“What are you waiting for, Potter?

Fucking Christmas?” Murphy roared from up front.

Without saying anything, Potter threw me a sideways glance, and then flung himself from the back of the van. The windshield of the police vehicle shattered inwards as Potter collided with it. With his claws sprung open, Potter reached in through the broken glass, and in one swift movement, he yanked the driver from his seat and tossed him backwards out of the vehicle. I watched the cop hurtle through the air towards me. Ducking, the cop landed in the back of the van. After being momentarily stunned, he shook his head from side to side, and then started to change form. With his eyes blazing yellow, the transforming Skin-walker jumped to its feet.

Murphy threw the van violently to the right.

Fearing that the vehicle might just topple over, I dug my claws into the nearest seat and with my free hand, I swiped at the Skin-walker. It snarled and leapt away. Murphy swung the van to the left, throwing the Skin-walker back towards me. With my claws held out before me, the Skin-walker became impaled on them. My hand felt suddenly hot inside the creature, and it snapped its giant jaws just inches from my face. I clenched its innards in my fists, and twisted my arm to the right. The Skin-walker’s burning eyes bulged in their sockets as it howled in pain. Then it collapsed on top of me, sending me sprawling to my arse.

My head and shoulders hung out from the back of the van, the side of my face just inches from the ground. Long lengths of my hair brushed over the surface of the road and whipped around the wheels.

The dead Skin-walker was a crushing weight on top of me, and with my hand still trapped inside the creature, I couldn’t lever it off me. Fearing that my hair would become entangled around the spinning wheels and drag me beneath them, I screamed for help. Sam and Kayla came to my rescue, heaving the giant wolf from me. My fist made a squelching sound as it came out from within the Skin-walker. With one swift kick, Kayla ejected the dead creature from the back of the police van. It rolled and bounced onto the road, where it disappeared beneath the wheels of the police car which Potter was now driving. Taking me by the arm, Sam pulled me to my feet.

“Are you okay?” he woofed.

“I guess,” I said, looking back at Potter as he raced towards us. The police car which tailed him slammed into the back of his car, forcing him into the rear of our van.

Knowing that if I didn’t act quickly Potter would be sandwiched between the two vehicles, I leapt from the back of the van. I ran over the bonnet of the police vehicle which Potter was fighting desperately to control. I clambered over the roof and the flashing emergency lights, and slid over the trunk and onto the bonnet of the police vehicle behind. With my hair fanning out behind me like blue streaks of lightning, I drove my fist into the windshield. Just like Kristy Hall had attacked my police cruiser back in the Ragged Cove all those months ago, I forced my head and shoulders through the broken windshield and lunged at the cop’s face with my fangs. His flesh came away in thin slices as my fangs slid over the length of his skull. The cop threw his hands to his face, as his snout and whiskers appeared. With my phantom-like heart racing in my chest, I bit and tore at him. His skin fell away just like orange peel, but instead of revealing juicy segments of fruit, the face of a giant wolf appeared. It howled and bit back at me. The police car jack-knifed across the road, throwing me across the bonnet. I sunk my claws into the side of the car as the wolf burst through what was left of the windshield.

With thick clouds of black smoke belching from the engine, I scrambled onto the bonnet of the car.

The wolf spun round in search of me. Spying me in the glare of the pulsating emergency lights, the wolf sprung from the bonnet. Then the vehicle seemed to crumble as the wolf suddenly flew over me. I glanced down to see that Potter had thrown his own vehicle into reverse, smashing into us and throwing the wolf clear.

Only stunned, the wolf rolled onto all fours and came racing back down the centre of the road towards me. I crouched low on the top of the car with my fangs and claws at the ready. Then as the wolf leapt into the air, my wings shot out from within me and I flipped back through the air and over the wolf. It glanced up and howled as if wondering where I had suddenly vanished to. In that moment of confusion, I corkscrewed out of the sky and tore its head from its shoulders. The wolf’s blood spattered my face, and my tongue licked it away from the corners of my mouth. I let go of its head and it dropped through the air like a stone. With my wings closing, I skimmed just inches above the road as I raced back towards Potter. The car he had been driving looked like it had just been pulled from the crusher, and he stood propped against the bonnet with a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth. His arms and face were covered in streaks of blood, as were mine.

In the distance I could see that Murphy had brought the van to a halt, and the brakes glowed red like two hot coals. He lent from the window and roared at us.

“When you two have quit screwing around, perhaps you would like to come and join us! There’ll be more of those things heading our way.”

I looked at Potter as he took the cigarette from his mouth and flicked it into the bushes.

“Murphy’s right, we should get going,” he said.

Then, looking him straight in his blood-stained face, I said, “You knew he was alive, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” he said.

“So why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, as Potter turned to walk away. I couldn’t believe Potter could keep the fact that my friend was alive a secret. How long had he known Murphy was back from the dead? What had Murphy been doing and how long had he been back? More importantly, why had he only seen Potter and not me, Kayla and Isidor? Before Potter had gone a yard, I grabbed his arm and said, “What else haven’t you told me? What other secrets have you been keeping from me?”

Murphy pressed on the horn as he leant from the window again. “C’mon!” he roared.

Potter made to move away and again I grabbed him. “What else haven’t you told me?”

Then very slowly, Potter turned to look at me. With that look of fear – or was it sadness – in his eyes, he said, “Your father is alive, Kiera. I’ve seen him.”

I stood and watched Potter walk back towards the police van. Even though my whole body felt bruised and battered from the attack we had just endured, it was nothing compared to the pain I felt inside, knowing that Potter had been keeping the truth about Murphy and my father from me.

Chapter Six

Potter

Murphy drove the van down across the narrow lanes with their tight curves and bends.

There was no other traffic on the road. Vast fields spread out on either side of us, a thin layer of fog hovering like dry-ice over the long grass, the tips of the blades sparkling with dewdrops in the morning light. It was a beautiful morning, and the storm of the previous night had left a crisp winter breeze in its wake. The sky was dove-white, and I wondered if snow was coming.

I turned away from the window and glanced at Murphy. He had a grim look on his face as he stared at the road ahead. The atmosphere in the van was as frosty as the chill wind which buffeted the side of the van. I dared not glance back at the others – at Kiera – I knew she was watching me. I could feel her eyes boring into the back of my head like two pointed screwdrivers. Why had Murphy come back so suddenly? Why hadn’t he sent me some kind of warning so I could figure out what I was going to say to Kiera? She saw most things at the best of times – but Murphy showing up like this was like pointing a giant finger at me. I couldn’t act – I wasn’t even a great liar. How the fuck had Murphy imagined I was going to keep something like this from Kiera? I should’ve never agreed to keep the secret about her father and Murphy coming back from the dead from her.

Murphy glanced at me and then looked away again. Could he see how pissed off I was? I wanted to ask him why. If I did, Kiera would hear me – they all would, and now wasn’t the time. Not in the van. I needed to get my thoughts together, figure out exactly what I was going to tell Kiera.

How much was I going to tell her? It wasn’t only the secrets I had kept from her about Murphy and her father – there was my secret meeting with Sophie, too. It wasn’t just the fact that I had meet Sophie; it was what I had learnt from her. I knew more about being pushed than I had let on. Just like Isidor – I knew more. Just like the photograph had been left for Isidor, those letters – my love letters – had been sent to Sophie. Each one of them had been mysteriously pushed through her letterbox. Those letters of mine had ruined her relationship with her lover in this world. More than that, they had led her to me again. They had brought us back together, and I wondered now if Isidor’s photograph hadn’t brought him and Melody back together in some other when. One thing I did know for sure, just like the photograph which had been left for Isidor to find, the letters had ultimately led to Sophie’s death. Just like the photograph had led to Isidor’s death.

Now Kiera had a photograph of her and her father – the word PUSH scribbled across the back. Would that picture lead to her death just like it had for the others? Someone was seriously fucking with us all and I wondered if Murphy knew that. Is that why he had suddenly broken cover and come back? Still, I wish he had given me some warning. I didn’t like being caught with my trousers down. I looked at him again, and although I was glad to see my friend, I was so pissed at him that before I knew what I was doing, I had whispered, “Thanks for the warning, friend.”

“What are you talking about?” he whispered back from the corner of his mouth.

“Yeah, what are you talking about?”

Kayla asked from the back of the van.

Suddenly remembering that there wasn’t much she didn’t hear, I glanced back at her. Kayla sat on one side of Kiera, and Sam on the other. All three were staring at me. I looked at Kiera and could see the distrust in her eyes for me. There was something more than that, though; she looked hurt.

“Potter’s known for some time that Murphy, just like us, came back from the dead,”

Kiera breathed, not taking her eyes off me for one second.