“It starts wit a pull, a gut feelin’ ye simply can’t ignore.” The Wizard stepped forward, his eyes glowing wild with magic. “’Tis te enchantment of te ink. It’ll lead ye like a compass—no matter what ye do, where ye go, that naggin’ sensation will be tere till ye complete yer mission.”
My insides flopped, as if the butterfly had taken flight in my stomach.
“If ye fail or if ye decide to abandon te task, te pain will start growin’, spreadin’, till it hijacks every one of yer senses.” His words landed like the chanting of a hex. “Nephilim, ye are bound till this is fulfilled. And I want it done tonight.”
I blinked. “You can’t be serious.”
The Wizard shook his head. The sound of my voice seemed to help him snap out of it—from whatever that just was—his eyes fading, the magic dimming. “Yer lucky it’s dawn. Ye got te whole day to plan.”
It’s not like I had sleep to catch up on or friends to check in with or a life to get to…
“Lots of shiny tings in that cave,” he warned. “Don’t be tempted. They say it’s haunted by te souls of those who are lost at sea.”
Disbelief shuttered the funny tingle in my veins. “Great. Are we done here?” I swung my legs over the side of the chair. The Wizard shot back to dodge my knees.
“One more ting. Nemuik!” he barked. “Ye go wit her.”
“What?!” Nemuik stepped forward in protest. “Why me?!”
“Don’t ye ask questions! ’Tis protocol to have a scout for rookies. She’s one of us now.”
Skin flushing a vibrant red, Nemuik went back to his position, toothy glower fixed on me.
Well, at least my plan worked: I was the newest member of the Night Stalkers.
Chapter 7
Where are you? the dreaded dad text hit my phone the moment I left the junkyard and crossed the Wizard of Auto’s boundary. A flurry of other notifications popped onto my screen, the messages all blending together:
We’re ok!! Are you ok?
Come home this instant.
Your dad’s looking for you.
River, you need to answer. It’s Javi.
My heartbeat stuttered in my chest. Time itself seemed to stop.
He’s awake.
It was daybreak. My dad was livid I had been out all night, but at least Shanley, Mau, and the City Pack were alive—not good, but not dead. And my best friend, Javi, had finally opened his eyes after weeks in a medically induced coma.
Drop me a pin, we’ll take you to the hospital.
When a glimmer of red cut through the swells of dust and Shanley’s Honda rolled up the road that led to the compound—to the literal middle of fucking nowhere, where I’d bluntly been ordered by the dwarves to walk—I almost sank to my knees.
I slumped into the passenger’s seat, Mau filling me in on the aftermath of Crescent Rock from the back. Ivan fled, Chet fled, dozens of werewolves missing.
The world shot by in a blur of gold streaks and yellow fields. But my mind was racing faster.
The constant pulse of pain shooting up my arm, the vision of the Pearl smushed between my thoughts… I felt myself drawing inwards.
Was this how Ryder felt about me? I’d been his mark, his mission to hunt me inked onto his arm. Had I lined his every blink, his every breath, every beat of his heart—like the Pearl did mine?
A hand cupped my shoulder. “Riv, you okay?”
Mau’s hushed voice snapped me out of it. “Yeah.”
