Page 73 of Dark

The next time I emerged, it was at the edge of a small clearing holding a wooden lookout tower. Splashing through the mud, I climbed the wet rope ladder, and turned in a slow circle. The corn raged around me in a vicious, swirling maelstrom. Far off in the distance, a line of headlights glowed like predatory eyes in the dark, hundreds of cars trapped as they waited to turn out onto the highway. Red and blue strobes flashed from police cruisers. And in between, a seemingly endless sea of black.

Except—

There. Buried deep within the maze, a light flickered on. Winked off. Faint as a summer firefly. There, then gone.

Pulse pounding in my ears, I started to pull out my phone.

My vision went black as something seized my heart in an invisible fist. I clawed at my throat, the wind howling in my ears, the cold wooden platform rushing up to meet me.

Ethan.

Screams battered the inside of my skull, my wolf clawing in a desperate panic. Unable to move. Unable to get up. A hand at my throat—

No.

No.

No.

I sucked in a sharp breath, icy knives of rain pelting my face.

Ethan.

I staggered to my feet just as another scream made my hair stand on end.

The bond exploded in an electrical storm of pain. I screamed, collapsing to my knees. The world spun, a sickening carnival ride I had no hope of getting off of. I staggered up, running blindly, the echo of Ethan’s agony pulsing dully in the back of my mind. The leaves tore at my clothes, opening fresh cuts on my hands and arms. A wolf howled. I gritted my teeth, forcing my feet to move faster. This was my fault. All my fault. Ellie wouldn’t have come here, would never have been targeted if it weren’t for me.

And Ethan. Who had sacrificed everything to try to keep me safe.

Dimly, I thought I heard shouts. I was clawing through the corn, sure I could hear sirens in the distance when without warning I came out onto another interior path. Yanking out my phone, I shined it from side to side.

I froze, certain I'd heard something. Lightning exploded in the swirling purple sky just as a figure burst through the wall of corn. I screamed. The person who crashed into me screamed.

“Hayden!”

Ellie was soaked to the bone, her clothes ripped, her glasses gone, blood trickling from a cut on her lip.

“You scared the hell out of me.”

I threw my arms around her, only to just as quickly step back.

Because she wasn’t alone. Lacey Blair was holding her by the arm, hostage style. And she had a knife.

* * *

Lightning flashed overhead, my heart thundering in my chest. How could they all have missed the predatory calculation in that too-lovely face? Lacey Blair, who supplied Blood Moon with cupcakes in every flavor from strawberry cheesecake to red velvet and boxed up coconut crème pies with a smile, now held my sister at knifepoint with the icy calmness of a serial killer.

I bared my teeth. “You’re not taking my sister.”

Lacey snorted. “Are you for real?”

“Um, hello?” Ellie leaned around the cupcake killer, cementing my theory that vegans made the worst hostages. “Has everyone forgotten the labradoodles?”

“She’s been behind this all along,” I snarled.

Lacey threw her hands up. “Oh. My. God. You just can’t get over yourself—”

“Hayden,” Ellie said urgently. “You don’t understand.” And then my sister, my sweet, rabbit-adopting, spider-saving, tofu-eating sister, inserted herself between me and Murder-Barbie. As if I were the delusional one in this Shakespearean werewolf-drama.