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  “I still don’t believe it,” Murphy said. “So if this is true, when do you make this choice? When and how do you send us back?”

  “The Elders said that there is one who finally gets me to make my choice, but I have no idea who that might be.”

  “Luke-fucking-Bishop, that’s who,” Murphy snapped.

  “Perhaps?” I said, glancing up at those cracks again. I wasn’t so sure.

  Murphy knocked the smouldering ash from his pipe and jumped up.

  “Where are you going?” I asked.

  “To Wasp Water,” he growled. “I’m going to find Luke Bishop and put an end to this once and for all.”

  “But it’s too dangerous,” I said, clambering to my feet and heading off into the darkness after Murphy as he made his way back toward the overhang. “We’ll die if we head back there.”

  “And we’ll die if we don’t,” he said. “What have we got to lose?!”

  Chapter Nine

  Potter

  Pen – or did she prefer to be called Lilly Blu – I didn’t much care, sat next to me before the fire. Her slender legs poked out from beneath the hem of her long, white fur coat. Her toenails were painted fire-engine red. She crossed her feet at the ankles. Pen looked about the group. Did she need introducing to any of them, or did she already know their names? What part had she really played in this whole twisted game? Murphy had once trusted her, so perhaps I should, too.

  “I’m Kayla, and this is my brother, Isidor,” Kayla said, smiling across the fire at Pen. Then gesturing toward Melody, she added, and this is Melody Rose.”

  Pen nodded. “And I’m Lilly Blu.”

  Kayla shot me a quick glance. I had told Kayla all about Lilly when we went through the cracks. She knew Lilly was the wolf who had sent me and Jack back through the cracks to unmask the photographer. I’d also told her that she had once been Murphy’s lover and was Meren and Nessa’s mother. Lilly knew that Murphy was back in this world, but she didn’t know that one of her daughters, Meren, was back too.

  Fearing that Kayla might say something that perhaps she shouldn’t, I quickly said, “So what the fuck is going on with all these cracks?” I said, gesturing heavenward with my thumb.

  “They happened because you and Jack went and changed stuff,” Lilly said, scowling at me. She still looked pretty even when she frowned. That old fart Murphy was going to have a fucking heart attack when he discovered Lilly was back. Had Murphy confessed to Meren that her real mother was a wolf? I didn’t envy the guy. As far as I knew, Murphy had told his daughters that their mother was some tart named Chloe. She had been responsible for giving Murphy those shitty old slippers he mooched about in. I looked at Pen, then through the flames at Melody as she sat with her head resting against Isidor’s tattooed shoulder. We Vampyrus guys certainly liked mixing it up with wolves. That half of the species did tend to be rather freaking hot, I hated to admit. But Kiera was the best of both Vampyrus and wolf, and I knew deep down that made me a lucky guy.

  Ignoring Lilly’s scowl, I said, “So how did I fuck up?”

  “You should’ve never got involved with the Kiera from this world,” she said. “I warned you!”

  “She ended up dead, didn’t she?” I said, glancing across the fire again at Kayla. She broke my stare and looked down into the fire. I turned my attention to Lilly again. “That’s what was meant to have happened.”

  “But by even speaking to her was dangerous,” Lilly said.

  “What was I meant to have done? I went through the cracks on that train and woke up in her fucking living room!” I snapped at her. “Was that meant to have happened?”

  “The cracks aren’t entirely stable,” she said.

  “And neither are you!” I snipped.

  “But from the very moment you interacted, you started to change stuff…the cracks started to appear. Things that happened or are yet to happen started to bleed through…” she tried to explain, stumbling to find the right words.

  “Like what?” I asked. I was starting to grow impatient with the cryptic bullshit she kept giving as answers.

  “Did you see a little girl?” she asked.

  “Well, yeah,” I shrugged, remembering the pretty little girl who had seemed to haunt me on the other side of the cracks. “So what?”

  “Her name was Abbie…” Lilly started, then stopped.

  “Who the fuck is Abbie?” I asked, taking a smoke from my pocket and sparking up.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Lilly said with a shake of her head. Her thick white hair coiled about the collar of the fur coat she wore.

  “So why mention it?” I said, feeling fucking frustrated with her.

  “You delivered the photograph okay,” she said, changing the subject. “But it was the letters…the letters you were meant to deliver to Sophie…”

  “I did deliver them,” I said. “I left them in the fucking morgue where I woke to find some tosser had stolen all of my clothes.”

  “Really?” Isidor suddenly sniggered from the other side of the fire.

  “Yeah, it was so funny,” Kayla giggled. “I’ve got a picture here somewhere.” She began to rummage through her coat pockets for it. Finding the photograph I remembered her taking of me naked in the morgue, Kayla pulled it out and handed it to Isidor and Melody.

  “Oh. My. God!” Isidor chuckled with delight.

  “What’s that little thing hanging down?” Melody asked.

  “You cheeky cow!” I barked, reaching for the picture.

  “I’m talking about that tag hanging off your toe,” Melody smiled.

  Kayla snatched the photograph away, placing it back into her coat pocket and out of my reach. “Oh yeah, I nearly forgot, whoever it was that undressed Potter obviously thought he was a woman because they wrote the name Jane Doe on the I.D. tag that they attached to his big toe.”

  “That is too funny!” Isidor burst into laughter, clapping his hands together. Melody started to laugh too, covering her broad smile with her rose covered hands.

  “I’m beginning to wish I’d fucking left you two in the woods for the Skin-walkers to find,” I shouted at them.

  “What a bunch of complete jokers you lot really are,” I heard Lilly suddenly say. I glanced back at her as she stared at me and my friends with a look of disbelief on her face. “No wonder you screwed the mission up, you’re nothing but a bunch of morons.”

  “Who are you calling a moron?” I glared at her.

  “Do you think this is funny?” she said, pointing up at the sky and the cracks.

  “Oh shut your face and stop moaning and groaning. What’s the point of being full of doom and gloom the whole time?” I said. “Besides, I thought you and the wrinkled ticket seller said that the cracks were a good thing.”

  “Noah and I were talking about little cracks, not huge gaping holes,” Lilly snapped at me, clenching her hands into fists. The cracks are meant to be subtle – act like a sieve – so memories could slowly seep through to the humans and gradually remember what the world was like before it got pushed. The layers are now breaking up - tearing themselves apart. The layers were meant to overlap – not completely collide.”

  “So what does that exactly mean?” Kayla asked her.

  “The humans from the world before it got pushed could start slipping – tripping – falling into this world. But it could work the other way too and the Skin-walkers and the berserkers could take a trip into the world before it got pushed. But not only that, humans, wolves, and vampires could start bleeding through from other wheres and whens that shouldn’t mix with this one or another.”

  “So that girl you mentioned – Abbie – I was able to see her because she was seeping through from another layer...?” I was trying hard to make sense of what Lilly was telling us.

  “Exactly,” Pen said, driving her fist down into the sand.

  “So who was she?” I asked again. “Is she important?”

  “I’m not sure,” Lilly said, shaking her thick head of white
-blonde hair again.

  I couldn’t help but feel she was keeping something important from me, but before I’d the chance to press her, Melody said, “Can all of this be put right again?” Glancing up at the sky, she added, “Can we close those cracks?”

  “I’m not sure that we can,” Pen said. “The mission was a failure.”

  “Despite the cracks, I don’t think the mission was quite the failure you believe it to be,” I told Lilly.

  “How do you figure that out?” she asked right back, needing some convincing.

  “We discovered the identity of the photographers,” I said. “There were two. Kayla, and her friend, Sam.”

  “Why you?” Lilly asked Kayla.

  “We were tricked by Luke Bishop to go and take the photographs,” Kayla started to explain.

  “But why would Luke want more cracks?” Lilly said confused. “Why would he want the humans to remember what the world was like before it was pushed? Why would he risk them rising up and turning on him and the wolves? I don’t get it?”

  “He doesn’t want to make cracks so the humans remember anything,” Isidor suddenly spoke up. “It’s the Vampyrus’ memories he wants to jog. Luke has been making cracks so the Vampyrus can return above ground from The Hollows where they have been sealed since the world got pushed. He has set a trap at the town of Wasp Water for the wolves and Kiera.”

  “What kind of trap?” I asked, hearing this for the first time, and jumping to my feet.

  “Luke is amassing an army of Vampyrus in the town of Snake Weed. They are coming up through the cracks that have started to appear in the ground. He wants the Vampyrus back to slaughter the wolves and those humans the wolves haven’t already matched with.”

  “But why would Bishop want to kill the wolves when he’s a wolf himself?” Lilly asked, sounding more confused than before.

  “But Luke isn’t a wolf,” I told her. “The Luke Bishop from this pushed world might have been a wolf, but Luke from our layer killed him years ago.”

  “But we must capture him…unmask him!” Lilly gasped, jumping to her feet. “We must reveal his treachery to both the wolves and the humans…or better kill him.”

  “Good luck, sweetheart,” I said. “You will never get close enough to Luke. He is too well protected. He is surrounded by his allies, like Phillips, Taylor, and Rom and that’s not to mention the army of Vampyrus he seems to be building for himself.”

  “I must warn the wolves of Luke’s treachery and how he has tricked them,” Pen said. “You must come with me.”

  “No, I’m going to Wasp Water,” I said. “Warning Kiera of the trap that is awaiting there is my only concern now.”

  “Find Kiera, then meet me on the outskirts of Snake Weed,” Lilly said, turning and heading back up the shore. “I will bring wolves.”

  I gripped her arm. “I will have Murphy with me,” I warned her.

  She held my stare. Then pulling free, she said, “I will meet you there. Murphy was always good in a fight. It will be good to see him again.”

  I wanted to tell her that one of her daughters would be there too, but didn’t. I looked back at my friends. They were gathering their kits together by the fire, readying themselves to leave for Wasp Water.

  Lilly headed away and I went after her. Drawing alongside her, I said, “Who was that girl?”

  “What girl?” she said.

  “You know what girl,” I said, gripping her by the arm again. “The girl named Abbie.”

  Lilly stopped in the sand, turning to face me. “Abbie is your daughter,” she said.

  “But I don’t have a daughter,” I stared at her.

  “Not here and now. Not in this where and when,” Pen said. “When you opened those cracks parts of another life – a life led by another Potter – came seeping through. That other Potter has a daughter, and her name is Abbie.”

  Lilly turned once more and walked away up the beach, stepping over the red waves that raced up it.

  “Who is this girl’s mother?” I called after her, knowing in my heart the name she was going to say.

  “Sophie Harrison,” Lilly said back as she retreated into the distance.

  That wasn’t the name I’d been hoping to hear.

  Kayla, Isidor, and Melody came to stand by me as I watched Lilly cut across the beach and disappear into the woods that surrounded the lake.

  “Are you okay?” Kayla asked, tugging on my hand.

  “Huh?” I said. “Yeah, sure.”

  “Let’s get going then,” Kayla said, her wings springing from her back. She flew up into the night.

  “How will we know where to look for your friend, Kiera Hudson, in Wasp Water?” Melody asked.

  “My friend Murphy is with her,” I said.

  “How does that help us?” Melody asked.

  “Just look for the trail of destruction he tends to leave in his path,” I said, opening my wings and launching myself into the sky.

  Chapter Ten

  Kiera

  The decision whether to go marching into Wasp Water or not was taken out of our hands. I had followed Murphy back through the darkness to the overhang where we had made our camp. The thunder still growled like a ferocious beast in the distance. But with each terrifying boom, it sounded as if it were inching closer. I tried to reason with Murphy that storming into Wasp Water wasn’t the smartest move, but he appeared to be deaf to my reasoning. Murphy was convinced that there was no other way. I doubted that, but I needed time to come up with a better plan – if there was one.

  We reached the mouth of the overhang, and at once I sensed there was something wrong. The earth around the entrance seemed to have been trampled over by many feet. I knelt down, inspecting the ground and the…paw prints!

  “Murphy, wait!” I hissed.

  But I was too late. Before I’d had a chance to warn him, they had leapt from the dark and taken hold of us. The Skin-walkers’ filthy hands groped and pawed as they restrained us. I kicked out with my feet as my hands were bound with chains behind my back. Murphy roared, his fangs slicing from his gums as he gnashed at the faces of those that fought with him. But their number was too great, and both of us were swiftly overpowered by the Skin-walkers who had been lying in wait for us. A low, rumbling growl came from within the darkness beneath the overhang and at first I thought that perhaps the thunder had gathered overhead already. But I was wrong. Six berserkers pounced from the overhang, their dog-like faces spitting and yapping as they yanked at the tethers their keepers had them fastened to. The berserkers threw back their long, pointed skulls and howled, desperate to rip the flesh from our bones. Their long claws scrapped over the ground. The chains about their scrawny throats rattled like glass as they fought with their masters to get at me and Murphy. It was hard to imagine that these terrifying creatures were once human children that the wolves had tried to match with, but had failed.

  With our hands fastened behind us, and severely outnumbered, I could feel a feverish excitement growing amongst the Skin-walkers. I tried to see past them and into the overhang. I peered through the darkness, but couldn’t see Meren, Gayle, Alice, or Peter. Had they managed to escape…?

  “Looking for the half and halfs?” one of the Skin-walkers asked with a lecherous leer. His breath stank of decomposing flesh. I turned my head away. Was that my friends I could smell?

  “If you’ve touched my daughter, you’re all fucking dead!” Murphy roared, wrestling franticly against the chains that secured him.

  “She’s not dead yet,” a Skin-walker said, dressed in his smart black police uniform. “But if we hurry back to Wasp Water, you might be just in time to see her execution.”

  I knew that this was no idle threat on the part of the Skin-walkers. I’d had to endure watching Potter being executed in that town square, jam-packed with baying wolves. They were going to die. We all were.

  Both Murphy and I stumbled forward as we were shoved in the backs and away from the overhang. Murphy was ahead of me, and I wat
ched him stagger forward, left then right as the Skin-walkers manhandled him. They pushed and shoved me, too, and it was hard to keep my balance. Several times I fell forward, and with my hands tied behind my back, I landed on my face in the dirt and slushy snow. The Skin-walkers dragged me to my feet again by my hair. I cried out in pain, and Murphy made more threats of what he was going to do when he was free of his chains. The Skin-walkers kicked and punched him in retaliation, but Murphy wouldn’t stay quiet. Even when blood was gushing from his nose and mouth, he still wouldn’t give up. The berserkers howled and barked at the smell of his hot blood. Their eyes rolled in their sockets as if being driven half-crazy by the smell. I knew it wouldn’t be long before Murphy’s flesh would satisfy their hunger. I knew mine would be, too. I wasn’t scared of dying – I knew now that death wasn’t the end. It was the thought of those wolves tearing my flesh from my bones that scared me more than where I would be pushed to next. I considered these thoughts as we were dragged across the barren fields and back to Wasp Water. Did everyone who was being led to their execution have the same thoughts I was having now? Did they wonder whether they had lived the best life that they could’ve? Had they had the courage to live the life that they had wanted to live, or had they lived the life that others had wanted for them? Had they had the courage to express themselves and their innermost feelings? Had they been happy with their lot, or had they yearned for more? If so, had they been brave enough to go and get it? In my heart I knew I could answer yes to some of these questions, but others not. I wished I’d had the courage to let my friends go. I wished I’d been brave enough to put an end to their unhappiness and misery instead of thinking about my own.

  With my head down, the Skin-walkers led me back into Wasp Water. The streets were lined with wolves. Some hid behind the humans skins they had stolen. Others had shed those and were in their Lycanthrope form. There was a carnival-type atmosphere. The air seemed to be charged with electricity, despite the thunder that boomed above the town. Wolves reached out with their claws, raking skin from my hands and face. I felt the warm gush of blood drip down the length of my face. The monsters clawed at Murphy too, but he was still fighting. I raised my head just enough to see him kick out, his slippered foot slamming between the legs of one of the wolves that lined the street. The wolf howled in agony.