Page 79 of Kat Bethel

They didn’t react.

My heart sank to my stomach.Damn it.

Right as I was about to give up, they stumbled over themselves in their rush to create space between us.Yes!

Okay. New plan.

“Go home.”

I backed up blindly, keeping my eyes on them. They didn’t go home, and barely kept the space I demanded. I could safely assume the moment I turned my back to them was the second that one hit me in the back hard enough to spit the pills out.

I regained my lost distance, but the unease of the wolves hovering ten steps away didn’t make me feel cozy.

The wolves yelped, and one turned tail to run in the opposite direction. It made the need to look over my shoulder itch, but for all I knew it was a tactic to distract me.

The spiders crawled mercilessly over me. Another distraction.

They can’t hurt you.I repeated like a mantra as little legs brushed over places they didn’t belong. Tingles of desire and disgust filled me as no place was sacred. It was like his shadows touching me, but more invasive somehow. More wrong.

They suddenly stilled. Their weight coagulated until they reminded me of something too comfortable and familiar.

My breathing stuttered.Abiel?

I risked looking over my shoulder, expecting him to be hovering above me. I could swear he was even putting kisses onthe back of my neck. The disappointment when I only saw the spiders punched me in the gut harder than it should have.

They’d been mimicking him to divert my attention.

It almost worked.

The wolves leapt forward at me, but I made a show of acting like I was going to bite down on all the capsules in my mouth, forcing them to retreat back again.

One more step and the sun beamed down overhead, blinding me.

I’d made it out of his area of control.

All the shadows gathered at the edge, whining and barking at me. The spiders coagulated into something roughly the shape of Abiel, but I didn’t let them fool me.

I’d be in complete darkness if that was real.

I brought something to my attention. Abiel had been controlling himself, the best he could. He could have destroyed Cornwall whenever he felt like it. He’d chosen to stay in his forest.

I forced myself to swallow the vinegar on my tongue.

Until me.

Chapter 29:

Twostolencarsinone day. That was a record, even for me.

But to be fair, everyone was in such chaos, it didn’t seem to matter. When I’d walked into the next town, everyone was still freaking out about the sun. They had no idea about the shadow that was coming to loom over them.

I made quick, painful peace with the fact I wasn’t going to save them and stole something non-discript, with a full tank and kept going. I hacked a phone I’d pickpocketed while I was out, but the cell towers were down. A media blackout.

What if the government shut it down? The old fear hit me hard. They’d need someone to blame.

A witch to burn.

I didn’t stick around. Now that I knew the limits of Abiel’s destruction wasn’t nearly as limited as I thought, I couldn’t afford to slow down. Especially while the sun was setting.