Into Their Woods (The Eerie, #1)(71)

“Fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck!” Pinwheeling my arms, I try to slow my momentum as I fall, not wanting to plunge right into the liquid mud. Just in case I measured the distance wrong, I clench my teeth together and hope I don’t choke on too much dirt before I can find the surface again.

To my utter shock, as if my body knew exactly where to go and what to do, I drop onto the far side of the mud river, my hand smacking down against the hard dirt.

Well, fuck me. I just Supermanned that landing.

Breathing hard, I push myself up and wipe my stinging palm on my raincoat. In two strides Ellery is in front of me, his hands on my shoulders as he glowers down at me, pissed.

“What the hell are you doing?” he demands, his bright eyes raking over me as though he’s frantically looking for injury.

I look back at the mud river I just leap-frogged across and realize his question is valid.

What the hell am I doing?

The answer cracks against me like a clap of thunder, and I turn back to Ellery. “Trusting my instincts, like Perth told me to do.”

He growls and his blue eyes start to glow. I can tell he swallows down a hell of a lot he’d like to yell at me—and most likely Perth—but instead, he grabs my hand and pulls me toward the van.

“Help me then,” he orders, not wasting any more time. “We both need to get over there,” he explains, pointing to the trees, “and push the van onto its side. The tree trunks are blocking the doors and windows, but if we can get it over, I can pull them out.”

I can hear people crying. It sounds like a set of parents trying to soothe their children. I can’t tell how many, but I hate to think about what they’re going through, how scared they must be. Ellery helps me climb over the car to the tree side and positions me between two blackened trunks.

“Stay in your seat belts!” he calls out to them. “We’re going to push the car over and help you out.”

“Thank you, celestial!” a man shouts shakily from inside. Small whimpers and crying reach me over the steady spatter of rain. A cloud of fear wafts around the vehicle, and I fight the urge to fan a hand in front of my face to clear the burning tang of it away.

“We’re going to have to lift and then push,” the sheriff commands, and I nod my head as though that’s all perfectly logical.

“Shit, can I do this?”

“You can, you just have to tap into your wolf, demand everything she has, and use it, okay?” Ellery assures me, answering my thoughts. His stare is streaked with rain and full of more faith than I’ve ever had in myself. “On three,” he shouts, and I crouch down and grab onto the lip of the roof of the van.

Tap into my wolf.

“One.”

Tap into my wolf.

“Two.”

Fuck. I don’t know how to tap into my wolf!

“Three. Lift!”

I heave with every muscle I have, screeching with the effort when nothing immediately happens. A woman cries out from inside the car, and the children—I think there’s two—wail and plead for their parents.

“Push, Noah! You can do this! Let her out!” Ellery growls at me, his voice reverberating with a resounding command, the strength of it sinking into my very cells in a way that does not feel human at all.

Agony starts to scratch at my stomach because I want to help so badly. But this wreck looks like it needs a crane, not a couple crazy but well-intentioned people trying to play hero. What the hell were we thinking?

“I know I’m asking a lot, but you’ve got it in you. Let go,” Ellery orders, and I can practically hear Perth’s voice echoing the same.

You’ll be surprised what you can do if you just let go.

“Let go,” I snarl at myself. “Just fucking let go!” I beg the black streaks to take over my veins, invite whatever foreign power that’s supposed to be coursing through me to take what it wants. I promise freedom and acceptance if this wolf lurking under my skin will help me stem the acrid metallic scent coming from inside the vehicle. I know it’s terror—I don’t know how I can recognize it, let alone smell it, but I need to get these people out more than I need my next breath.

Heat takes over my limbs as a howl explodes out of my very soul. A tiny frisson of panic darts through me, making my ribs feel a bit too tight. It’s not work—

The van starts to move. I look over at Ellery, utterly shocked and equally ecstatic. Instantly, I renew my efforts, lifting with every ounce of strength I possess. The veins and muscles in Ellery’s neck strain with his effort. Rain sluices down his body, darkening his gray uniform and gliding over all those taut muscles as I help him perform his second impossible feat of the night.

“Yes, Noah. That’s it,” he grunts as we lift the side of the van even higher. “Get under it and push,” he bellows, and I rush to do as I’m told.

My hands fly to the crumpled roof of the van, and I push, shoving for all I’m worth, forcing my muscles to coil and then spring forward, thrusting and pressing against what shouldn’t be possible. Ellery repositions his hands under the roof too, and we push. Together. Synchronized. Moving perfectly…just as Perth and I were earlier.

And just like with Perth, I feel a dazzling sort of energy rush through me, a lightheaded sort of pleasure even though this task is the furthest thing from pleasurable that I could ever imagine. The van creaks in objection but slowly rises.