Chapter 28: The Council of Shadows
The ruins of Shadow Creek lay in a valley between three mountain ranges.
It was an old lumber mill that had burned down a century ago. Rusted iron gears jutted out of the earth like the ribs of a buried giant. The river that ran through it was black and fast.
We arrived ten minutes before midnight.
We did not take a car. We ran.
Kael and I moved through the forest in wolf form. The run helped clear my head. The physical exertion burned away the anxiety that had been gnawing at my stomach since the broadcast.
We shifted back behind a crumbling stone wall. We dressed quickly in the clothes we had carried in waterproof bags.
"Do you smell them?" Kael asked. He buttoned his tactical shirt.
"I smell wet dog and ego," I said. "They are here."
We walked
