Through the soil, the earthmoved. I tilted, nearly fell, landing hard against the padded edge of the cubicle half-wall.Earthquake?Except the immediate sensation rising into my bones was filth. Foul. Something bad. On/in/through the soil.
Everything happened fast, overlapping. I wasn’t sure, later, in what order it all occurred.
Mud screamed, “Nell!”
Soulwoodreachedfor me through the earth. Wrapped itself around me, much like Cherry had wrapped her legs around Rick. Or like roots wrapped around a rock in the earth.Danger,came from Soulwood. The communication wasn’t a word. It was more like lightning striking or rain flooding or wildfire roaring—
Rick,I thought.In his office. Not in his cage. With Mud here. My sister, in danger. I turned, dropping the plant. Running. Drawing my weapon. Knowing regular ammo would do nothing against a wereleopard. Hearing the pot shatter behind me.
A grindylow sped down the hallway from nowhere, sliced the air near my face. I dodged out of its way. It dove into Rick’s office. Screams of the two shattered the air.
Someone—Jason—was working the Circle of the Moon. Even with the moon below the horizon.
“Blood!” Mud shouted, staggering into the hallway. “Lots of blood!”
I recognized it then too, and would have sooner but my first thought had been Rick. Someone, somewhere, was pouring a blood sacrifice onto the earth. A huge one.
In Rick’s office, just ahead, out of sight, fresh blood flew, splattering on the walls.
I knew it. I felt it. Bloodlust woke in me. I stumbled toward the blood.
Want...It rose in me like water in a well.Want...Iwantedto feed Rick to the earth.Wantedto help the blood-witch feed the earth. I wanted—Mud tore up the hallway after me, Cherry at her side. The dog was terrified, which I didn’t understand. So was Mud, also not something I understood. Except that Soulwood might have claimed my sister too.
“Get in the locker room and lock the door!” I commanded Mud. “Now!”
I didn’t look to see if she obeyed. She was church trained. She would hide. Sprinting the last steps to Rick’s office, I readied my weapon, held it in a two-hand grip, a round in the chamber, my finger on the trigger. If Rick had shifted, I’d need to shoot fast, empty the clip and hope I slowed him enough to get to safety. From the office came a strange sound, like cloth and rubber and metal rubbing together. And a soft, almost silent whine. And panting. I slammed my back to the wall and edged closer.Feelingthe blood on the walls.
A metallic clang echoed through HQ. Rick’s cage door, shutting.
I whirled into the office doorway, weapon first. Feet planted. Took everything in fast.
Rick was in his cage. With the neon green grindylow. Rick’s fingers still holding the cage door he had, somehow, managed to shut.
My boss was a tangle of skin, human hands covered with black fur, cat legs, and bloody clothes. Blood splattered the walls in three long sweeps, like a crime scene.Blood... Want...
“No,” I whispered to myself and to my land. “No.”
I forced the want down. Away. Studied the scene in the office more thoroughly.
Rick’s hand fell off the door and his fingers made little crackly sounds as they tried to become paws. He was in half shift. Inside a silver cage. That was supposed to be impossible. Jason’s calling was stronger than silver.
Rick’s bones shattered and ground together, the sound popping and cracking and splintering. He was bleeding from his mouth and nose. It looked messy. And painful. The grindy, Bean, I thought, hissed at me and flashed her claws, telling me something. She looked at the padlock.
“Oh.” Rick could still get out if he wanted. He still had fingers on one hand. “Right. Right,” I said. “Yeah. Ummm...”
I didn’t want to move closer. I couldn’t catch were-taint, but Icouldbe killed and eaten. If wereleopards ate plants. A hysterical laugh burbled in some crazy part of my brain.
I eased closer, hesitating before I holstered my weapon. I needed two hands.
Breath coming fast, my mouth dry, I stretched, reaching to the cage, and latched the padlock.
I backed from the office and closed Rick’s door. It wasn’t enough. I sped to Occam’s cubicle because it was closest and began to drag his desk out, intending to ram it up against Rick’s door. Which was stupid because the door opened inward. I stopped and repositioned the desk. Leaned on it and let myself breathe.
“Nell!” Mud. Screaming. Her voice muffled behind the locker room door. My sister didn’t know I was safe. She was terrified that I was going to be hurt.
I shook myself like Cherry might and put my shoulders back. And went to tell my sister everything was okay. But it wasn’t. I still felt Soulwood’s bloodlust. And my own. If I was a cursing woman, I’d be repeating JoJo’s words about sex. Saying them over and over.
I pushed on the locker room door, but it didn’t give. I wondered what Mud had dragged up against it, just as I had tried to do with the desk. Sisters, well trained to protect ourselves and others. I knocked, saying, “It’s me. You can open the door.”
