Into Their Woods (The Eerie, #1)(48)

Two streets later, Perth slows in front of a gym. I immediately wonder what it would be like to do CrossFit with a vampire, but when I look through the window, I realize working out must look very different to the eeries of Howling Rapids.

Inside looks like a dojo of sorts. There are mats everywhere and a massive agility course. I also notice what looks like bird perches up high and massive punching bags that look like they’re used for biting instead of boxing.

“This is mine,” Perth tells me, nodding his head to the front door where Gym has been hand-painted on the glass.

“Really? Are you a trainer or the owner?” I ask, looking around at everything a little more curiously. I’ve never been a big gym rat. I like exercising outside even when the weather sucks.

“I run a program for new shifters,” he explains, and I turn to look at him with surprise.

“Like me?” I ask, pointing a finger at myself like he needs clarification. Super smooth, Noah.

Perth smiles. “Sort of. I don’t get a lot of propellant bite cases after a Hunt, because newly bonded mates can be very territorial. But I work with all the kids who go through what we call a spontaneous shift—which means it happens on its own.”

“Oh wow, that’s pretty cool,” I tell him, astounded. “You’re a fancy gym teacher, only instead of playing dodgeball, you’re showing them how to fur, fang, and four-leg it through life.”

Perth laughs and starts jogging away down the street. “Yup.”

We run in silence for a minute, but I can’t help myself. “You’re really letting the town down on the name front, you know? Gym is the best you could come up with? I thought this place had a rep for clever business names to uphold.”

Perth’s smile is beaming when he looks over his shoulder at me. “It’s actually up for vote at the next town council meeting.”

“Wait. You vote on the names as a town?” I ask, laughing as I jog to catch up with him.

“Sure do.”

“So, what are the options?”

Perth looks off in thought. “I think the front-runners are Sweat Shop, Waist Management, Unawarewolf, and Cullen Killers—the vampire clans seem to really be into the last one.”

I lose it. Laughing so hard my ribs hurt, I have to stop and bend over so I can breathe.

“Unawarewolf?” I wheeze, cracking up even harder.

Perth chuckles as he watches me lose it, his amber eyes bright and happy. “Guess we know which one is getting your vote,” he goads, and I nod, wiping my face free from laugh-tears.

We start running again, my mind whirling with the new facets of my reality. I’ve been trying to wrap my head around this eerie business for days. But I’ve been so absorbed in the shock and strangeness of it all that I haven’t once thought about the normal aspects of it. Like the fact that they have jobs, responsibilities, civic pride. It makes it all feel less mind-melting, less out of this world, and more familiar.

I follow Perth to the edge of town, and I start to get tired. He ends up a few steps ahead of me, and he turns around to check on where I am. He hasn’t even broken a sweat.

When I’ve caught his eye, I wave a hand across my neck to signal I’m done, dead, kaput—he comes back to my side and jogs in place.

“Come on, Noah. You can do it. A little further. Let your wolf stretch.”

“She’s stretched.”

“Nah, she’s just getting started.” With a sparkle in his eyes, Perth leans closer to me and whispers, “I challenge you. Race me.”

He darts away as a flurry of eagerness erupts somewhere deep inside of me, and the exhaustion I just felt vanishes. Poof. My feet hit the pavement and I’m running after him with a giddy feeling in my stomach. It’s not long before I catch up and he glances down at me, pride shining on his face.

“That’s my girl.”

We veer off onto a dirt path that winds through the trees. The sun’s slow climb is starting to warm up the day, and I look forward to the shade of the trees and maybe picking up our pace and really pushing ourselves more when we’re not at risk of bowling over an unsuspecting pedestrian.

“Hey, how about a race—” My question is cut off when I feel a strange prickle on the back of my neck. I ignore it for a beat until the sensation starts to crawl down my back. I stop mid-stride and spin on instinct, fully expecting someone to be right behind me.

No one’s there.

An ominous shiver rolls down my spine, and I scan our surroundings, looking for the source of my strange feeling. Farther down the sidewalk, a couple walk side by side, the father pushing a stroller. A group of speed walkers are moving in the opposite direction of me and Perth, and a few cars drive slowly down a cross street. Everything looks perfectly normal, and yet I can’t shake the feeling that something is off.

Just then, I notice a man in a baseball cap that’s pulled low over his face. He’s up the street, standing between two buildings. He’s not moving like any of the other people on the street. Not going about his daily business. He’s standing stock-still and staring straight at me.

“What’s up?” Perth asks, and I jump when he’s suddenly right next to me.

“That man,” I whisper, even though the man’s too far away to hear me. “See him?” I take a split second to glance over at Perth as I point the stranger out. But when I look back at the space between the two buildings up the street, the man is gone.