“Nothing.” Raye lifted her gaze. “But I did hear wolves.”
“Really?”
“Didn’t you?”
Cassandra shook her head, then chewed her lip.
Owen released his pent-up breath in a rush. “What are we going to do now? Henry can’t find her. You couldn’t see anything.”
Cassandra held up a hand. “I didn’t say that I didn’t see anything.”
“You did?”
She nodded.
“Where is she? How is she?”
“I didn’t see Becca. But I did see a long, flat, raised stone.”
“A natural altar.” Raye had gone pale. “The perfect place for a sacrifice.”
* * *
Deb started in our direction. “What’s going on?”
“He—” I began.
Jeremy cut me. High up between my neck and collarbone—not an artery, not yet—but with my hands bound together and my arms tied down, I couldn’t heal the gash. Blood dripped onto the stone.
Chief Deb had her gun out, but she wasn’t pointing it at Jeremy, she was pointing it at the trees, which were shaking with the force of the storm.
“Who’s there?” she shouted.
I could have sworn I heard the distant howl of a wolf, and for a minute I feared Pru would leap out. Bound like this, I wouldn’t be able to heal her if she were shot. But when the sound died, I dismissed it as the wail of the wind.
Then Owen’s mother emerged from the forest. She raced at Chief Deb, arm raised. The watery, gray light of the cloud-covered sun revealed a knife—plain old butcher—but it would … butcher.
“No!” I shouted.
Chief Deb was here to save me.
“Die, wi—!” Mary shrieked.
Boom!
Mary jerked. Blood blossomed on her shirt in almost the same pattern it had made on Mistress June’s. The knife tumbled to the ground. Mary followed.
Chief Deb turned, gun still in her hands. I waited for her to shoot Jeremy. Instead, she put the gun back in her holster.
“About damn time you got here,” Jeremy said.
Chapter 27
“Do you know where a stone like that might be located?” Franklin asked.
Owen shook his head. Panic threatened. Becca had been kidnapped. Cassandra had scried for her location and seen an altar. One and one equaled—
“Someone’s going to sacrifice Becca to raise Roland McHugh.”
When no one argued with him, Owen sat on the bed because his legs couldn’t support him any more. Reggie laid his head on Owen’s knee. Owen didn’t have the energy to pet him and the dog whined, concerned.
“The wolves,” Raye said.
“What about them?”
“I heard them when we scried for Becca’s location, which makes me think they’re near her. And they would be, because animals, especially wolves, are drawn to her.”
“Go on,” Franklin said.
“So far I share with Henry the ability to see, hear, communicate with ghosts, as well as his power of telekinesis. Becca, like Pru, has an affinity for animals. But Pru could also call the wolves.” Her gaze went to the wolf, which already stood at the motel room door.
“Let her out,” Owen said.
Cassandra, who was the closest, did. The instant Pru was outside, the long, lonely, chilling howl of a lone wolf lifted toward the sky. The faint outline of a moon occupied the horizon. Owen had always thought the days when both the moon and the sun were visible kind of creepy—as if they lived on a different planet altogether.
“I thought we had more time.” Raye’s gaze remained on the spooky daytime moon.
“What are you talking about?”
“Sacrifice of a witch by a Venatores Mali with the most kills, while the worthy believers chant, skyclad, beneath the moon. I thought that meant night.” She pointed at the watery, silver orb. “But apparently not.”
Owen’s chest tightened. “We need to hurry.”
Pru howled again. A moment later, what sounded like a dozen wolves, maybe more, maybe less, hard to tell, answered from a distance.
“How are we going to find them?” Owen asked.
Raye held up a hand as Pru howled a third time. When the wolves answered, they were a lot closer.
“We should probably head in their direction,” Bobby said. “A pack of wolves running down the street is going to cause more trouble than we need right now and waste far too much time.”
“Henry,” Raye snapped. “Tell Pru to hold them at the edge of town.”
The wolf loped in the direction of the woods at the opposite end of the street from Becca’s clinic. Reggie took one step after her.
“Bly’b.”
The dog glanced at Owen, then back at the figure of Pru in the distance. His expression was so melancholy Owen would have been amused if it wasn’t for … everything.