Starfire (Grim Gate 2)

I fall asleep quickly, and what feels like only minutes later, Hunter barks, starling me awake. There has to be a demon. Maybe the reapers are back? My brain goes into overdrive as my vision adjusts. Is the room always this dark? I can’t sleep with a light on, but there’s a nightlight in the hall and another in the bathroom, giving us enough light so we don’t stumble through the dark.

Did the power go off? It would explain why I’m freezing. Even if it did…why does it feel like the windows are open, blowing in cold, winter air?

And why do my feet hurt like I’m barefoot on gravel.

Blinking rapidly, I look around and light starts to get brighter and brighter, shining on me from some distance ahead. My feet hurt like I’m barefoot on gravel because I am barefoot on gravel. Hunter whines and bites the bottom of my pajama pants, giving me a tug so I move toward the house.

Because, right now, I’m standing in the middle of the street, and I have no idea how long I’ve been here or how I got here in the first place.

CHAPTER 23

Headlights illuminate the road before me and my heart jumps into buy throat. Hunter gives me another tug and I start to move, so cold it’s hard to pick up one foot and then the other. I bring my hands in against my body, wincing with each step. I’m not sure what hurts more: the stink of the cold in my toes or the sharp gravel stabbing into my feet.

“Anora?”

Motherfucker.

“Is that you? If it’s not, I’m calling the police,” Donna says, voice surprisingly strong. Shivering, I turn around and offer a wave, hoping she can’t see my trembling fingers.

“It’s me,” I say through chattering teeth. “Out for a morning run.” Is it even morning? I don’t know.

“Impressive!” The engine of her truck rumbles. “And I thought my five a.m. spin class was early. Are you busy tonight?”

I mumble something indiscernible and start to shuffle to the house. I’m so fucking cold.

“If not, I’m hosting book club at my house! We have a great turnout tonight. Nearly every member will be there. Feel free to stop by. Six p.m., my place!”

“Y-yeah,” I tremble.

“I’ll let you get inside. It’s a cold one this morning!”

She rolls up her window and speeds down the road. If she’s on her way to a five a.m. spin class, then it has to be around four-thirty or a bit later. How long was I out here? I’m not hypothermic—yet. Or maybe I am and I’m beyond the point of realizing it.

Hunter barks again and the front door opens. Ethan runs barefoot through the snow to me.

“You’re freezing,” he says when his hands land on my shoulders. “What are you doing outside?”

“I don’t know.” I shake my head. “I don’t remember coming out here at all, Ethan.”

We go inside and into the library. I wrap up in blankets and Ethan starts a fire, moving the couch closer to the fireplace before sitting with me and taking my cold feet into his hands so he can rub the feeling back into them.

“We have got to stop meeting like this,” I say, thinking back to the time Ethan pulled me from icy water.

“Tell me about it.” He leans over to poke at the fire and then moves close next to me. “I heard Hunter barking and you weren’t in bed.” I can see the fear in his eyes again and remember what Sam had said. He’s not thinking rationally when he’s worried like this, and he’s never let himself get close to anyone this way. It’s uncharted territory for him as well, and though I’m kinda acting crazy, I’m not totally defenseless.

“I went out the front,” I say, eyes going to the foyer. “I saw my footprints.”

“And that means you triggered the motion sensor.” Ethan hurriedly gets his phone and pulls up the footage. Sure enough, you see me leaving the house only three minutes ago, thank goodness. But there’s something hazy around me, almost like smoke.

“Is that a glitch?” I ask, though it’s not like any glitch I’ve ever seen before.

“I don’t think so.” Ethan takes a screenshot of the video and blows it up. It’s hard to see, but hazy smoke looks like tendrils of fog, pulling me away from the house. Holy shit. There it is, right in front of us.

Definitive proof something tangible is doing this to me.

We go back to watching the footage. I’m in the street now, and it’s hard to make everything out this far away, but the haze around me is still there. Only a few seconds later, Hunter runs through the open front door. He sniffs my footprints, but it’s like he can’t see me. We’re coming to the end of the video, and Hunter is still looking for me.