The Changeling (32 page)

“Okay…”

“And make sure your friends are inside as well.” The tone of his voice was off. He was agitated.

“What’s wrong?”

“This isn’t a storm,” he said, slowly looking back at me.

My blood turned ice cold. “What? Unseelie?”

“Yes. I cannot believe they would be this brazen.”

“Maggie,” Billy said from behind me, “You need to get inside, now.”

“What’s going on?”

“Inside, now,” he insisted with a grave tone in his voice that I found all too familiar.

Sherman closed the top on the Packard with his mind and moved to the front of the building. I started backing up but channeled power from the night air as I did, extending my mind.

“
…twenty five, so far,”
I heard Sherman say to Billy.

“
Is there time to gather reinforcements?”
Billy asked.

“
No, there is not. Sara?”

“Yes?”
She said.

“
Take the back of the building, quickly. Half approach from the rear. I’ll stay here. Billy, do not leave Maggie’s side.
”

I felt like I was moving in slow motion when I ran back inside the hotel. I couldn’t believe the Unseelie were coming here, right now, in such a public place. My friends were gathering at the front of the hotel, under the awning and in the windows, staring at the violent flashes headed our way. I had to get them inside and away from the windows, so I screamed, “Tornado. Get in the basement.”

“
Brilliant thinking Maggie,”
Billy said silently, before he also yelled, “Tornado, everyone into the basement. Now!”

Billy compelled everyone, both urging and calming, as the crowd quickly shuffled toward the stairwell. The lobby quickly filled with students, and then the power went out, setting off a wave of panic through them. Again Billy compelled them, powerfully, and generated power to the lights in the lobby and down the stairs.

With my mind still extended, I felt the Unseelie approaching. They advanced slowly and methodically at first, then rushing forward in pairs, attacking and streaking away. The wind picked up just before sheets of rain hit the windows and deafening thunderclaps rattled the hotel. Ignoring the chorus of screams that filled the air each time thunder rocked the building, I focused on the Unseelie, ready to defend my friends regardless of the consequences.

During one of the Unseelie charges, I felt a familiar presence enter the building high above me. Cassandra was there. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead and a shiver ran down my spine the moment I realized that Doug was somewhere above me too. I headed for the stairs.

“Maggie, stay put,”
Billy screeched in my head.

Ignoring him, I raced for the stairs, passing Mr. Dow who was busy helping my classmates to the basement.

“Maggie, you need to stay with me.”

“I have to find Doug.”

“No, you do not. STAY WITH ME!”

“I can’t. I’m sorry, Billy.”

I ran up the stairs, past a few bewildered and frightened guests, as the storm raged outside. The power was out above the first floor, turning the corridors into frightening, dark spaces. At the next landing, my senses confirmed that Cassandra was still above me. My heart was pounding and my breath labored as I reached the top floor. Outside, in the dark woods surrounding the hotel, the Unseelie were charging in and darting back out, trying to get past Sherman and Sara. Billy was still on the first floor, trying to corral frightened students and keep them out of harm’s way. He couldn’t help me any longer as several Unseelie had taken their natural forms, dove into the earth, and tried to enter the basement from below ground. Billy had to remain downstairs to prevent them from making a subterranean entrance.

Gripping the thick wooden banister, I forced the air out of my lungs and slowly pulled a long breath through my nose—the calming technique worked immediately. Venturing forward in small, tentative steps, I started down the hallway, all the while trying to shake the feeling of being swallowed alive. My senses spread out around me, groping in the darkness, numbly searching for anything that shouldn’t be there. To the south, an Unseelie drew close. Just a few hundred yards from the building, I felt it channel energy. Instinctively, I threw up my Air barrier and turned in the darkness to face it. Through an open door, lightning struck the building, temporarily blinding me. Like a flashbulb, the intense burst burned a residual jagged spot in my retinas. I blinked in the darkness until the ghostly shape dissipated. My confidence faltered as more flashes, like slow strobe lights, turned the hotel into a house of horrors, with the main feature waiting just ahead: Cassandra lingered down the hall in a room on the right.

“Doug!” My voice sounded weak and tentative.

There was no answer.

“Doug,” I yelled as loud as I could. “Are you up here?”

“Go away, Maggie,” he yelled back from down the hall. It sounded like he was in the last room on the left, just opposite the room where I felt Cassandra. I sensed her move in the darkened room and ice-cold fear clutched my chest.

Courage failed me and I stopped in the middle of the hall. The rapid, thrumming timpani of my heartbeat dominated my senses. Lightning crashed against the building again, startling me back into motion. With my shaking hand against the wall, I shuffled down the hall, picking up speed and courage with each step. Between the thunderclaps and gusts of wind rattling the windows, I crept to the door where I’d heard Doug’s voice.

In the darkness, Cassandra moved again. I froze. When she stopped, I moved forward, my nerves frayed. I faced the darkened doorway to the right, and behind that door, my senses were locked on her as I gripped the handle to Doug’s room. It was locked, but only for a second. I felt the latch with my mind and the door sprang open an inch.

“Doug, come with me. Please,” I called out.

“No. Leave me alone, Maggie.” His words came slowly, clumsily.

“Dammit, there’s a tornado. You need to come to the basement with me.”

“I don’t care,” he said.

Cassandra moved closer again, and without flinching I pushed Doug’s door open. I felt movement behind me, so I instinctively spun toward it, turning my back on the room Cassandra occupied. He was standing in front of the window, staring at the swirling rain. A thunderclap backlit his shape; he was bare from the waist up and he had a bottle of whiskey in his hand.

“Doug, please, come with me. You’re being compelled.”

He looked at me, shook his head, and scowled. “Why bother? You hate me. Why do you even care if there’s a tornado? Tell me the truth, wouldn’t that be doing us both a favor?”

“You’re drunk. Now come on, please.”

He laughed and stumbled a bit when he turned around.

“I don’t think I will, thank you very much,” he slurred.

Cassandra moved again, just on the other side of the door across the hall. Fear got the best of me, and even though I didn’t want to get trapped inside the room, I ran to Doug and grabbed his hand.

“You’re coming with me, now. When we get you away from her, you’ll be fine.”

He yanked me to him and twisted my hand behind my back, forcing my body next to his.

“You’re hurting me.”

“Oh, sorry, I guess you’re the only one who’s allowed to do the hurting.” His breath stank of alcohol.

“Doug, please, let’s get downstairs. It isn’t safe here.”

“You’re right, it isn’t safe here. You see, I have a good friend across the hall who bet me you wouldn’t show up. She said you didn’t love me—she’s really jealous.”

“Doug, please…she’s not a friend. She’s making you do this.”

“But I said, no, Maggie does love me, I know it, and she’ll come for me. And what the hell, here you are.”

“Doug, you’re hurting me, now let’s go.”

“Cassandra, did you hear that? She came—she does love me.”

He twisted my hand again and tried to force his mouth on mine. I’d had enough. I felt his fingers with my mind and pulled them away. When I was free, I pushed him off me.

“Where do you think you’re going,” he said, stumbling toward me.

“I’m going to the basement.”

“Naw, hell no, you’re gonna stay here with me and we’re gonna have a little fun.
You
know you want to.”

He took another drink and pushed me backwards until my back was against the wall. I turned my face when he tried to kiss me and grope my body. I screamed at him to stop, but that only made him more frenzied.

As he began rubbing his body against mine, I found his shoulders with my mind and blew him into the wall across the room. He slid down the wall and crumpled onto the floor. He tried unsuccessfully to focus on me, but Doug was the least of my worries. Cassandra had moved to the doorway of the room. She was staring at him.

“Get up, darling, and take what is yours,” she said, turning to glare at me. The meaning of her words sent a chill down my spine. I felt her power as she compelled him.

He wobbled to his feet and started to undo his pants, but before he got his belt loose, I blew him back into the wall hard enough to knock him out.

“That’s not going to happen,” I screamed at her.

“Says you,” she said, smiling just briefly before she changed her shape and took Doug’s form.

“Oh my god, you stay away from me,” I snarled.

I wanted a way, any way, to get out of the room. I reached out with my mind and blew the window open, but she closed it as quickly. My stomach knotted and I started to panic. I heard myself scream when she came across the room toward me. I stopped her briefly, channeling the power of the storm outside, and heard her frustrated cry as her advance halted.

In Doug’s stolen form, she clawed at my barrier, moving closer until the moment I felt her hand make contact, ripping my dress down the front. Searing heat filled the room and I felt Cassandra being flung away from me. Billy grappled with her for a moment, but she slung him to the floor. Both grew fangs and struggled with each other, snapping and growling as they flipped around the room fighting for an advantage. Their movements were nothing but a blur to my physical eyes.

Billy screamed in agony when the first deep gash appeared down his face and across his chest, then again when the second one appeared. In just seconds, she began shredding his flesh and there was nothing he could do to stop her. I focused all of my strength on Billy’s body and managed to block a few of her assaults. He looked up at me, blood pouring out of his wounds, and smiled. Then he said, “Get out of here. Run!”

She looked up at me, with Doug’s face and eyes, and bared her canines before she sunk them deep into Billy’s throat. I was screaming, trying to push her off Billy, when I felt Sara coming. Cassandra felt her, too. She dropped Billy, and flashed out of the room.

From down the corridor, I heard a familiar voice say, “Doug, what are you doing? Where’s Maggie?”

A trick, I thought. There’s no way Rachel would be on the fifth floor, she’s down stairs in the basement with everyone else.

A scream pierced the roar of the storm a second later. A surge of tremendous power caught my attention, and then I recognized something else, a human, but only briefly. Cassandra stopped momentarily at the back of the building and changed forms before casting something to the ground with incredible force. Then she moved away. The remaining Unseelie retreated as well.

An instant later, Sara was at Billy’s side, and in a flash so was Sherman. My stomach heaved when Sherman moved Billy and I saw that the gaping wound in Billy’s neck went to the spine. Cassandra had nearly decapitated him.

“Maggie, are you all right?” Sara asked, studying my body.

“I…I…Billy!” I screamed. “Is he dead?”

“Maggie, he’ll be fine in a few minutes. Remember what I told you—we survive wounds that humans can’t. Can you calm down?” she asked, gently gripping my shoulders as I sobbed and shook. “Did she hurt you?”

I took several deep breaths and sank to the floor. “Was that Rachel I heard? Tell me! Was that Rachel?”

“Maggie, look at me,” she said, worry filling her face, “did she hurt you? Did she?” Sara pointed to my dress.

“No, she didn’t do that. Billy stopped her. Sara, I’ll be okay—where’s Rachel?”

Pain began to register; my stomach was burning. I looked down and saw blood oozing out of my tattered dress and down my legs.

“She needs your help,” Sara said softly to Sherman.

“No, check on Doug,” I protested, clutching my stomach as I fell over face first on the blood stained carpet.

Billy sat up, nodding, while Sherman came to my side and gently rolled me onto my back. The throbbing pain flared when I stretched out, but I bit my lip and focused on the antique light fixture hanging from the ceiling, trying not to scream.

“They’re not deep. She’ll be fine,” he said. The pain stopped in a few seconds and the deep cuts on my stomach began to disappear.

“Rachel! Does she have her?” I pleaded with them again.

“No, she doesn’t,” Sherman said as he finished by repairing my dress.

I exhaled a sigh of relief. “Where is she? Is she all right?”