The Devouring Gray(68)

“I’ll drive, then,” she said, reaching over and grabbing the key ring. It felt smooth and cold against her suddenly sweaty hand, and all Violet could see was Rosie behind the steering wheel, her turquoise hair wild, her eyes wide with fear as the semitruck barreled toward her.

But Nora’s life was at stake. And Harper—her friend—had come to her for help. So she pushed down her fears and strode toward the door, her heart ramming against her rib cage like a hummingbird trapped in a net.



The fifteen minutes Harper spent in the backseat of the Saunderses’ Porsche were among the most harrowing of her life. Harper could feel Violet’s fear in each jerky, hesitant motion of the car as hail battered the windshield. It was the kind of deep-seated terror that felt tangible enough for her to close her fingers around it, the kind that sent Harper’s heartbeat ratcheting into her ears.

Nora was lost in the woods. Alone. On one of the most dangerous nights of the year.

And her father and siblings were already out on patrol, leaving any hope of a rescue up to Harper herself.

When they finally pulled into the parking lot beside the town hall, Harper was running her fingers up and down the flat of the sword to keep herself from screaming. Violet had been kind enough to give her a giant raincoat that hid her from the worst of the elements, but the storm still hit Harper hard when she pushed open the car door. They checked the town hall for all signs of Nora, but it was locked, and she was nowhere nearby.

“Don’t you have keys?” Violet asked Isaac.

“I do,” said Isaac. “But there weren’t any kids in this building when I left, and she couldn’t have gotten in without them.”

So they headed into the trees. Each step was an effort against the hail that seemed to be coming down at every angle, bouncing painfully off her shoulders.

Four Paths looked like the Gray tonight, full of skeletal trees that bent and twisted against the force of the wind. The trees around Harper flickered ashen for a second, the weak light of a white sky shining through them, and she shuddered, pressing closer to Violet as Isaac set his jaw and forged ahead.

A flash of lightning jolted through the forest, sending the world around them into harsh illumination—and Harper froze.

For a brief second, she could’ve sworn she’d seen the forms of two hooded figures only a few feet away.

But no. That couldn’t be right. The Church of the Four Deities would have no business going into the forest on a night like this.

She stared into the trees, but as far as she could tell, the figures were gone.

A moment later, Isaac’s yell echoed through the wind. Harper whirled around to find him kneeling only a few feet away, beside a tiny figure curled up against a tree trunk.

Only a few feet away—and yet, in this storm, Harper easily could’ve walked right past her.

“Nora?” Harper rushed toward her, fresh panic engulfing her as she realized how still her sister was, the roots of the tree curled around her like grasping fingers. But her sister stirred immediately at the sound of her voice.

“Harper!” she cried out, opening her arms. Harper dropped the sword on the ground and knelt, Nora’s tiny body shivering against Harper’s raincoat as they embraced.

“Are you okay?” she whispered, planting a kiss on the crown of Nora’s auburn hair.

Nora nodded, burying her face in Harper’s shoulder. “They said you’d come find me, but you took longer than they thought. I was scared.”

Harper drew back, unease coiling through her. A twinge of phantom pain surged through her left arm. “They? Who said that?”

“Dad did.” Nora’s words turned Harper’s stomach. She searched her sister’s freckled face for some sign that she was lying, but Nora’s cheeks were blotchy with fear, not deceit. “He told me to go to the town hall and wait, but I got lost in the woods.”

Harper did her best to keep her voice even, not panicked. “And what, exactly, did he say?”

“That he needed me to sit still until you and the new Saunders girl came to get me. He said he knew you’d get her, and they needed her to come out into the woods tonight.” She hiccuped, then added, “Harper, can we go home now?”

“Of course we can,” said Harper absently, gathering Nora close to her, her eyes scanning the ground for her sword.

She hadn’t imagined those hooded figures after all.

Maurice Carlisle had used his own daughter as bait for Violet.

Which meant they were all in danger—because if her father couldn’t be trusted to protect Nora, he certainly couldn’t be trusted to have any of their best interests in mind.

“Violet?” called Harper, rising to her feet, Nora’s body curled against her arm. “We need to get out of here.”



The forest was overwhelming, but not because of the weather.

Violet had felt herself growing stronger from the moment she’d stepped outside. And the feeling had only increased the longer they’d spent in the woods; making her fingertips crackle like lightning bolts, her skin supercharged with energy.

It was hard to focus on anything but how good it felt.

This was strength.

This was power.

Violet watched Harper embracing her sister as if from a great distance. Her heart was skipping in her chest. Her hands were shaking.