Remington “Rem” Riley's Arc

Chapter 5 of 10

The wolf came out of the dark faster than Rem could plant his feet. He raised the axe. The blade struck the low stone ceiling and stopped dead. The cave was too tight to swing. In that half-second the beast slammed into him. Its claws raked his ribs. Rem hit the wall, and the axe flew from his grip. It skidded across the rock, still glowing red, out of reach. Rem pressed a hand to his side. Warm blood soaked through his coat. The wolf circled, low and black, its red eyes floating in the shadow. It owned every corner of this cave. Rem had none. "Rem!" Beth grabbed a fistful of the red moss on the wall to steady herself. She had knifed at the beast a moment before, and now her hand came away wet with sap. The thorns had cut her. She wiped the moss from her palm, but the scent clung to her fingers. "What is that smell—" Her eyes went strange. She swayed. The sap had gotten into the cuts on her hand. "Rem, something's wrong," she said. Her words slurred. She turned toward the dark tunnel, drawn to it, and stumbled into the black passage before he could reach her. "Beth, stop!" Rem lunged after her and fell. His side screamed. He heard her footsteps fade into the deeper cave. The wolf froze. Its head snapped toward the tunnel where Beth had gone. Its nose worked the air. The sap. The beast wanted the smell of that bloom more than it wanted Rem. It forgot him completely. Low and hungry, it slid past him into the dark, following her scent like a starved animal to bait. Rem lay against the cold wall, bleeding, and understood. The red flower was not just a plant. The creature hunted it. Anyone who carried its scent became prey. Beth carried it now, lost and drugged, with the beast on her trail. He forced himself up. His hand found the axe. The moment his fingers closed on the handle, the glow steadied and the blade pulled—not toward the wolf, but into the tunnel after Beth. It knew where she had gone. It always knew. Rem clamped his free arm over the gash in his side. Blood ran between his fingers. He could barely stand. But Beth was down there in the dark, and the thing that killed the man from Room Seven was closing on her. He stepped into the black tunnel. The axe lit the walls red and dragged him forward, deeper into the mountain than any of his family had gone and returned. He followed the pull, one hand on the stone, hunting the beast that hunted her.