Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

Everybody froze. Con, the ghul girl, and I all stared at each other. My butt cried out in anguish from the sudden fall.

Then Con and the girl bolted in opposite directions.

"Snozzberries!" I swore.

Scrambling back to my feet, I sprinted after the girl. She didn't use the paths like Con had, instead cutting straight through the forest. I dodged and wove between the trees, but so did she, and right off the bat I nearly lost track of her.

"Over there!" a squeaky voice said.

Ethan flitted into view, his blue glow helping to light up the nearly pitch black woods a little. He pointed, and I spotted the female ghul. She fled with the litheness that only a creature of the night could achieve, passing through the forest so smoothly she was almost one with the shadows.

Too bad for her, shadows are stupid. I drew Splatsy and gave chase.

"What about Con?" Ethan shouted into my ear as he flew alongside me, both of us hurtling through the woods at a dangerous speed.

"Don't worry about him!" I yelled back. "She's the one we're looking for!"

"How do you know?"

I didn't ans—I mean, I couldn't answer. Because I was concentrating too hard on not losing sight of the girl ghul. Yeah.

She burst out of the forest, back onto one of the park's paths, and took a sharp right to follow it. I was just a few seconds behind her. I felt a surge of confidence. This was much easier terrain to chase her on! I'd catch up to her in no time! And just to make sure…

Using my free hand, I whipped out my inhaler and took a pull from it. Power coursed through my veins, trying to reinvigorate my tired muscles, but I didn't let it. Instead, I forced it down into my feet. My shoes lit up with bright blue light. I fixed my eyes on the ghul ahead—and jumped!

Magic exploded from the soles of my shoes, sending me rocketing through the air. The moonlit park streaked past me in a blur of colors, and in an instant I'd left Ethan behind. I let the momentum carry me, raising Splatsy for the attack. The rogue ghul was fast, but not that fast. I was coming up on her from behind like a bullet train bearing down on an unfortunate turtle. I swung Splatsy at the last second, planning to smash her head. If she wanted to go around hurting people like a maiam, then she could die like one! I swung—

She ducked and rolled.

"Buffalo wings!" I screamed as Splatsy soared harmlessly over her head.

My feet touched the ground, and I skidded to a stop before spinning around to confront the rogue ghul. A quick glance told me we'd landed on a little stone bridge that spanned Caterwaul Creek. I was blocking the exit. There was nothing below us but a fifteen foot fall down to the shallow water below.

The ghul glared at me, her silver eyes gleaming murderously in the moonlight. She bared her fangs and gave an almost feline hiss.

"What the hell do you people want from me?" she demanded.

"As if you don't know," I shot back, "murderer!"

"I haven't killed anyone!"

I raised Splatsy into a fighting stance. "Tell it to the whoopie cushion in the sky!"

I rushed at her, swinging Splatsy for another head smashing. She dodged out of the way again, but didn't make any move to retaliate. That struck me as odd, but not odd enough to hold back. I attacked a second time, then a third. She was a slippery little sardine, though, and managed to evade both of them. Growling with frustration, I aimed a swing at her ankles. She leaped over Splatsy effortlessly—falling right into my trap.

In an instant, I'd charged one of my shoes with magic again. Before her feet could even touch the ground, I thrust my leg out, kicking her right in the stomach. Then I released the magic, and the explosion sent her rocketing backwards. She struck the bridge's railing with a cry of pain and slumped to the ground, her head hanging.

"I'm not going to let you hurt anybody else in my town," I said, walking over to her prone form. "And that includes my brother!"

"Your…brother?" she groaned, struggling to raise her head.

A blue light came hurtling out of the darkness, and Ethan flew up beside me.

"There you are!" he yelled in high pitched outrage. "You abandoned me!"

"We have bigger things to worry about," I said, not taking my eyes off the girl.

"Oh, really?" Ethan demanded. "Big girl has big things to worry about? Big, huge, gigantic things?"

I clenched my jaw. "Yeah, kinda!"

"Bigger than your best friend? So big that you'd leave me all alone in the middle of the woods where I could get eaten by a moose or something?"

By now the ghul girl was staring at us in undisguised confusion.

"Ethan, we can talk about this later!" I snapped. "Right now I'm—"

ZAP!

A jolt of pain shot through my skull, stronger than the other times he had shocked me. My vision blurred, and I stumbled, Splatsy clattering to the ground at my feet. I couldn’t focus my eyes—but I could still see the ghul get to her feet and vault over the side of the bridge.

"No!" I yelled.

My vision cleared a few seconds later, and I raced to the railing and looked down just in time to see the ghul girl dash beneath the bridge.

"What the filet mignon, Ethan?" I screamed, rounding on the blue bonehead. "Are you insane?"

He jabbed a finger at me. "Don't ignore me, you—"

I swatted him out of the air like a mosquito and leaped over the side of the bridge.

Cold water splashed everywhere when I landed, and I stood facing the underside of the bridge. It was pitch black under there, so dark that even though the bridge was only about seven feet wide I couldn't see the other side. I paused, resisting the urge to charge right in and pick up where we'd left off.

Ethan flew down to join me, rage turning his face from blue to purple. "I'll fry you for that, you freaking—"

"Shh, quiet!" I hissed. To my surprise, he did exactly that. Hovering in the air in front of me, his anger already forgotten, he gave the shadows beneath the bridge a curious look.

"Is she in there?" he asked, flying a little closer.

"Ethan, get away!" I snapped.

He ignored me. "You want me to…"

His voice trailed off as two big beams of light shot out of the darkness. He froze, and a growl as deep as an earthquake shook the night air.

Spaghetti and mothballs! I thought, tightening my grip on Splatsy. It looked like Zombiesauruscorn Rex was back for a rematch.

"Ethan, move!" I yelled at the stupid fairy.

Beneath the rumbling growl, I could just barely hear him say, "It's…It can't be the…"

HONK HONNNNNK!

The noise felt like a drill being shoved into my ears, and something horrible occurred to me. Ethan was the one closest to the bridge. The ghul girl wasn't reading my fears, she was reading his! The way those eyes shone in the darkness almost looked like…

Headlights!

The ground shook as the enormous black semi-truck came roaring out from under the bridge. Ethan was still hovering right in its path, like a deer that was about to become roadkill—or in his case, a bug on the windshield.

"Ethan!" I screamed, but I already knew he'd never be able to move in time.

I acted without thinking, charging straight at the oncoming truck. It honked again, its horn loud enough to vibrate my heart. I reached out, the scene playing in slow motion in my eyes. The seconds stretched into hours as I raced the truck to my best friend, and…

I grabbed Ethan in one hand and flung him to the side as hard as I could. He flew, tumbling head over heels through the air, and landed in the soft green grass at the creek's edge.

Then the truck hit me.