“Thank you, celestial!” a man shouts shakily from inside. Small whimpers and crying reach me over the steady spatter of rain. A cloud of fear wafts around the vehicle, and I fight the urge to fan a hand in front of my face to clear the burning tang of it away.
“We’re going to have to lift and then push,” the sheriff commands, and I nod my head as though that’s all perfectly logical.
“Shit, can I do this?”
“You can, you just have to tap into your wolf, demand everything she has, and use it, okay?” Ellery assures me, answering my thoughts. His stare is streaked with rain and full of more faith than I’ve ever had in myself. “On three,” he shouts, and I crouch down and grab onto the lip of the roof of the van.
Tap into my wolf.
“One.”
Tap into my wolf.
“Two.”
Fuck. I don’t know how to tap into my wolf!
“Three. Lift!”
I heave with every muscle I have, screeching with the effort when nothing immediately happens. A woman cries out from inside the car, and the children—I think there’s two—wail and plead for their parents.
“Push, Noah! You can do this! Let her out!” Ellery growls at me, his voice reverberating with a resounding command, the strength of it sinking into my very cells in a way that does not feel human at all.
Agony starts to scratch at my stomach because I want to help so badly. But this wreck looks like it needs a crane, not a couple crazy but well-intentioned people trying to play hero. What the hell were we thinking?
“I know I’m asking a lot, but you’ve got it in you. Let go,” Ellery orders, and I can practically hear Perth’s voice echoing the same.
You’ll be surprised what you can do if you just let go.
“Let go,” I snarl at myself. “Just fucking let go!” I beg the black streaks to take over my veins, invite whatever foreign power that’s supposed to be coursing through me to take what it wants. I promise freedom and acceptance if this wolf lurking under my skin will help me stem the acrid metallic scent coming from inside the vehicle. I know it’s terror—I don’t know how I can recognize it, let alone smell it, but I need to get these people out more than I need my next breath.
Heat takes over my limbs as a howl explodes out of my very soul. A tiny frisson of panic darts through me, making my ribs feel a bit too tight. It’s not work—
The van starts to move. I look over at Ellery, utterly shocked and equally ecstatic. Instantly, I renew my efforts, lifting with every ounce of strength I possess. The veins and muscles in Ellery’s neck strain with his effort. Rain sluices down his body, darkening his gray uniform and gliding over all those taut muscles as I help him perform his second impossible feat of the night.
“Yes, Noah. That’s it,” he grunts as we lift the side of the van even higher. “Get under it and push,” he bellows, and I rush to do as I’m told.
My hands fly to the crumpled roof of the van, and I push, shoving for all I’m worth, forcing my muscles to coil and then spring forward, thrusting and pressing against what shouldn’t be possible. Ellery repositions his hands under the roof too, and we push. Together. Synchronized. Moving perfectly…just as Perth and I were earlier.
And just like with Perth, I feel a dazzling sort of energy rush through me, a lightheaded sort of pleasure even though this task is the furthest thing from pleasurable that I could ever imagine. The van creaks in objection but slowly rises.
Inch by lifted inch, I prove to myself that I’m more than I ever thought possible. That I’m stronger and more fierce than I ever expected, which causes jubilation to march through me, from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet—this giddy, elated pride overtaking my bloodstream, erasing my thoughts. Making me fucking glow.
There’s no time for awe, only enough space in my head for short quick breaths. My fingers spread wide and my feet dig into the ground as my spine tries to lengthen. I push. And push. Push without thought.
We gain another four inches. Then five. The smell of pine sap is strong in the air, and the crinkle of dead leaves being battered by the wind combines with the puffs of air coming from between my lips. My entire body becomes a tool. A vessel. A lever to move a van. I stop thinking about impossibilities because…apparently, in the eerie world, that word doesn’t mean the same thing.
Six inches.
Ten.
Gravity suddenly takes over and the van rocks violently to its side. It wobbles and then settles exactly where we need it to with a thunk that feels as loud as the sigh of relief gushing from my lips.
Ellery immediately climbs up the side, and the driver’s side window is broken from the inside. He reaches through it, and a man with pointed ears emerges from the battered opening. Metal and glass scrape against his large frame, but the man ignores the new injuries in his bid for freedom from the car. He’s bloody, clearly hurt, but it doesn’t stop him from scrambling to the rear window to help free his family as Ellery reaches back through the front.
Ellery pulls a woman out next. Then the man plucks out a girl and then a little boy quickly after. He hands the crying boy to Ellery, and I reach up to help the woman slide off the overturned van to the ground.
My blood is flowing fast and hot in my veins as the woman’s feet touch down, and she reaches to pull her son from Ellery’s arms. My neck feels like it’s on fire. My chest is spewing lava as first Ellery and then the man and his daughter climb down from the destroyed van.
The second they’re all free, I’m suddenly drained, wiped, void of all energy. I stay planted where I am, unable to do more than blink through the downpour. Ellery instructs the family to climb to safety, and they all start to move, but I can’t lift my feet to follow. I just gave everything I had to give, and now it feels like there’s nothing left for me.
Rain drips from my eyelashes into my eyes, and I hardly have the strength left to swipe at them as the family disappears, moving away from the mudflow’s path and up the mountain. By the time I manage to lift a palm to try and clear my vision, Ellery is suddenly there, his handsome face looming over me, his blue eyes bright with concern.
“Are you alright?” he asks, his steady stare searching my face for an answer.
“That seems to be the question of the day,” I murmur, finding a tiny bit of sarcasm left in my reserves and scooping it out just for him.
“You might be feeling a crash right now,” he explains as he studies my eyes. “It’ll happen until you get used to shifting and balancing the magic and effort it requires.”
I nod, or at least I try to. Moving my head suddenly feels like it requires entirely too much effort.
“You’re incredible, Noah,” Ellery declares almost reverently.
A soft sort of delight expands inside of me, followed quickly by an intense longing that manifests as a strange sort of prickling in my neck, right at the spot where my throat meets my shoulder. My shaky arms reach up and rub at the spot, and Ellery’s eyes drop to it.