I started. Blood.
“Just a sec,” I blurted and raced into the van, nearly knocking Simon over. I grabbed a spoon and a couple of plastic bags out of a cupboard, then ran back outside. I scooped up stained dirt from two different spots. I didn’t know whether the blood belonged to Eleriss, Jakatra, or the monster, but I bet a sample from any one of the three would go a long way toward helping solve some of these mysteries.
“Ready now,” I said, plopping into the driver’s seat.
When the key turned in the ignition, Simon let out an audible sigh of relief. Even though we hadn’t seen signs of sabotage on the video, he must have been worried about Zelda starting up. I understood the sentiment—I sure didn’t want to spend another night out here.
“I just hope we don’t run across that monster on the way back to town,” Temi muttered, her eyes toward the darkening sky.
Nine by Night: A Multi-Author Urban Fantasy Bundle of Kickass Heroines, Adventure, Magic
CHAPTER 16
Sweat trickled down my ribcage as I gripped the steering wheel at ten and two, my posture and positioning so perfect my driver’s training instructor would have beamed. Zelda tilted and groaned as we maneuvered through the dry riverbed. Pebbles flew up, dinging the bottom of the van, and branches scraped at the exterior. The drive out seemed to be taking even longer than the drive in, or maybe the fading daylight made me extra conscious of the passing of time. I could handle maneuvering down one of the old forest service roads in the dark, but a riverbed?
“Do you guys see that?” Simon pointed ahead and to the right.
With my focus toward the motorcycle tracks in front of our tires, I hadn’t seen anything in the woods. I wholeheartedly wanted there to be nothing out there to see.
“What?” Temi came to stand behind our seats.
“Something big and dark.”
I groaned. “I don’t want to encounter big and dark tonight. Or any night.”
“There it is again.” Simon tapped his finger on the window. “It’s loping along up in the trees, paralleling us.”#p#分页标题#e#
“Not chasing us?” Temi bent her head to peer toward the hillside.
“No, it’s ahead. See it?”
I wanted to keep my eyes on our route, but found myself glancing anyway. He was right. Something was running up there, though the trees and gloomy light made it hard to make out.
“Can we go any faster?” Temi asked.
“I’d like to but—” We hit a rock and only my seatbelt kept me from pitching into Simon’s lap. “Yeah, that.”
“Keep driving,” Simon said. “I’ll keep an eye on it.”
Temi pointed. “There’s the road up ahead.”
Good, though I wished it were the highway instead of the first of several winding dirt roads that would eventually lead us to a gravel road and then a paved road and then the highway... if I didn’t make a wrong turn.
“It’s not veering in this direction, is it?” I asked, glancing to the right again when some branches moved.
“I don’t think so,” Simon said. “I bet it’s chasing the riders, but it’s fallen behind. Or maybe it was injured in the fight and lost time.”
With a lurch, the van climbed out of the riverbed and onto the road. Though deep ruts scoured the packed earth, I pressed the gas, wanting to put distance between us and that creature. Even if it wanted to catch the riders, that didn’t mean it wouldn’t happily take a few minutes out to kill us for sport—or dinner.
Too bad the road didn’t run straight. It curved, following the hilly terrain, and I couldn’t help but think that something running straight might catch up with us.
“Can you check the map, Simon? Make sure we’re going the right way?”
Paper rustled, and the overhead light came on. I was debating on turning the headlights from regular to high beam, not because it’d grown that difficult to see the road yet, but because I had a notion that a brighter forest would be a better forest at that moment.
The road straightened for a stretch. I leaned on the accelerator, my eyes on the distant bend.
A dark figure leaped out of the trees in front of us.
“Look out!” Temi barked, even as I swerved.
It wasn’t enough. The front corner of the van struck the creature, and its huge black form smashed against the windshield. Glass snapped and cracks streaked through my line of sight. Then a clawed limb flailed toward me—clawed and webbed. I threw on the brakes. The creature rolled forward and away from us, but we’d come up on the bend. I couldn’t turn the wheel fast enough—our momentum hurled us off the side of the road. The dark form had disappeared, but a huge tree dominated the view through the windshield.