Only one thing in this trailer was strong enough to hold back her nails—the stone egg. But what if she turned on her nephew, who would be in the open? If that happened, he’d have to leap back and protect Walter. But he knew it would cost him.
He jumped behind the egg, landed with a thud, then spun around, watching her for whatever attack she launched.
She bared her teeth. “I see you, wolf,” she growled, and he blew out a breath of relief. She was still focused on him, not Walter. “No were-creature has ever bested me.”
Hell. She knew he was a werewolf, which meant she had some kind of magical sight. Worse, she had fought were-creatures before. How was that even possible? He had to try to end this now.
He settled into himself, pulling on the magic that was inherent to Red Wolf. It felt like a merging of natures, of wolf and man, mundane and magic, all joined, compressed, and pushed out into the world through his eyes.
“Relax,” he said with his hypnotic voice. “All is well.”
In his peripheral vision, he saw Walter blow out a breath and smile. Even though the magic wasn’t directed at Walter, it was having a calming effect on the man. His eyes glazed over in the familiar vague place where a man was receptive to Bing’s hypnotic words. But Auntie Sand—
“Hocus-pocus, ha!” she snorted, and then she attacked in earnest. He had thought her vicious before, but that was nothing compared to the way she was acting now. Her face became feral, her forehead sprouted horns, and she sliced her hands back and forth in a dizzying display that would have killed him if he hadn’t reacted fast.
He grabbed the stupid egg off the fruit and flower stand and tried to heave the thing at her. It wasn’t as heavy as he expected, so he lifted it higher than he intended. Worse, the blood from his forearm was leaking everywhere and made his grip slippery. Smeared with his blood, the egg shifted in his precarious grip, but he didn’t let go, and he didn’t hold back.
He threw the thing straight at her most dangerous weapon—her nails. He wasn’t trying to bash her head in. He simply wanted to disarm her. Breaking her weird clawlike nails was his best bet.
And it worked. Only her nails didn’t break. Instead, they impaled the egg. It hung there a moment, dangling at the end of her slowly drooping arms while she looked at it in horror.
“No!” she squealed. “It’s not time yet!”
With a quick shimmy, she stepped back and dropped the egg. Or rather, she’d abruptly shifted back from her supernatural body. Suddenly she was an old lady with normal-looking nails staring down at a punctured egg.
But it was astoneegg, so Bing didn’t understand why she was so upset. He was the one who was shaken. Her hands had piercedstone. That meant she could have sliced off his body parts with ease. Meanwhile, Walter was still trying the rational approach.
“Auntie Sand,” he said, his voice gentle, “don’t be upset. We’ll get some plaster and fix it right up.”
She looked up at her nephew and rolled her eyes. “Idiot boy,” she growled in that weird nonhuman voice. “Even though it is too early, he will still take you.” Then she stepped around the egg and grabbed Walter by the arm. “Down on your knees! Give yourself to him.”
“Walter, don’t!” Bing said. He had no idea what the woman wanted, but whatever it was, it would not be good for his friend. But when he went to stop Walter, the man waved him back.
“Don’t worry. I’ve been doing this for weeks now. It’s harmless.” He dropped to his knees and turned his attention to his aunt. “See? I’m down here. I give myself to the Monkey King.” He said the words by rote with no intention behind them. He was giving lip service to the old woman, but he clearly didn’t see the way the stone egg was shaking.
Shaking, as if something inside it was trying to hatch. Then the egg cracked along the line of the blood smear from Bing’s arm. Oh hell. Whatever supernatural thing was going on here, it was helped by Bing’s werewolf blood.
The woman’s head swung around. “Pigsy isn’t here yet. It’s too early!”
Pigsy? He knew that was one of the characters in the legend of the Monkey King, but that was all. Damn it, he’d been reared on kung fu movies. Buddhist folklore hadn’t interested him.
The woman’s expression grew clouded, and she pressed a hand to her forehead. “What’s going on?” she whispered as she looked down at her nephew. “Walter? I don’t feel well.”
What was going on? It was obvious, but even so, Bing struggled to process it. The woman was possessed by something. A demon? A character from a Buddhist fable? He didn’t know. But he did know that he had to use the opportunity to get away from Walter, who was still half-dazed from Bing’s hypnotic command to relax. His friend was defenseless in this state.
He stepped around the mound of plastic flowers and spoiled fruit. “Let’s go outside. You’re right, this isn’t the time.” He took hold of her hand and started ushering her outside. He didn’t want to fight her in front of the entire cast and crew, but he had no room to maneuver inside this trailer.
They were two steps away from the trailer door when the egg fully cracked. It sounded like breaking glass, and it was enough to give strength to whatever was possessing the old woman.
She abruptly shoved him away, her eyes dark and her nails growing again. “It’s now!” she screeched as she stabbed a long nail in Walter’s direction. “Again! Say it again!”
Walter had been staring at the shaking, cracking egg. His brows were drawn together in obvious confusion as he fought to bring his thoughts into order. But he was still dazed from Bing’s hypnotic magic and too used to giving in to his crazy aunt’s demands. He raised both hands in surrender to her, then kowtowed to the breaking egg. His head and torso flattened onto the ground as he spoke. “I give myself to the Monkey King. I give this movie to the Monkey King. I give the glory to the Monkey King.”
Then the egg split wide.
To Bing’s vision, it was fairly anticlimactic. A piece popped off the side and then the thing split in half. Not a big deal… until the boom.
He didn’t know if it was audible. His ears didn’t register any sound, but his entire body reeled under the impact. He swayed where he stood, and his mind felt slow and stupid. He flattened a hand on the wall and felt heat intense enough to sear his flesh. It didn’t. He looked, and his palm appeared as usual. But inside, his entire spirit seemed to quail. And that was when his werewolf sight kicked in.
