Winter by Dean Sierra

Author:Dean, Sierra [Dean, Sierra]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Sierra Dean
Published: 2014-02-15T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

The glass rattled, and the lights all flickered on and off.

Archer’s first thought was earthquake.

His second thought was recalling the way things had felt in the library right before everything went boom.

Oh, crap, something had happened to Lou.

Ariel followed him outside to the front steps, not relinquishing her grip on her cocktail. The woman would die with a martini glass in her hand, and Archer would be damn sure to bury her with a fresh bottle of vodka, otherwise she might come back to haunt him.

A fading light from the woods collapsed back in on itself like a reverse explosion, but he could still see where it had originated from, just inside the tree line.

He ran towards it, feeling the way the air changed as he got closer. The wind carried a hint of electricity, making his skin rise up with goose bumps that had nothing to do with the cold. By the time he reached the trees, the hair on his neck and arms was standing on end, and everything around him was buzzing so loud it was like standing next to a beehive.

“Lou?” he called out, trying to spot her through the blackness.

All the light from the explosion had vanished, leaving a thick haze of darkness in its wake. He blinked against it, trying to will his eyes to adjust. Why couldn’t he have any practical magic skills, like creating flashlights on a whim or locating missing people? Why did his particular gifts only function to hurt people?

“Lou, it’s Archer. If you can hear me, I need you to tell me where you are.”

He bumped into a low-hanging branch and swore, blinking back tears from the sudden sting of pain. He was so busy cursing at the tree, he didn’t notice the coyote until it was right in front of him. They both went still, staring at each other across the gap of a mere two feet.

It took Archer a moment to be certain, but there was something in their eyes that never changed entirely. His mother had shown him how to spot it.

“Jeremy,” he greeted.

The coyote growled in response, baring its teeth at him.

“Now now, there’s no need to be nasty. I didn’t do this to you, so don’t make things personal.” Archer sidestepped, planning to move around Jeremy and continue his search for Lou. Then the pieces of the puzzle started clicking into place.

Lou had been walking in the woods alone. Jeremy was here, right near where the light had come from.

“What did you do to her?” Archer snapped, as if he expected the coyote to answer.

Something had to have terrified her in order for such a massive amount of energy to be released. As far as he knew, the only time Lou had tapped into her natural magic was in the library, and she’d been defending herself against Ariel. She had been scared then, and the magic had come as a result. If it had happened again, there was only one logical thing that could have frightened her, and it was standing in front of him snarling.

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