If something happens to who? I’m so confused right now, and a feeling of panic is starting to come over me.
That foreboding feeling from last night.
It never really left. I thought it was because of me, because of what I almost did, of what I was about to do … but the sound of her voice makes me think it’s something else.
“What—”
She cuts me off.
“Honestly, how could you be so selfish and stupid? Even for a human,” she shakes her head and I can feel the anger emanating from her.
I have to swerve to avoid hitting an oncoming car, and finally, I manage to get a word in edgewise.
“Vivian, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Who did I goad into doing something? Who is it that you’re worried about something happening to?”
I glance over at her, and the look on her face …
It tells me right away, even before she speaks.
“Rory,” she says. “It’s Rory.”
22
Sabrina
The sound of his name on her lips feels like a dagger to the chest.
Rory.
He’s in trouble.
“Go this way,” Vivian says as she points down a sudden intersection in the road. The car jerks to the side as I take the turn, the tires careening off the edge for a moment as I overcorrect. The jolt of tires sha
kes me back to some semblance of sense.
The last grip of the mushrooms fades, leaving me overwhelmingly aware of that fact that this here, now, with Vivian beside me … it’s actually happening. It’s not just in my head.
“Vivian,” I say as hysteria grips me. “You have to tell me what’s happened. What’s wrong with Rory?”
“Currently his obsession with you,” she says, angrily. “As soon as Romulus’ pack left, Rory left us too. He told Romulus that he was going off on his own for a while to scout out the surrounding areas, but everyone knew what he was really doing.”
“What was that?” I ask. “What was he doing?”
“Watching over you.”
What?
“But he said he was leaving,” I stammer as tears start to well in my eyes. “All of you left, Rory left too.”
“He snuck away more than once. In fact, he snuck away all the bloody time. But this time, last night, he didn’t come back.”
The yellow eyes in the forest.
They weren’t imagined.
My hands jerk the wheel, drawing the car back closer to the middle of the road. I try to focus on not driving off the road, but it’s not easy to concentrate on anything other than Vivian’s words as she continues.
“After Rory didn’t return, I could just sense that something wasn’t right, so I went after him. I don’t know what drove him to it, but when I found him last night …” She trails off, her eyes flickering accusatorially over to me. “He was not himself. He was wildly out of control and trust me, I’ve seen Rory out of control before, but never like this. You know his temper.”