Twenty minutes later, Killian came racing back. I opened the back of his SUV when I saw him running full tilt, but he didn’t bother jumping in, just paused by the door, and the cloud of sparkling fog engulfed him again. We could see the outline of his body shifting—legs and arms transforming, muzzle vanishing as his head took form again. I heard him moan—shifting could be painful, from what I understood. The bones and flesh moving and changing shape wasn’t exactly just a twitch of the nose and boom…new form.
Killian was stark naked, but the look on his face caught my attention. “Call the police and an ambulance. Get them here as soon as possible while I get dressed. I found one of the men, I think, and he’s barely breathing. I couldn’t do anything for him in wolf form so I came right back.” He jumped in the back of the SUV as Caitlin pulled out her phone and called the police.
My stomach knotted, as I wondered who he had found—Tad or Hank? And if he only found one, where was the other?
The moment he was dressed again, standing in the snow, he turned to me. “Do not, under any circumstances, return to that building. I saw…things…coming out of it. Shadows and forms so twisted that I couldn’t tell what they were.”
“I think they’re all part of the same creature,” I said. “The entire building is alive. Whatever curse was placed on this land has seeped into the structure and taken it over.”
Caitlin was fretting. “I want to do something. I have to do something.”
I caught her arm. “You aren’t going anywhere. Not alone. You’d end up on the menu, too.” I paused. “When they get here, we can all go with them.”
“But—what if they get here too late?”
“There’s nothing we can do right now. We don’t even know what’s wrong.” I hated being the voice of reason.
“When’s Ari supposed to get here?” Killian asked.
“Five-thirty.” I glanced at my phone. It was four o’clock already. “I should call her and tell her to stay away—”
“Here they come!” Killian pointed to the driveway where an ambulance, a medic unit, and a cop car were rumbling down the road toward us. We hurried over to the emergency vehicles as they pulled to a stop.
I spied Millie Tuptin and waved her over. “Listen, you know Arabella and the homeless guy who died here? A member of my team is out there, and another is missing. Killian will lead us, but we need to move now or they may not survive.”
I was grateful she didn’t spend a lot of time questioning me. Instead, she motioned for the medics to join us.
Killian pointed toward the west side of the building. “I found him in the woods over to that side. He’s barely breathing.”
“Can we drive there?” the medic asked. “Is there room?”
Killian nodded. “Yes, there is.” He turned to us. “Get in my SUV. We’ll lead them.”
As Caitlin clambered into the back seat and I claimed shotgun, Killian started up the SUV and set off, driving over the snow-covered rough terrain. There was an access road to either side of the building, but it was clear that neither had been used for a long time. Bushes and roots had grown up around and through the roads, but they were still passable.
The medic unit, cop car, and ambulance followed us. Less than five minutes later, Killian pulled to a stop. A sense of dread swept over me. I turned to stare at the building. We were less than a hundred yards from the west side, and shadows were creeping out. In front of us, the tree line of the Mystic Wood was a mere hundred yards away.
As I looked around, trying to spot the body, Killian motioned to the medics and they followed him toward the thicket. Caitlin and I joined them. I had no desire to stay this close to the building while everybody else vanished into the woods.
Along the way, I explained to Millie what had happened and why we were here. “Conjure Ink was hired to scope out whether it’s safe for a real estate company to buy this plot of land, raze the building, and put up houses.”
“I think we—the team—has talked to you before,” Caitlin said.
Millie nodded. “Last year, you and your boss came to the station to ask about someone who went missing. I remember you and I remember Conjure Ink. You guys do good work.”
We paused as Killian pointed ahead. “There he is.”
I craned my neck, trying to see who it was.
There, sprawled on the ground, was Tad. In my heart, I was relieved. Hank was stronger. He had a better chance of surviving an attack. Tad wouldn’t make it long, if he were being held prisoner. Hank was bigger and stronger, and though human, he had a magical background.
The medics immediately went to work on Tad as Caitlin sought my hand. I squeezed it tight, and in one of those sudden flashes that came with being a witch, I realized that she was in love with him. Caitlin was in love with Tad. I also realized that she had no clue that she felt the way she did. She had buried her feelings, probably due to the fact that she was engaged.
I turned to her, wanting to ease her mind. “He’s still alive.”
She nodded, worrying her lip. “I know, it’s just…”
“He seems so fragile, doesn’t he?” I said, understanding exactly what she was saying. As scared as this shit was making me, I had magic in my bones, and that gave me strength. Just like Caitlin and Killian being shifters provided them with extra strength. But Tad was human, and he was just doing his best at a job he loved. He didn’t have the reserves the rest of us had.
One of the medics began performing CPR. The other medic prepared one of those plastic resuscitators, and then the first medic leaned back as they slipped the seal over Tad’s mouth and began squeezing the bag. A tense few minutes went by and then Tad shuddered and coughed. The medics went through a flurry of checks, listening to his lungs again, and his heart, and then—miracle of miracles—Tad opened his eyes and tried to sit up.
“You stay down,” one of the medics said. They strapped an oxygen mask to his face, placed him on a gurney, and raised it. Another medic began gathering up their equipment off the ground. Tad struggled to tear the mask away. We were all close enough to hear what he had to say.
“Hank,” Tad wheezed. “He’s still in the building.”
“Where?” Millie asked. “Can you tell us where?”
“Basement.” Tad struggled to speak.
It was then I noticed the marks on his face. They were like sucker imprints—as though an octopus had attached itself to his face.
“What the hell are those?” I asked, pointing.
Tad tried to speak, but he couldn’t manage anything else, and he fell back on the gurney, closing his eyes.
“Tad!” Caitlin’s eyes went wide, but the nearest medic rested a hand on her shoulder.
“He’s all right. He’s just very weak. We need to get him to a hospital.”
As they trundled him toward the ambulance—thank gods for wheeled gurneys—we followed in a cluster, with Millie walking next to me.
“If Hank is still in there, he’s in danger,” I said. “Caitlin and I can’t possibly rescue him on our own. We’d end up like Tad, or worse.”
“What do you think attacked him?” Millie asked.