My stomach dropped at the frown on her face. “What do you mean?”
“Well, my dad was into hunting and he took me out with him sometimes when I was younger. I’m not an expert by any means, but it just seems like this is a pretty wide path for a person.”
She wasn’t wrong. The trail of broken branches and slashed earth was wide enough for two people to walk abreast with a few inches to spare. No human could have made those marks in the frozen ground, either. I shuddered to think of how sharp and long the claws that made them were.
“I can’t say for sure,” I hedged. “I couldn’t see what he was running from. It was literally kind of a blur. I don’t even know how I saw that much, if I’m being honest. I didn’t even know I could do any of this.”
“It’s a good thing we came prepared, then,” Camille said, adjusting the strap of the rifle over her shoulder. “My guess would be a black bear, from the size. They’re not usually aggressive toward people, but if it was hungry or sick, it could attack someone.”
“If that’s what it was, it’s probably long gone by now, right?” Donovan asked, neatly steering them away from considerations of what else it could be. I fucking loved that man.
“Probably. Landon was smart enough to hide, from what Alex said, so a bear would’ve looked for easier prey.”
While Raina and Camille took up the job of educating Donovan on the bears so common in our area, I tuned them out and focused on where we were going. I’d only seen flashes in my vision (and even calling it that in my head just sounded so wrong), but it possibly looked familiar. All trees pretty much looked the same to me, but a few landmarks began to stand out and I realized we had to be very close. There, off to my right, was the large rock Landon had dodged as he ran. There was the gnarled root he’d tripped over.
Barely a minute later, the trees abruptly thinned out and we stood on the ledge where Landon had fallen. It was easy to see how it happened. There was no warning before it appeared and in a blind panic, running for his life, he’d never have been able to stop, even if hehadseen it. This was no gentle slope, either. It looked like the land had been sheared away, leaving a vertical drop to the ground twenty feet below.
“This is it?” Ori asked, and I nodded in confirmation.
“He’s not far. This isn’t the exact spot, but it’s close to where he fell.”
“Then you can leave. We’ll handle it from here,” Jean said, a hint of a growl in his words.
“We haven’t found him yet,” Raina protested, echoed by Camille. They looked to me to join them, but so did Ori.
This was going to go over like a lead balloon.
“I promised we would leave it to them once we found the ledge,” I said to my friends, wincing in apology. “Landon is the priority, and this is his family. They’re telling us to leave. Ori will call me once they have him secured.” I glanced over at Ori, but it hadn’t been a question.
“I will,” they agreed tightly. “Now let us deal with this, please. The snow is getting worse and we need to get him home.”
I took Donovan’s hand and met his eyes, silently begging him to help me. Despite knowing what we did and that we needed to protect Landon’s secrets, I knew it was hard for him to walk away this close to the end. It went against his nature to leave when someone was still potentially in danger. His grip on my hand tightened as he wavered back and forth, but finally, he nodded.
“We’ll be waiting for that call,” he said to Ori, but he never took his eyes off me. Raina and Camille stared at the two of us in shock. They knew even less than him about any of this, and this was their first time seeing my ability in action. I could see the questions building, ready to break free, but first we had to keep our word.
“Come on. Let’s go home.”
I felt their eyes burning into my back with every step I took away from the ledge.
Chapter 18
Donovan
OnlymypromisetoAlex kept me walking. It went against every instinct I possessed to leave before I’d laid eyes on Landon, even though I knew there was no way we’d get close to him while we had Raina and Camille with us. I couldn’t truly blame Ori for protecting their friends, but I hated leaving.
The snow continued to kick back up and I’d hoped the need to hurry back to the car would halt any questions, but it was a fool’s hope and I knew it. We’d barely gone a quarter of a mile before Raina stopped and turned to face us, crossing her arms and digging in her heels.
“What are they hiding, Alex?”
A quiet stillness had settled over the woods. Snow swirled through the trees, casting everything in the distance in a white haze. The birds and animals had gone silent, likely seeking refuge from the cold. A layer of snow muffled even the tromp of our boots on the frozen ground. Her words shattered that quiet, dropping like a bomb into the serenity of the moment.
“Can we talk about it when we get home?” he asked. He hadn’t let go of my hand since we’d walked away and he clung to me now for support.
“No, we can’t,” she insisted. “We’re out here looking for a lost, injured kid and we’re walking away before he’s even found? What if he’s hurt enough that he needs medical attention? How are they going to get him back up that ledge? Why don’t they want us to see him? I trust you, Alex, but I know that Jean DeVor and your friend Ori are lying about something, and I know you’re not telling us everything. If we’re supposed to just leave him here, I need to know that he’s safe.”
Camille mirrored me and took Raina’s hand in support, but she didn’t say anything. Of all of us, Camille could usually be counted on to be the most reasonable.
Alex sighed heavily. “I don’t want to keep things from you, it’s just… some secrets aren’t mine to tell. I love you, all of you, but you have to understand that there are some things that were told to me in confidence.”
