Anomaly (Causal Enchantment #4)(35)

That’s when Max entered my head.

Where the hell are you two?

“I can’t deal with this now …,” I muttered to myself, an even larger spark of guilt stirring in my belly. I’d deceived Max countless times for his own good and had promised never to do it again. Julian’s hunting. If I told Max the truth, he’d be tearing through the woods after me. I needed him there, watching over Veronique and the others.

What’s he hunting?

Deer.

And do the deer have 9-1-1 on their speed dials? Because the police and ambulance sirens have been going off for the past half hour.

I sucked my bottom lip into my mouth. Dixon’s family. I hoped his mother made it. There may have been an incident.

“So? Will it work?” Julian urged, pulling my attention back to our need for communication with the group.

“No. The plug’s too wide,” I said, tossing the cord to the floor.

“A lot of people have more than one phone these days. Let me check under my seat,” Julian offered, leaning forward to fish a hand under the seat, at the same time as Max grumbled, I think you’ve had enough fresh air.

“We’ll be back in an hour,” I lied, earning Julian’s confused glance. I shook my head. “Sorry, I mean …” Maybe this whole communicating via telepathy thing wasn’t so fantastic. We’ll be back in an hour. I followed suit, first reaching beneath my seat, and then turned to fish around on the floor in the back seat.

I’m bored, Max moaned. And Celine talks too much about silly things. And she’s petting me. I may bite her soon.

Just … relax. You did a lot of that in the mountains. I know you excel at it.

We had bigger issues to worry about right now than a bored werebeast and a chatty southern fledgling.

There was a pause and then, I’m definitely going to bite her.

Get out of my head, Max!

Fine. Don’t ask for updates from me.

“Oh, shit!” Julian shouted. I spun in my seat in time to see a blue Toyota swerving onto the shoulder in front of us. Julian slammed on the brakes, sending my body lurching forward. The seat belt cut into my neck. We were going too fast. The roads were too icy. There was no room to maneuver.

The sound of crunching metal and breaking glass blasted my ears as we slammed into the back of the car, our dashboard exploding as the air bags discharged into my face for the second time tonight. I felt the bone in my nose snap—also for a second time tonight. The pain barely registered before it was gone, leaving only a light hissing sound coming from the engine.

“Evie! Are you okay?” Julian yelled.

“Of course!” My nostrils caught a pungent odor. “Is the car—”

“On fire?” Julian shouldered the driver’s side door, shattering the remaining glass in the window as the metal heaved off its hinges. I reached down and tore through my seat belt. Grabbing my arm, he yanked me out, the jagged glass on his seat slashing at my clothes and skin.

People were already climbing out of their cars, some staring at us with wide eyes while others ran to the Toyota, trying in vain to open the doors. I suspected they’d need the Jaws of Life. The thing was folded up like an accordion.

Chaos swirled around us as people ran and shouted and grabbed onto us. I watched Julian’s eyes chasing after them, widening, his arm tensing beneath my grip. Oh, not this again!

“Julian. You are not going to harm any of these people.” With my free hand, I grasped his jaw, forcing his attention on me. “We need to find Amelie,” I reminded him, ignoring the shouts of “Are you okay?” around us.

His head bobbed up and down. “I’ll find another car.” He took off, leaving me standing on the side of the highway, surrounded by frantic spectators, remorse stabbing at my insides as I stared at the Toyota.

One heartbeat remained inside.

“Evie!” I heard Julian’s voice and I knew we had to go, to let the spectators deal with this.

And yet I also knew that maybe I could help this person. There were too many witnesses. We were heading into a warzone, based on the horrifying picture that the radio had painted for us. I was desperate to see Caden. I was desperate to find Amelie. There were so many valid reasons to run now and yet my legs didn’t want to move.

Until my ears caught the child’s cry within the car.

Viggo had told me once that children were so hard to resist.

It was followed closely by a waft of honey sweetness.

I didn’t wait. I couldn’t. I bolted for the car, shoving the humans out of the way, beating Julian by half a second to barricade the door. “Don’t you dare!” There was no effort in finding my emotions behind that. I’d witnessed many horrors in my life but I would never allow that to happen. “You will never so much as look at a human and think of feeding off of them again, do you understand?” I pushed out through gritted teeth, that energy within me reaching the boiling point, overflowing into my limbs. I was less intent on compelling Julian and more determined to push my own will onto him. To get what I wanted. And I didn’t want to deal with this anymore.

Cries of confusion and horror filled the air but I ignored them. Julian’s shoes scraped over the shards of glass and loose stones as he stepped back.

Another wail assaulted my ears. Flames blossomed from the hood of our mangled mess. It was close enough to this car to threaten it.