Returning through the forest was probably better. As humans, the children were practically defenseless, but as animals they could move faster and hide better.
He gave himself a moment to tune in to his surroundings, sensing enemies, allies, and the remaining children.
Most of the action was still concentrated in one area, though pulses of human life were scattered through the woods. Their immediate area was safe. Another child hid in the woods, and perhaps they could intercept it on their way back.
He focused on their goal, immediately identifying Declan. He couldn’t usually identify thoughts or emotions, only someone’s presence. At most, he could tell if someone was quite ill, their light wavering.
But when he sensed Declan now, he felt danger. That uneasy sense of a predator nearby, the urge to hide and fight. Declan was in trouble.
He’d already taken three running paces before he realized that he had another responsibility.
With his clean tentacle, he reached out to the opossum shifter and thought as hard and clearly as he could. Hide. Keep the others safe. I will come back for you.
She nodded solemnly. “We’ll wait here. I can keep them safe.”
She turned to the other three, who all shifted on some unspoken command, then followed her into the woods.
Geir broke out into a run.
Chapter 31
Declan
The hand over Declan’s mouth smelled like chemicals and sweat.
He tried to bite it and it moved down around his throat. “Help!” he screamed.
He’d taken a self-defense class years ago and that was the first thing they told you. Make noise. The second thing was… fuck, he couldn’t remember. Go for the eyes and the balls, but he couldn’t reach either one. He couldn’t even move his arms much. He could kick but… Oh, yeah, that was it. Kneecaps.
He raised one leg and smashed his heel back hard. The man swore and dropped his hold, but Declan only managed a few steps before his captor grabbed his wrist and hauled him back in.
“Help!” he yelled again. The man punched his cheek and his face exploded in pain. He hadn’t realized that a punch could hurt that much.
Through the throbbing, he still heard a car door loudly close. Hopefully the kid was inside.
The man started to drag him toward the vehicles. That was the other thing he’d learned—better injured and outside the car than inside and gone where no one could find you. He struggled harder, making his captor fight for each step.
Over his own struggles, he was pretty certain he heard footsteps, coming at a run, and thrashing in the underbrush. Either help was on its way, or the kidnappers had him badly, badly outnumbered.
“Stop!” someone shouted.
Everyone froze, waiting.
He realized, perhaps irrelevantly, that he was still holding his cell phone, the light still shining on a little circle of the forest floor. Maybe he could blind his attackers?
But there was an even greater chance that he’d blind anyone who was coming to help him. Plus, he knew that a lot of animals could see in the dark. Better to keep the light pressed to his leg, then.
Someone leaned in close beside him and realized he’d forgotten about the other kidnapper. A round, cold circle pressed against the side of his head.
This was real. Really, really, real. Not like in the movies at all. He felt sick with terror.
Four taller shapes stepped into the woods around them. Two pairs of yellow eyes shone in the darkness. Then more glinted from behind them. Already he felt better.
Terrified, but better.
“He has a gun,” Declan spoke into the night. He thought his voice would shake, but he sounded remarkably solid. He should get two fucking medals for this. He imagined sewing little scout badges onto his shirt and almost broke into hysterical giggles as his mind tried to cope with his fear.
“Everyone stay back,” the man beside him shouted. “We’re going to watch you all drive away. All of you. And you’re going to leave us the keys to one car. He comes with us, and he stays safe as long as we do.”
The man’s voice sounded familiar. He might not have recognized it, except that he’d only met one creepy asshole since moving here. Jack. The guy behind him was probably Marlon.
Footsteps pounded across the pavement, crashing into the circle of their precarious tableau. Finally, he made out Geir’s silhouette, recognizable only by the glint of moonlight on his bare chest. His shoulders were heaving like he’d been running. And his head… that was definitely different.
In the heavy blackness, Declan made out the slither of small cephalopod arms and something shiny and pointed below. A shaft of moonlight glimmered on one wide, dark eye.
His kraken had come for him.
Declan watched as Geir slowly stepped backward, fading into the woods. He heard quiet rustles and snaps all around him. He trusted Geir, but he sure hoped he had a plan. And he really, really wished he could see.
“We can do that.” Declan recognized the voice as Tier’s. “We don’t want anyone hurt. Where are you going to leave him?” Did the Chief trust Declan, or was he going to throw him away as a bargaining chip?
No, Geir would never let that happen. More leaves rustled behind him. The man holding him turned to look that direction, but Declan doubted he could see anything. The shifters probably could, though.
Jack answered, his tone cold. “He’ll call you when we drop him off.”
Declan knew with startling clarity that if he got into a car with this man, he wouldn’t ever make that call.
“Alright,” came the Chief’s calm voice. “We’ll just give you a number he can use. Sas and Obed with me. Kayla, get the keys. Everyone else back to the vans.”
It was hard to make out anything in the dark, but it looked like a human and some large predator moved to stand behind the Chief. A cougar? A coyote? He could see only the yellow of its eyes. He heard more movement behind him. God, this better be a fucking stalling technique.
The man holding Declan suddenly leaned to the side. It felt like he was shaking out his foot, the movements jostling Declan with each jerk. Then he twitched, his arms tightening once before they started to quiver. What the hell?
Shadows blended and moved, and that terrifying cold circle that had been pressed to his temple moved. Something thumped hard against his leg.
Another shot rang out, this one so close that it made his ears ring. He heard scuffling in front of him, and the arms holding him released.
He wanted to run, to hide, to curl up in Geir’s arms, but he didn’t know where to go. He was pretty sure he’d been rescued, but he just couldn’t see.
Unable to wait any longer, he shone the light below. The man who’d attacked him lay prone on the ground, Geir pinning him down with two tentacles. Geir’s head had shifted, his eyes enormous with U-shaped pupils and his nose gone. Where his mouth should be was a white tube with a black beak protruding from it surrounded by a smaller form of his kraken arms, lined with tiny suckers.
Declan had heard that squids had beaks, but he hadn’t expected Geir’s to look so much like, well, a beak. There were two shiny black pieces, each one curved and meeting at a point, almost like a parrot’s bill. Geir withdrew them from the man’s leather jacket and snapped them back under the tangle of moving arms.
A dark liquid oozed across the leather on the man’s back, and Declan realized it was blood. Was that from Geir’s bite? It had to be.