This was awful. I hated fighting with Bree, especially when it felt like we were splitting up for good. My heart hurt worse than any physical wound I’d ever had. But it felt as though we’d climbed onto a runaway train, and neither one of us could get off. I wanted to stop this. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and hear her say that this was all some kind of horrible joke. But that would be alie.
Bree turned and strode away, her feet aimed away from me. With a sigh, I followed suit, letting my body take me in the opposite direction. It was hard to see the sidewalk through mytears.
And then a scream ripped through the night, freezing my feet into place. My blood roared in my ears, and I knew what I would see even before I turned. Down the street, Bree stood in the shadow of a towering wolf-like creature. Her eyes were wild with fear, and her fists shook by her sides. The creature loomed over her, fangs flashing against the bright street-lamps that illuminated the emptystreet.
“Bree!” I choked out the word and began to stumble towardher.
She flicked her eyes my way, her face as white as a sheet. The sorrow and fear I saw in them would haunt me to mygrave.
The creature raised its sharp claws in the air, and my feet movedfaster.
“NO!” I shouted, but it was too late. There was nothing I could do to save Bree. There was nothing I could do but watch the creature’s claws slice right through her neck. Blood soared through the air, and I stumbled onto my knees. Bree crumpled onto the ground, her eyes distant, her faceslack.
The creature jerked its head to the right, and then launched down the street, disappearing into thenight.
* * *
They foundme on my knees with blood all over my hands. I couldn’t remember anything after the moment that I’d seen Bree’s broken body fall onto the pavement. My entire body was numb and cold, and the world felt like a distant memory. Nothing felt real. Not even the blood on myhands.
“Miss, we’re going to have to ask you to come away from the body.” A woman in blue knelt before me, shining a flashlight into myeyes.
I blinked and glanced away. “I can’t leave her. I’m trying to stop theblood.”
Her voice went soft. “I know, honey, but we can’t help her if you don’t moveaway.”
“Can you stop her bleeding?” Iasked.
A pause. “We’ll do our best. Now, comeon.”
Body still numb, I stood. A sharp crack echoed in the night, and I peeled my eyes away from Bree to find myself face-to-face with a police officer. His gun was pointed right atme.
“What’s going on?” Deep within my muddled mind, I knew I should be alarmed and afraid. Someone was pointing a gun at me. But I felt nothing. Nothing but the need to make sure Bree wasokay.
“Norah Oliver, yes? You need to turn around and put your hands in the air.” The officer glanced at the woman who had found me next to Bree. “Martha, I’m going to need you to search her for aweapon.”
A weapon? I frowned, confusion rippling through me until my mind began to piece the clues together. My blood-stained hands. Me kneeling over the body. The number one suspect in another similar brutalmurder.
Murder.
Revulsion shook through me, and I grasped at my shirt because I didn’t know what else to do with my hands. This couldn’t be happening. Bree couldn’t be dead. And I wasn’t about to be arrested for herdeath.
A loud shot rang through the neon-lit streets, and the gun clattered out of the cop’s hands. His eyes widened as he stared down at his gun, and then he moved his eyes to me. My heart hammered. What the hell was going on? Was someone shooting at us? Atme?
And then I heard a soft quiet voice whisper into my ear, from somewhere far, far away. Somehow, it sounded so near. “Run.”
I didn’t know why I listened to the voice, but Idid.
Before the cop could grab his gun, Iran.
Chapter Seven
Iran.I didn’t know where I was going, but I ran. At first, I flew down the streets with a sense of determination and purpose.Get away from the cops.But as the minutes ticked by and the pulsing red lights faded into the background, my feet began to falter as a horrifying realization washed overme.
I’d just run from the cops. They’d found me at a murder scene, and I’d done the worst thing in the world I coulddo.
With my heart constricting inside my chest, I swerved into the nearest alley and ducked behind a dumpster. Sobs heaved from my body, my mind engulfed by grief and fear. Bree was gone. She’d been killed right before my eyes, and I hadn’t been able to do a thing. And our final conversation had been so fraught with barely containedanger.
“We’re sorry about what happened to your friend,” came a foreignvoice.
