“Look at me, child,” Sirhan said.

My vision snapped from the beastly hand to the face that glared at me through the open window. I stifled a gasp, but let my eyes grow wide—dilating enough in the dark to really see what was in front of me: a face that was also a grotesque mixture of animal and human. He had yellow eyes and a snout instead of a normal nose and jaw. His ears, on the sides of his head, came to mutant-looking points at the top.

“Are you afraid of me, child?” he asked. His blackened gums held pointed teeth—like I was staring into the mouth of a wolf.

“No,” I said.

“Then tell me, what is it that you think I want. What could you give me to ensure the safety of the ones you love?”

I looked him over—not only was he a mixture of man and beast, his body also looked decrepit and fragile. A thin plastic tube with two little nodules hung around his neck. I recognized what it was from the hospital—an oxygen feed. He must have pulled it from his animal-like nostrils just to speak to me.

“You’re dying,” I said. “And you want to be cured so your soul will be free from the wolf before you pass. Healing people isn’t the only thing I can do, as I’m sure you’ve heard or you wouldn’t be here. If you meet my demands, I will provide the cure for you.”

Chapter Twenty-eight

WOLVES AT THE GATE

TEN MINUTES LATER, INSIDE SIRHAN’S CAR

The smell of decay and wolf assaulted my senses with every breath I took as I rode in the back of Sirhan’s limousine with the ancient Urbat. Sirhan’s car wasn’t a limo in the traditional prom-night sense of the word. It could hold only four people: the driver, a spearman who sat up front, Sirhan, and me. The leather of my seat was so soft I finally understood why some people compared the feel of fine leather to butter. I’d never been in any vehicle nearly as nice as this one, but I couldn’t find comfort inside of it. Not only was the smell of Sirhan almost too much to handle, but the dark-tinted windows made it impossible to see if Daniel and the others were truly following us like they were supposed to.

My nails dug into my skin as I held my arms crossed in front of my chest. It didn’t help my nerves that Sirhan’s labored breaths as he sucked in air from his oxygen tank reminded me of Darth Vader. He didn’t speak to me again, just kept looking occasionally in my direction and laughing until his mirth turned into fits of hacking coughs.

At Dad’s insistence, Sirhan had agreed to move our negotiations to a new location—away from our curious neighbors, who kept peering out their windows at the spectacle in our front yard. My parents were going to have a devil of a time explaining what exactly had been going on. No doubt Dad would tell them we’d been rehearsing for a Christmas pageant or something. The only problem with that was then Dad would actually insist on our putting on a Christmas pageant this year just so he wouldn’t be caught in a lie.

Great, I thought. Just the thing to look forward to.

An aching gripped my heart, and suddenly I was looking forward to something like that. Anything, really. Because looking forward, making plans, feeling like there would be anything beyond this night, was what I needed to keep my nerves at bay.

I didn’t know if Sirhan or anyone else would go for my plan—or if he could be trusted actually to meet my demands in the end. Only time would tell.

We didn’t go far. The only place that Dad could think of to hold such a large group was the social hall of the parish. One of the guards prodded me out of the limo into the empty parking lot with the point of his spear.

For a moment, I worried I’d been kidnapped, but I sighed with relief as the rest of the caravan of black Cadillac Escalades pulled in behind us. Daniel and my father got out of one of the vehicles; Talbot, Jude, and the lost boys soon arrived in other cars.

The spearmen shuffled us into the building, followed by a long procession of Sirhan’s robe-clad people—or Urbats, to be exact. We stood around in the social hall, feeling like cattle herded into a corral.

Or perhaps a slaughterhouse.

Daniel gripped my hand hard. Almost like he feared he’d never get a chance to again.

“They’re all looking at me,” I said, and nodded toward the members of Sirhan’s pack, who were staring at me.

“It’s to be expected after what you did for Jordan. You’re the Divine One, remember?” Daniel said. “You’re the stuff of legends to them, and you proved them true.”

“Oh. Yeah. That.” Earlier in the week, I’d felt so completely alone. Now I felt claustrophobic, surrounded by so many people and their searching eyes. “Wait, Jordan?” Daniel knew that young woman’s name?

But Daniel had already turned to one of the spearmen. “What now?” Daniel asked him.

“We wait for Sirhan.”

“What’s taking so long?”

The spearman furrowed his brow and rocked a little back and forth, looking like he was contemplating just how much to say. “Sirhan has his own medical staff. He won’t exit the car until they’ve fully examined him and deemed it safe for him to be moved.” His brow crinkled deeper. “He shouldn’t have left the estate to begin with, if you ask me.”

Daniel nodded. I don’t know about him, but I was surprised by the spearman’s honesty.

Minutes ticked by, and the silence started to wane. Sirhan’s people started to talk amongst themselves, many pointing in my direction. The spearman Daniel had questioned left our side and joined the nine other green-robed spear bearers, who were huddled in the far corner, looking like they were engaged in some sort of debate. Some of the men who’d been wearing blue robes had taken them off, revealing regular old T-shirts and jeans underneath.

“What’s the deal with the robes?” Jude asked from behind me. “They look like a bunch of wizards.”

“My hypothesis,” Brent said. “They’re either for ceremony or post-transformation convenience.”

“Post what?” Slade said.

“You know, the whole naked factor. Normal clothes never survive the transformation from human to wolf, which means you’re always naked when you go back to being human. The robes are quite clever. Easily discarded before transformation, and there for the convenience of covering up your … stuff, when you change back.”

Slade laughed. “I like the way they think. Waking up somewhere with a bunch of naked guys has always been my least-favorite part of this werewolf gig.”