Hard enough to make the glass wall tremble. His face slammed with a sickening thud and left a smear of saliva and blood as he fell backward out of sight. Daphne jumped, heart in her throat, just as Noah gave a little gasp before starting to cry again. The book they were reading fell on the floor.
She was already on her feet when the man shot up again, his fists pounding the glass, wild-eyed and bleeding. “Help!” he screamed, voice cracking. “They’re here!” Another desperate hit. “Help!” His eyes didn’t see her, didn’t see the library. He was looking through it all, terrified, as if someone was behind him, hunting him. And then, as suddenly as he came, he ran, and he was gone.
Daphne stood frozen, one hand pressed against her mouth, her heart one beat away from bolting out of her chest. The shadows from the window twisted on the floor like they had weight. The lights above her flickered again.
Maybe she would have lost it. She was dangerously close to it. But she heard the soft cry of the child, a helpless sound she remembered. She turned to look at little Noah, found him turned into a tiny ball on the couch, clutching his shark like a shield.
And that pulled her together.
Oh, hell no.
The panic got shelved. The questions could wait.
There was a child in her care, and he would not be alone.
She crossed the floor fast and locked the front door, then was back with him, knelt beside him, and said softly, “Hey, Noah? You’re safe, buddy. I’m right here with you.”
He made a little room for her, and she tucked him at her side. “There we go. Now we just wait for the sheriff. How did you like that story?” she asked, picking the book from the floor.
Her hands were still shaking, her mind was still reeling, but her voice was steady.
Because someone had to be.
“Good,” he said, his breath hitching with sobs.
She was just starting to relax, or at least her heart had slowed to somethinglessthan a medical emergency, when she caught sight of a strange, shifting haze forming in the non-fiction section of the library. A conglomerate of white fog, thickening and condensing in the still air. It swirled with purpose, like smoke with a destination, until it began to gather mass. Vapor turned viscous. Shadows clung to it. The shape started to form a figure. A man? Wait. Not just a man.
Hunter.
“Noah, buddy, can you wait here one second? A friend of mine is here.”
She gave the boy a reassuring smile and made herself walk, not run, to Hunter.
He saw her, pulled his palms out. “I know I said I would wait, but–”
He never finished because she ran straight into his arms. She held on, breathing hard, soaking in the promise of safety his arms always delivered while everything else was unraveling. Then she stepped back and smacked him in the chest with a half-hearted fist. “What the fuck was that? The fog stuff. Is thismore shit you didn’t tell me?” she whisper-shouted. And before he could answer, she threw her arms around him again, burying herself against his chest. She was furious. And terrified. And furious. And somehow, she still chose him. She would always choose him. The bastard. “Damn it, Hunter.”
“Many mixed signals here, but alright.” He pulled back, took her face into his palms, studying it as if he could read her. “I told you I’m a Tulpa demon. That fog was me. And are you okay?”
“You’re fog?” She shook her head. “Never mind for now. How are you here? What are you doing here? And shit is happening, and it’s terrifying.”
“You were scared. No, I wasn’t in your head.” Frustrated, he gently shook her face. “I just know, okay? What is happening?”
She gave him a quick recap as she walked with him to Noah. “Harper is on her way; she should be here in minutes. Hunter, this is Noah. Noah, this is Hunter.”
Hunter sat on the floor in front of the boy, peeking at the books that had accumulated on the couch. “Nice reads.”
“Miss Daphne read for me,” Noah said. “She’s great.”
“Miss Daphne is awesome,” Hunter replied seriously.
Someone knocked at the front door, a firm but controlled knocking, not a deranged one, so she smiled at Noah, gave Hunter a look that said,wait with him, and went to open up.
Harper was waiting.
“Thank you for coming so quickly,” she said as she let her in and locked the door again.
Of course, Harper noticed the locking up. “Got any trouble?”
