I glance towards the kitchen. I have a knife block by the stove, but I shove that thought down instantly. I don’t know anything about knife fighting and it’s likely that he would take the knife away and use it on me or Frisky.
The windows are a no-go because most of them are rusted shut. I’m still trying to figure out my next move when a sound drifts to my ears from outside. It’s soft at first, like it’s coming in from a distance. Maybe voices traveling on the breeze.
My breath stalls and for one brief second, I think that he might be telling the truth about someone looking for him.
The interloper hears the sound too. He freezes and strains to see if he can make out what we’re hearing. One hand tightens around Frisky, and the other curls into a fist at his side. His eyes stay focused on the door, sharp and suspicious, as if he expects someone to burst through it at any second.
I stay perfectly still. My heart pounds so loudly I worry he’ll hear it instead of whatever is moving outside. I turn towards the window, more convinced than ever that someone is out there. AllI can do is pray that they find me and it’s not whoever this man is running from.
Chapter 4
Onyx
The trail pulls us deeper along an old path that cuts through the forest, the same one we used to sneak down to the river when we were kids. It winds past Emily’s place, hidden behind a wrap of pines. As we get closer, I catch a glimpse of her roofline through the branches.
The dogs drag us onto a narrow part of the path leading towards a spring that bubbles up out of the ground. I crouch near a broken limb. The break is fresh and a bead of sap glints at the edge. A few feet ahead, leaves are disturbed in a messy, uneven pattern. Someone’s been here. They were either moving too fast or clueless about how to walk in the woods without disturbing everything in their damn path.
“What did you find, Onyx? A deer?” Mica asks, his voice low.
“It could be,” I say, but the words sound unsure, even to my own ears. “A deer wouldn’t snap branches this low unless it was grazing, and there are no chewing marks.”
Mica comments, “These breaks are right at human elbow height.”
Forge stiffens, then loops off to the left so hard the lead jerks through my grip. It’s a good thing I had the end wrapped around my wrist or I might have lost my grip entirely. Sable answers with a low growl, his body dropping into that predatory stance he gets when he’s sure of what he’s tracking. Mica braces himself and swears under his breath.
Forge drags me forward, claws tearing into the earth. Her movements lose all hesitation, all sense of play. She is locked onto something. Sable pulls the same direction, muscles straining, ears pinned.
The trail curves between a low ridgeline and the huge boulder me and Emily used to climb on as kids. I know this path. I know every rise and dip in the ground. The second I’m standing between the two, I reach up to touch what’s left of the chicken scratch we made with river stones on the boulder when we were kids. ‘Jimmy is Onyx’ is written there in nail polish. It’s weathered and I only know what it says because I remember Emily painting it there when I was twelve. That’s the year I got my nickname.
I’m pulled from my thoughts when the dogs surge forward. They’re heading straight towards her cabin.
Every instinct that kept me alive overseas lights up at once when I realize she might be in trouble. I push forward, chasing the dogs in a flat-out run to her cabin. Mica matches my pace without asking why I’m so panicked. I can see her cabin in the distance and watch Forge pick up speed again.
I get close enough to see Emily’s car is in the driveway, but her curtains are closed. She never closes them in the morning. She always said the sunlight keeps her from getting depressed. I have passed this place hundreds of times and I can count on one hand the times those curtains weren’t open. It was a smattering of days when her grandfather died two years ago.
Forge stops barking and starts whining instead, running between me and the porch. She’s leading me to what I asked her to track.
Standing in front of Emily’s cabin, I realize her cat isn’t in the window. Frisky always sits on the sill this time of day. He likes catching the afternoon rays. Emily and I used to laugh that no squirrel made a move that Frisky didn’t know about. That empty space worries me almost as much as the dogs leading us here.
I decide right then and there that if this asshole has hurt them, I’ll rip him apart with my bare hands.
I lift a hand and signal Mica without looking at him. He melts to the left, moving silently. I move forward with Forge glued to my side, whining so softly it barely registers.
My instincts tell me that something is very wrong, as I step onto the porch. I give the door three hard knocks and am rewarded with the sound of someone walking towards the door.
After a brief pause, the latch clicks and the door opens a sliver. Emily’s scared face appears in the narrow gap. She tries to smile but can’t quite manage it. Her gaze flicks past me, then back to me. “Onyx,” she says, her voice sounding forced. “Why didn’t you call before coming for a visit?”
Her hand is on the doorframe, but it trembles so much she has to press her fingers harder into the wood. She angles her body in a way that blocks me from seeing inside.
There’s a shadow behind her. A shape half-hidden behind the door, too still to belong to her. I catch it only because she shifts an inch and the shadow doesn’t move.
“Morning, Em,” I say, as calmly as I can manage in this moment. “Is everything alright?”
“Yeah,” she whispers. “I’m all good, Jimmy.”
Everything about this situation is wrong. The dogs leading us here is the big tell. Em’s despondent demeanor has me worried. And she hasn’t called me by my real name in over a decade. Frisky is always with her when she answers the door and he’s totally MIA today. Then there is that fuckin’ shadow.
Although I’m about to jump out of my skin, I force myself to take a step back until I can fully understand what’s going on here. Her eyes flash up to mine. Fear and relief seem to be fighting for top spot in her emotions right now. That tells me that she needs me to leave, to pretend that nothing’s wrong for the moment.
