s face appeared in front of me. “Sorry. I didn’t see her move or else I would’ve frozen her before she hit you. We only just got here. Had a meeting about who is taking over in your place. It went on forever.” She seemed to notice that I wasn’t moving. “Are you alright?”
“Grand,” I wheezed. “Thanks. I’m just going to hang out here for now.”
“Glad I could help.” She smiled. “Be right back. Going to reanimate the other wolves.”
“Fantastic.” If we were gone when the humans came out of it, they wouldn’t panic so much.
I glanced around from the ground and noticed that everyone in the mall was frozen. It was like someone hit the pause button on life. Dastien was a few steps away. Imogene was above me, poised to slam her fist into my face. Donovan was hovering directly above me mid-jump between the third and second floors.
If I hadn’t been in so much pain, I’d find it equal parts freaky and rad. I wondered if I hadn’t ended up with the Weres, then maybe I would’ve learned how to do the freezing people trick.
Claudia stood in the middle of the floor. Raphael was by her side, holding her hand. She raised her arms above her head and he mimicked her move. Together they muttered something. And then the wolves could move.
“Shit,” I said as I realized almost too late what was happening.
I slid away just before Imogene could land her punch. The tile under her fist cracked.
Dastien tackled her and pinned her to the ground. “Why?”
“Because I had nothing left to lose. You’re gone. My father is in trouble. And she gets everything. It’s not fair.”
I laughed, albeit a little hysterically as I was also in pain, but still the laughter bubbled free nonetheless. “What a load. I’ve gotten nothing but shat on my entire life. I finally get a little bit of good—if you ignore the whole biting thing, the going furry thing, the nearly getting offed by vampires that look suspiciously like zombies thing, the finding out I’m a witch thing, and the kind of losing my mind thing—but hey—at least I got a guy.” I snorted. “Because that tooootally makes everything worth it. Right? Now I can just go enjoy being barefoot in the kitchen for the rest of my crazy long-lived life.”
I sat up, and pain ricocheted through my body. It took my breath away for a second. “God that fucking hurts,” I said when I could breathe again. “Anyone know what a broken rib feels like? Because I may have several. On top of the vampire bite—which by the way—is burning something fierce. It’s gray around the edges, too. Should I be worried about flesh rot? Because getting a rocking case of necrotizing fasciitis would round out my day in really fantastic way.”
Somewhere along my rant, everyone that wasn’t already frozen turned to look at me.
“Anyone have a name of a good dermatologist? Anyone?” I paused. “Anyone?” Still got nothing. “Bueller?” I sighed. Wolves really had no sense of humor.
Dastien turned to look at me while still pinning Imogene to the ground. “Are you feeling okay?”
Meredith, Chris, Adrian and Shannon came down the stairs, taking the focus off of me.
“Holy shit,” Chris said. “She totally nailed you.”
“Shut it,” I said. “Where’s Mr. Hoel?”
“Mr. D and Sebastian have him,” Adrian said. “They’re escorting him back to campus in one of the SUVs.”
“Perfect. So, cuz, how long does the freeze last?” I said.
Claudia leaned heavily against her twin. “Thirty seconds longer at best. I wish I could do more, but it’d be best if we left. Like now.”
Raphael muttered something to his sister, and she shook her head. They took two steps, but she lost her footing. He swept her up.
“Is she okay?” I said.
“Sí. She’ll be fine. Doing a spell this big takes a toll.”
Interesting. They turned to go, but I shouted out to them. “Hey. Thanks for those packs. They saved our lives.”
“De nada,” Raphael said. “Once you’re feeling better, come visit us. There are things you should know. Things you could learn.”
“You know. I might take you up on that.” I needed to learn to fight, and if I could get some of their awesome powers to help me, then maybe I’d stand a chance.
Claudia grinned. “We’ll leave you to it.” She glanced at Mr. Dawson. “If you need help from La Alquelarre, let us know.”
“Gracias. Vaya con Dios.”
“Y tú también.”
Once my cousins were out of sight, the wolves went into action.
The humans started slowly moving. It was past time to get out of here.
“Dastien,” Mr. Dawson said. “Take Tessa back with the pups. We’ll deal with Imogene and her father.”
Dastien rose from where he had Imogene pinned, pulling her up with him.
“Imogene,” Mr. Dawson said.