<Meg says you’re going the wrong way!> Nathan shouted.
Simon leaped back to the sidewalk on the Courtyard side of Crowfield Avenue. He tried to grab Vlad’s arm, but the Sanguinati had changed to smoke and started to rise in order to flow across the street above the traffic. The attempted grab was enough to make Vlad stop, and it made Henry hesitate.
“Meg says . . .”
A female screamed.
Simon cocked his head toward the Market Square. He moved toward the customer parking lot, ignoring Montgomery’s fight with that Cyrus. He lengthened his stride to catch up to Henry, who was already turning into the parking lot.
The female screamed again, a sound full of hurt and fear.
Henry pushed open the wooden door leading to the employee parking lot, then stopped. The three of them stared at fog so thick they couldn’t see Henry’s hand when the Grizzly extended his arm.
Another scream, abruptly cut off. Male.
Then an odd and terrible silence filled the area around the Market Square.
Simon and Vlad backed away from the fog. Henry hesitated, then reached in and pulled the door closed before retreating.
<Nathan!> Simon called. <Keep Meg inside the Liaison’s Office.>
<Merri Lee too,> Nathan said. <We can’t see out the back window of the office, but there is no fog in the delivery area. Pete Denby is upstairs. I shouted at him to stay inside.>
That much settled, Simon turned to the next group. <Elliot!>
<We’re all right,> Elliot replied. <Agent O’Sullivan is watching the door. I have shifted to Wolf. Katherine Debany and Miss Twyla are here. Lorne at Three Ps called and said he locked the door and will wait for the all clear.>
“Mr. Wolfgard?” Ruth stood just inside the glass door that provided street-side access to the efficiency apartments above the seamstress/tailor’s shop.
“You and the pups stay inside,” Simon said at the same time Kowalski, who was across the street, shouted, “Ruthie, get back inside!”
“Wait!” Simon said. He and Vlad, who was still in smoke form, eased past Ruthie and rushed up the stairs, leaving Henry to nudge the female inside and guard the door. As they hurried to the back stairs that gave them access to the area behind Howling Good Reads and A Little Bite, Chris Fallacaro opened the door of his apartment and blinked at them.
“What’s going on?” Chris asked.
They didn’t answer him, but at least another human was accounted for. Nadine was in A Little Bite with Tess, and Eve Denby was across the street in her den. So that left . . .
Theral MacDonald alone in the medical office, since Emily Faire was visiting her family pack this morning and Elizabeth Bennefeld wasn’t scheduled to do any massages.
<Let me,> Vlad said when Simon opened the door to peek outside. <I should be safe in my smoke form.>
<You don’t know that.>
Vlad flowed partway out of the opening. <The fog is blowing apart and getting wispy. I think we’re safe now.>
<The Theral is hurt!> Jenni called. <Her face is bleeding. Can we go out and help?>
Simon hesitated. <Do you see a male near Theral?>
<No, but the pavement is dark near her. Might be blood.>
If Jenni could see the pavement, the fog was dispersing in the Market Square too. Of course, that didn’t mean it was safe to go out.
Then he heard the clomp, clomp, clomp of pony feet and watched the ponies trot over to the side door of the Liaison’s Office and line up, waiting for Meg to fill their mail baskets.
Simon pulled off his clothes and shifted to Wolf. <Elliot, go over to the Liaison’s Office and watch Meg. I need Nathan.>
<Done.>
Simon dashed down the stairs, with Vlad flowing beside him. In their pony form, the Elementals’ steeds were as vulnerable to teeth and claws—and bullets—as any other creatures. He didn’t think the ponies would have come for the mail and treats if the Elders were still in the Market Square.
Nathan met them at the archway into the square, and the three of them darted across the open space to the spot where Theral sat on the ground with Jenni crouched beside her.
“Jack,” Theral gasped. “It was Jack. He hit me. He said he’d kill me if I didn’t go with him. I still tried to get away. Then it got foggy and Jack screamed and was gone.”
Vlad shifted to human form and helped Theral stand. “You are hurt. Let’s go into the office. We’ll have a bodywalker come to help you.”
<Welby Owlgard is the closest bodywalker,> Simon said. <And flying will be safer than traveling overland.> At least he hoped the Elders wouldn’t swat an Owl out of the air.
<Agreed,> Vlad said. <I’ll ask Henry to relay information to Lieutenant Montgomery and Officer Kowalski. They can come here to talk to Theral or get her to a human doctor.>
After giving Theral a polite sniff for that Jack Fillmore’s scent, Simon and Nathan turned toward the blood nearby. Some was Theral’s; most belonged to another human. They followed the blood trail to within sight of the Green Complex’s garden, where they met Blair, who was sniffing around . . .
Oh no, Simon thought. Meg can’t know about this.
<The Elders,> Blair said. <I stayed at the Green Complex until they headed deeper into the Courtyard with whatever they didn’t eat here.>
Simon approached the backbone stripped clean of meat, while Nathan pawed the torn clothes and found a wallet and keys. Blair sniffed a foot, still in its shoe, that had a few inches of leg attached to it.
They were shaped differently, but a grown human male would have as much meat as a deer. But that wasn’t much of a meal for any of the Elders’ forms when there were two of them consuming the meat.
The bones—what was left of them—were stripped clean. All the organs were gone, and the long bones of one leg had been cracked for the marrow. The only thing left intact was the foot in the shoe and the . . .
<What are you doing?> Simon yelped as Blair ate the flesh off the bit of leg still connected to the foot.
<I’m hungry,> Blair replied. <No point wasting the meat.> He started to pull the foot from the shoe, then sniffed the foot and stopped. <It’s stinky.>
<You said you were hungry.>
<I’m not that hungry.>
<Found the other foot but not the other leg,> Nathan said. He trotted over to Simon, carrying the foot by the heel.
<We have to bury this.> Simon looked at some bushes several yards from the garden. Someone working in the garden wouldn’t notice freshly dug earth behind the bushes. <Seeing a bunny backbone upset Meg. This . . . >
He closed his teeth over the backbone and headed for the bushes. Blair and Nathan followed with the feet, dumped them at the chosen spot, then went back to look for any other bits of bone and meat scraps.
<Some Hawks made off with a couple of bits,> Blair said. <But they won’t leave anything where Meg would see it. I couldn’t find the head. One of the Elders may have taken it to crack open the skull and eat the brains later.>
They gathered up everything they could find of the human. Nathan ran to the Green Complex to find a bag to carry the clothes and belongings while Simon and Blair began digging.