Page 19 of Blood Moon

Then I took the restaurant’s delivery elevator to the dock at the back of the building. I unlocked the van and opened the back, where I gently set her inside. “Be a good girl,” I crooned and quickly closed the door.

Thankfully, it was still dark, and no one seemed to be up and moving back here. I hurried around and climbed in. Since she had used that little treed area at the park, I figured we’d go back there—in case it was that specific area.

Sticking to the shadows, I took us back to where I’d taken her from.

After telling her the time and place I wanted to go to, I removed her hood and watched as she glanced around in surprise.

“Let’s go,” I instructed and motioned for her to proceed with the little bag held out to her.

She cocked a blonde brow. “You need to take off your shoes.”

“What?”

“Your shoes. They need to come off,” she drawled out as if I was a toddler.

“Why?” I asked, confused.

“Because we have to be grounded, or it won’t work right,” she explained with an eye roll.

Once we both had our shoesandsocks off, she tucked her shoes under her arm and held out her hand. “I’ve never done this. So if you die, I can’t be held responsible.”

With that proclamation, she grabbed my hand, tossed a pinch of that glitter into the air, and jerked me forward and into the yawning black hole that was suddenly before us.

I had no words to describe what we’d stepped into. It was dark, and the very air seemed to pull at me like invisible hands trying to shred my skin from my body. The ground had disappeared from beneath my feet, and the mask was ripped from my head.

When I was sure we were going to die—that whatever we’d entered sensed my intrusion and was furious—we were suddenly spit out, where we stumbled and fell to our hands and knees, our shoes tossed around us.

“Leo?” she asked, disbelief heavy in her tone. “What?”

“I’m sorry. If there had been any other way,” I began, meaning each word.

“Why are we here? What do you want from here?”

“I need you to help me save my brother before he dies,” I finally explained.

Horror seemed to make her eyes twice their normal size. Then regret and sorrow replaced it.

“Leo…”

To be continued…