I helped Gemini’s twin wolf free his other half and then trudged through the jungle of tongues toward Liam, slicing at anything that attempted to rope me.
Liam scrambled out of the hole he’d made before we reached him. He changed back to human, panting and covered with black ooze. “It’s not there! The brain is somewhere else in his body.”
Which made sense, considering I’d cut his male parts from his forehead.
Shayna’s screams cut through the mist. “Danny, look out!”
Danny had attempted to rejoin the battle. He should have stayed down. The Tribemaster batted him with his tail and launched him into the side of Taran’s new Mustang, leaving a huge dent. Emme lifted Danny with her telekinetic force and pulled him to the side of the house and away from the fight.
Taran, encased in an inferno of blue and white flames, gaped at the enormous dent before fixing her royally pissed-off face back on the Tribemaster. “For shit’s sake, get away—now!”
We landed on the ground in time to see a fireball the size of an elephant slam into the giant maggot’s side. It bounced off his rubbery skin and into Taran’s new car, engulfing it in a sea of flames.
“Son of a bitch!”
So maybe the fireball was more the size of a Mustang.
Shayna sprinted across the lawn and attacked. She lifted her swords and rammed them into the two small holes above the maggot’s mouth. She was now unarmed and helpless. The wolves and I rushed to protect her when the remaining tongues enmeshed us in a wriggling net.
Taran struck the Tribemaster with vicious blue lightning bolts. She sizzled the creature’s flesh, but failed to cause much harm. Danny staggered to his feet only to stumble back into the snow. His wolf was exhausted from healing; it would take him time to recover. The pack wasn’t coming and Misha didn’t appear. We were seriously screwed until Emme got creative. She raised Taran’s flaming car with her force and smashed it into the Tribemaster. The creature wailed in pain and the tongues loosened enough to allow us to breathe.
Shayna ripped the borrowed diamond necklace from her neck, ignoring Taran’s loud and descriptive protests, and converted it into a giant translucent sword. Emme hoisted Shayna with her gift and onto the Tribemaster’s back. Her face remained fearful yet resolute. She hacked through tongues and sliced us free. We fell to the ground. Shayna remained on his back, spinning with a dancer’s elegance as she cut through writhing appendages. The wolves and I gathered for an offensive assault and rammed our prey with our claws extended.
“Taran!”
I jerked my head toward Emme’s screams in time to see the Tribemaster lurch forward and swallow Taran whole.
No!
The Geminis roared and dove at the Tribemaster’s face. One latched to the mandible and snapped the bone while the other gripped the lower jaw and yanked. The Tribemaster squalled as his mouth crashed to the ground.
The rest of us attacked the underbelly, determined to kill him and free Taran. Thick and sticky chunks of flesh embedded into my claws and black ooze dripped into my right eye, but I couldn’t stop—I wouldn’t stop. He had my sister.
We tore open the belly just as a horrible gurgle rumbled my front paws. Horror slapped my face like a tangible force. In my mind I believed he was digesting Taran, until a scorching heat built beneath me. I changed back to human, sensing her fire build. “Pull back—now!”
Shayna jumped off the Tribemaster’s back and into my arms. I shoved her ahead of me and tried to scramble away, but I wasn’t fast enough. The Tribemaster exploded. Tarlike innards splattered against our backs and propelled us forward. I landed face-first in a bank of snow on Mrs. Mancuso’s front lawn. I pushed myself up with my arms and gagged. Everything smelled like rotting fish and my exposed skin stung from my belly flop into the frozen snow.
A pile of leftover flesh the size of a mattress stirred to my right. I stumbled to my feet and lifted the edge of the nasty slippery skin. Taran crawled from beneath, spitting vile liquid. “I found the brain,” she sputtered, before she proceeded to projectile vomit.
Gemini’s wolves merged into one and changed to human. He tore across the lawn and hauled Taran into his arms, gallantly stroking back her slimy hair while she continued to hurl.
It must have been love.
Danny, also now human, had finally regained consciousness. He staggered over to me. “What happened?”
Snarling echoed behind me. Koda’s wolf form growled at Shayna. I wasn’t sure what he said, since I didn’t speak wolf, but it didn’t sound pretty. Shayna put her hands on her hips and frowned. “Miakoda Lightfoot, don’t you dare take that tone with me!”
I looked around the neighborhood. The universe had a sense of humor. Seven cars were parked on our street. They remained unscathed, while Taran’s Mustang continued to smolder.