Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 73252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
I do exactly what he says. He steps behind me. The second his fingers close around my wrist to pull my hand down for the cuffs, I turn. I press my fingertips against his forehead.
“Somnun.” His body goes limp. I catch him before he hits the ground and gently lower him onto the pavement.
“Sorry.” I pull out my phone and check my location. I still have a couple blocks to go. Then I run. I don’t stop until I reach the area marked by the spell. And immediately, I don’t like it. Not because anything looks inherently dangerous. It’s just empty. A huge parking lot stretches in front of me.
There’s some sort of convention center to my left and a river beyond it. For a teenage girl trying to disappear, a place like this makes it dangerously easy.
“Claire!” I shout. No answer.
The locator spell placed her near a tiny park, but when I get closer, I realize it’s barely more than a patch of grass. A few trees grow thicker toward the river. There’s a walking path. A painfully fit, cheerful couple jogs past me like the universe isn’t currently ending. I turn in a circle, trying to think.
Where would a normal teenage girl hide? That’s the problem. Every place I would choose is based on years of hunter training. Claire doesn’t have that. She’d probably choose somewhere obvious.
Somewhere that feels hidden without actually being hidden.
I’m considering casting the spell again to narrow down the location when a car pulls into the parking lot behind me. Doors open and several hunters get out. They spread around me.
“Are you sure that’s her?” one asks.
“Positive,” another answers. “That’s the girl who attacked the Russos.”
“Oh, please.” I turn toward them. “I am a Russo.” They stare at me. For a second, I remind myself that these hunters aren’t necessarily the enemy. They’re doing what they were told. Not that long ago, I could’ve been standing exactly where they are.
Kind of.
“Sure you are, Skinwalker,” one of them scoffs.
Okay. Maybe not. Because even at my stupidest, I would’ve known better than to openly taunt a Skinwalker in public. I also would’ve known a Skinwalker probably wouldn’t be casually wandering around downtown Pittsburgh in broad daylight.
There are six hunters. One of me. I’ve had worse odds. And I have one advantage they don’t. Magic. Though if they genuinely believe I’m a Skinwalker, they’re going to use weapons capable of doing serious damage.
“Look,” I say, holding up my hands. “I really don’t have time to explain why this is a mistake.” I shrug. “I’m in a bit of a pickle here, so it would genuinely benefit all of us if you just walked away.”
They exchange confused looks. Then rush me. I throw out my hand. A wave of telekinetic force slams into the first hunter. He flies backward into two others, and all three go down in a tangled heap. The remaining hunters immediately draw their weapons.
And then, seemingly out of nowhere, my brothers appear.
Antonio tackles one to the ground, knocks the gun from his hand, grabs it, and cracks him across the side of the head with it. The hunter goes limp. Leo grabs another from behind and locks him into a chokehold. I raise my hand toward the last man still standing.
“Don’t.”
He hesitates. I dart forward before he can make up his mind and press my fingers to his forehead “Somnun.” He drops. It doesn’t take long to subdue the remaining three. A few sleeping spells later, six unconscious hunters are scattered around the empty parking lot. I look around. “I feel like I should almost be insulted that they sent newbies after me.”
Antonio snorts.
“They called me a Skinwalker.”
He actually laughs. “These guys really are new.” Then his expression changes. He looks at Leo. Then at me. “The Order knew you’d fight back.”
“Fuck.”
“They’re building a case against you again,” Antonio says. “Think about it. They send six inexperienced hunters after you?” He raises his eyebrows. “You were always one of their best hunters, even before the Jedi mind tricks.”
I put a hand against my forehead. Once I’m back in Charlotte and under Xavier’s protection, the Order isn’t going to be much of a problem. Getting back to Charlotte might be.
“We need to move,” Leo says.
We run across the parking lot and jump the low wall separating it from the walking path.
“If you were a teenage girl, where would you hide?” I ask.
Leo scans the area and then points toward an old bridge off to our left. It’s covered in graffiti and sits between the road and the walking path on the far side of the convention center. Thankfully, nothing appears to be happening here today. We jog toward it. Then something catches my eye.
Movement, across the street. I stop. There. A girl slips between the convention center and a squat concrete structure.