Vault of Shadows by Jonathan Maberry

Author:Jonathan Maberry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Chapter 31

They reached the lakeshore just as a gibbous moon was breaking through the ceiling of clouds. The nearly full moon painted everything with a cold blue light, and Ramirez’s team made sure to stick to the shadows. When they were still fifty feet from the lake, Milo cupped his hands around his mouth and made a sound like a barred owl, one of the night birds common to bayou country.

A few seconds later another owl called in reply.

“That’s Shark,” said Milo, and he went out to meet his friend.

Shark and Killer were the only members of Milo’s camp left on the beach, and they had been hiding beneath a tree with a female soldier. The soldier took Ramirez aside to give her report and Shark did the same with Milo.

“I can’t believe you found help this fast,” said Shark, greatly relieved.

“Everyone got out okay?”

“The skimmer just left with the last of the wounded,” he said. “I said I’d wait here with the corporal.”

Milo lowered his voice. “What about our friends?” He leaned on the word.

“Been some really, really, really freaky stuff happening here,” said Shark. He launched into a quick, quiet explanation of what had taken place. First Lizabeth had found more herbs and roots and applied them to Evangelyne’s broken bones. That seemed to ease the wolf girl’s pain, and soon she woke up.

“What happened to her?” asked Milo.

Shark looked like he’d been kicked very solidly in the head. “That’s just it. . . . She woke up, then she told Mook to take her into the woods. He did, and half an hour later I saw a wolf limping through the marsh weeds.”

“You sure that was her?”

“No, it was probably a completely different limping wolf.”

“Right, sorry.”

“But listen, man . . . I think something bad happened.”

“What do you mean? Everything that’s happened today’s been bad.”

“Not that kind of bad,” said Shark. “Look . . . after I saw the, um, wolf . . .”

“She’s a werewolf, man, just call her that.”

“Not actually sure I can,” said Shark. “That word absolutely does not fit inside my head. But listen, after Mook took her and she changed, after I saw her limping in the marsh, I heard something.”

“What? A Stinger or a—?”

“No, no, it was her. It was Vangie. I heard her scream.”

“Well, she was pretty messed up, Shark.”

“You’re not listening to me,” insisted Shark, who was clearly having a hard time explaining. “This was after she was mostly healed. I heard her screaming in the woods. Not like a wolf, but in her own voice. Screaming and yelling. And not like she was in pain, and I don’t think it was anything to do with the Bugs.”

“Then what?”

“I couldn’t hear everything she said, but I’m pretty sure I heard her say something bad. About something that really scared her, because that’s the kind of scream it was. Like someone who’s really, really, really, really scared out of their mind.”

“What did she say?” whispered Milo, grabbing Shark’s arm.

He could see his friend’s face by the moonlight and Shark looked really scared too.

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