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I squeeze my eyes shut more tightly, trying to focus on staying here and not letting the shift take me.
The shivers on my skin get worse. Whispering sounds flit around me, there and gone like they’ve been whisked away by a breeze, and I have no idea where they’re coming from. My throat aches as Creepy suddenly tries to interrupt the spell, and I cling to my own words as I resist her.
With every passing second, the whispers get louder.
Is this Puck? Is he doing something to fight me and she’s reacting to it?
A tingling sensation passes over my skin like a cold breeze licking at me. My eyes open.
Ghostly pockets of mist twist in the air above us. They stretch toward Huck, and every time a tendril touches him, he flinches.
Holy shit.
Creepy’s voice breaks past my own. “Not for you. Stop what you do.”
A cold sensation rushes over me, prickling like an icy river. The mists retreat, pulling away from Huck, and then they scatter like they’ve been swept away by a strong wind.
I tense. Creepy did that. Moreover, I think I know what just happened. Creepy and I share memories from time to time, but the ones from her are often strange and fragmented. They don’t always make sense.
But I know what she can see, which means I know what those things really were.
The dead. Lost souls drawn to him because of either his pain or his guilt at being the only one of his family to survive.
Except… Creepy spoke to them and they reacted, and I have enough of her memories to know that, at least, is not normal.
As the mists vanish, Huck stills. His rapid breathing slows, and the tension leaks from his body. I let out a breath in relief that somehow, we’ve given him a reprieve. Everything else can be figured out later.
But the peace only lasts for a moment.
Before I can even gasp, Huck shifts, and suddenly Puck is there. His long legs wrap mine in a jiu-jitsu-style move, and the blanket falls away as he rolls me quickly until he’s lying on top of me. Lightning fast, my arms are pinned above my head and my body is immobilized under him while one of his long-fingered hands wraps around my neck.
Oh, shit.
Chapter 13
Mabel
“Puck, don’t!” Zeb reaches for us.
The Hyde snarls like a wild animal, his jagged teeth glinting like metal in the shadows. His free hand lashes out, his too-long fingers curled and his nails looking every bit like knives. The threat is clear, and Zeb slams to a halt at it.
One of Puck’s wide, electric-blue eyes watches the Jekyll while the other stays locked on my face, but when Zeb doesn’t come closer, both roll back into place to stare down at me.
I don’t move.
A low growl rumbles from Puck. He’s scarred like Huck, his torso practically forming a topographical map of hell, but nothing of Huck’s sweetness is in his eyes. His mad gaze is pure predator, deranged and totally feral. His lips pull away from his metal teeth, his mouth gaping like a too-large and distorted rictus from a skull, ready to bite me. Slowly, his fingers tighten on my neck, his knife-like nails pricking my skin until they’re at the edge of drawing blood.
“Not… your enemy,” I gasp, fighting to keep Creepy from taking over and turning this into a brawl.
The growling gets stronger. Hungrier. From the corners of my eyes, I can see Zeb and Phineas standing on either side of us, clearly torn between yanking him away and the possibility that they’ll make this worse.
But then Puck draws in a deep breath like he’s sniffing me. The growling changes, still hungry but now with approval in the sound. His crazed eyes never leaving me, he adjusts his position carefully, wedging my legs apart.
Until he can push between them.
He’s hard beneath his sweatpants, and he feels strange somehow too. But as he situates himself against me, he rocks his hips forward, pressing his length to my core.
My chest catches in a tiny gasp.
