The Savage Grace: A Dark Divine Novel (12 page)

LATER

I didn’t know what to do with myself now. It was a school day, but I couldn’t bear the thought of sitting through classes or talking with friends who felt more like strangers with each passing moment. Instead, I spent the next few hours wandering from place to place like a stray pup looking for shelter. I remember going home to shower and change. Then somehow I was in the driveway of Maryanne Duke’s old house. Then I was standing in the concrete stairwell that led to the basement apartment where Daniel had lived until he’d taken to the forest. I must have stood there long enough to look lost, because Zach poked his head out one of the main floor windows, almost scaring me half to death, and asked if I was okay.

“Yeah,” I said. “Will a couple of you go sit with Jude? We had a run-in, and I don’t think he should be alone.”

“Sure thing,” Zach said. He almost looked happy to have an order, reminding me that his former alpha had treated him like a soldier instead of a boy.

I slowly walked down the steps and unlocked the old yellow door to Daniel’s apartment. I stood in the middle of his room for a few minutes, soaking in the fading scent of him there. I willed my hands and feet to move again, and I picked up a few of his notebooks from his desk, and found his half-filled-out Trenton application neatly stored in its envelope. I took that and his beat-up laptop, and stuffed them into the satchel bag I’d brought along. Next, I sorted through the stacks of Masonite boards and stretched canvas that leaned against his wall, choosing the best of his paintings and designs. I hoped they’d be the same ones he would have chosen for his Trenton portfolio. My chest felt so tight as I pulled the apartment door closed behind me when I left, thinking about how the things I took with me would be the only traces of Daniel’s human side left in this world if I failed to change him back.

My next stop was the hospital, where I alternated between sitting next to Dad’s bed, holding his too-still hand, for the twenty minutes of each hour I was allowed in his hospital room, and standing outside the elevator that would lead me up to my mother’s room in the psych ward.

When I couldn’t stand the beep of Dad’s heart monitor or the
ding
of the elevator anymore, I went to the hospital cafeteria and found an empty table where I could set up Daniel’s laptop. Between flipping through his notebooks and poking around in his computer files, I found six different drafts of his Trenton essays.

They were good but unfinished. I chose the best and filled in the gaps, channeling the things Daniel had always told me about wanting to use his talents to improve people’s lives. I only hoped my words could do his passion justice.

Crowds of diners came and went, and I was about to log off the computer and head back to Dad’s room again when I noticed a Word file titled: for grace.

I hovered the curser over the file, wondering what it could possibly contain. Wondering how Daniel would feel if he knew I opened it. Wondering if I could stand not to.

It said it was for me, after all.

I tapped the touch pad and opened the file, knowing I wouldn’t be able to do anything until I knew what Daniel had left for me. What I found was a poem.

For grace—

I was walking in the cool night air

Watching simple leaves gusted off

Blown by the same wind that blows through my window

like thoughts filling boxes in crowded basements

Self-inflicted thoughts

Sorted cards and picture books

Jumbled thoughts of you

Walking slowly and thinking clearly

I was watching the moon rise and fall

Thinking about bare feet and candlelight walks

About soup-filled dreams

Smooth silk hands and violet eyes

Smelling the night air and waiting for my mind to stop

Waiting and watching as the stars rolled on

You came then and stopped the stars

Pulling the moon from the sky with those words—

I was dreaming then, that I never meant to walk

But I saw the stars and saw your face

And couldn’t stand still knowing you

Knowing your humor, your brilliance, your beauty

Your grace

Knowing I love you.

My eyes flooded with tears and I was barely able to finish reading the last few lines. My heart ached so bad, I clutched at my chest. But it wasn’t a pain from sorrow, it was the feeling of the emptiness inside of me being filled up again—with the rushing, pulsing, warmth of Daniel’s love.

How had he known that this was exactly what I needed? How could I have ever doubted him? How could I stand to let my anger push him away?

I couldn’t risk that happening.

I had to do something.

I hadn’t been wandering like a stray all day long—I’d been running away from what I knew I needed to do even before Gabriel said I should last night. I gathered up the things on the table and walked with slow steps toward the small hospital chapel I’d passed on my way to the cafeteria. It looked different inside than my father’s parish back in Rose Crest, more sterile than sacred, but I knew I could still find God here if I sought him out. I continued my slow walk through the empty chapel until I reached the altar. I fell to my knees in front of it, and found myself doing what I’d been afraid to do for far too long now.

For the first time since I lay bleeding and ready to die on the floor of the Shadow Kings’ warehouse—I prayed.

For forgiveness.

For guidance.

For peace.

For the ability to bring Daniel back to me.

LATE AFTERNOON

When I finally left the hospital, my heart was lighter than it had felt in days, but the weather had turned dark and cloudy. The smell of rain hung the air. I had one last thing I needed to do in Rose Crest before I could go home and hunker down in an empty house for the impending storm. I pulled into the parking lot behind the Print & Ship shop on Main Street and carried my canvas bag inside. I paid a small fortune to print out a few documents from Daniel’s laptop on résumé paper, and then express ship two packages to the Trenton Art Institute. One was a thick padded envelope, and the other was a large portfolio box tied with twine. Both had Daniel’s apartment as the return address.

I was headed back out to the parking lot when I practically ran into Katie Summers, who was on her way into the Print & Ship with her own portfolio box.

“Hey,” she said. “Looks like we had the same idea today. Didn’t want to risk being rushed to get your application out on Friday, huh?”

“Yeah,” I said, even though I still hadn’t started my
own
application yet. With the way my life was going lately, who knew what this Friday would entail, but I felt some relief knowing at least Daniel’s application had been taken care of.

It was the least I could do for him right now.

“I’m surprised you had time,” Katie said. “When I heard about your dad, and when you weren’t in school today, I just kind of figured…”

Was she admitting that she hoped my dad’s accident would keep me from turning in my application? Narrow the competition a bit? I couldn’t help scowling.

Katie bit her lip. “I mean … that came out wrong.” She shifted the portfolio box in her arms. “I’m sorry about your dad.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I should get going.” As I stepped around her, I couldn’t help thinking about how both her and Daniel’s applications would be sent out together in the same shipment to Trenton.

And yours will be nowhere in sight,
said the wolf.

But that doesn’t matter,
I told the voice in my head.
Because I know how much Daniel cares about me. even you can’t convince me otherwise.

“Hey, Grace,” Katie called. I looked back at her. She gave me an apologetic smile.

“My parents are out of town, and some of my friends from my old neighborhood in the city are coming to visit. They want to go to some party they heard about tomorrow night. You should come with us. Might be good for you to blow off some steam.”

Katie might be my competition in every sense of the word, but she made it all too hard to dislike her. “Um, thanks. But I think I’ll pass.” My life was far too complicated for parties. “Good luck,” I said, pointing at her box.

“Yeah, you, too…” she started to say, but a loud chorus of honking car horns drowned out her words.

I raised my eyebrows.

“Must be the hunters,” Katie shouted over the noise that came from the street in front of the shop. “They announced a call for wolf hunters at school.”

“Wolf hunters?” My stomach felt like the bottom of it was about to drop out. I left Katie behind and jogged around to the front of the building to find a cluster of pickup trucks, filled with men and teenage boys, practically blocking off all of Main Street. Almost every truck sported a loaded gun rack, and several people held rifles.

“What’s going on?” I asked Justin Fletcher, who sat in the back of his dad’s pickup.

“Going hunting.” He grinned. “Didn’t you hear, the mayor put a twenty-five-hundred-dollar bounty on the head of that wolf who’s been howling in the woods, and the Bradshaw family has offered to double the amount for whoever brings back the body. Five thousand dollars for shooting a wolf—you can’t beat that.”

“Holy crap,” is what I said, but what I really wanted to do was let out a long line of curse words so colorful every hunter in this parking lot would blush. “But what about the storm?” The gray clouds that had been gathering before I went into the Print & Ship looked positively black now.

“I imagine a few people are going to wait it out.” The truck roared to life, and Justin grabbed onto the inside of the truck bed. “The radio says it’s probably going to blow over, though, and most everyone in town is hoping to get a head start tonight. With a bounty like that, every hunter in the county will be in the woods pretty soon. The deputy was even handing out free amo to everyone.” He lifted up a small box that I recognized. My heart crawled up into my throat. They were the silver bullets from Day’s Market.

As the truck pulled away, I made a mad dash to the parish, grateful my ankle had finally healed. I went straight to the little caretaker’s apartment behind the building and pounded on the door, hoping Gabriel would answer. I needed his help. Maybe he could use his pastoral influence to get those men to call off the hunt?
not likely
—but he could at least tell me what to do. Help me find Daniel. He was the last one to see him, after all.

After my knocking went unanswered for a few seconds, I remembered my conversation with Gabriel from the night before. He had said he would be leaving in the morning. I turned the knob slowly and peaked inside the apartment. Everything was gone except for the bed and the little desk in the corner of the room, against which I had once thrown Gabriel. Every trace of him was gone except for a slip of paper on the edge of the otherwise bare mattress. I picked it up and found a sketch that I would have said was of myself—except for the expression of confidence on the girl’s face. She looked so sure of herself, ready to take on any challenge, that it couldn’t be me.

I flipped the drawing over and found the words
The Divine one
scribbled on the back with another note that said,
We’ll meet again. gabriel.

He was gone.

Gabriel was gone, and I was truly on my own now.

I left the little room and found my way back to my car. I drove home, taking a different route than the caravan of hunters headed toward the woods. I needed better clothes—running shoes and a jacket—before I could head out on my own hunting expedition.

I’d prayed for guidance in the hospital chapel, and I knew I needed to follow my gut.

It was up to me.

The time to save Daniel was now.

A HALF HOUR LATER

Darkness had completely overtaken the skies by the time I’d changed into running pants, a T-shirt, and a jacket, and headed out into our backyard to get to the woods. Those storm clouds, black as night, blotted out any early-evening stars.

I could smell the downpour brewing in the air. Hopefully, it wouldn’t blow over.

“Please, dear God, let it storm,” I whispered. Maybe torrential rain would deter most of those hunters. Turn them back from the incentive of a five-thousand-dollar reward. Or at least slow them down.

I climbed over the fence into the woods just as a flash of lightning splattered across the sky, as if someone had thrown white paint against a blackened canvas. Thunder rolled just behind it.
The storm
is
coming.
A fat raindrop splashed on my arm as if to punctuate my thought. A few more heavy drops fell as I ran into the forest. The rain was sparse for now, but I knew it was only a matter of minutes before I’d be engulfed in the downpour.

Another thunderous crack echoed in my ears—but there’d been no lightning.

A gunshot?!

“No!” I shrieked. Power surged through my muscles like I’d received an injection of pure adrenaline to my heart. I rocketed between trees and over boulders. I couldn’t tell where the echoing gunshot had come from, but I followed my instincts—or whatever it was that pulled me in the direction of the ravine, the last place where I’d encountered the white wolf in these woods.

If someone got to Daniel before I did…

The rain fell heavier now, pounding down almost as hard and as fast as my racing feet. I was almost to the ravine when a second shot was fired. I veered slightly to the right, able to pinpoint the origin of the blast this time. I moved with quick but deliberate steps, careful not to make a sound as I slinked behind an upcropping of bushes.

“You missed again,” I heard a low voice grumble. “You never miss.”

“It’s these damn silver bullets,” a second voice answered, sounding even more annoyed. “They don’t fly right. Start cheating to the left, or you won’t hit a thing.”

I peaked through the bushes and found myself behind two hunters, dressed in camouflage rain gear, with high-tech-looking scopes attached to their large rifles.

One of them bent down, as if checking a print in the mud. He wiped rain from his face and signaled to his friend to be silent. He made a gesture, and the two separated, fanning out as they took off in a quiet jog after their prey. I followed the hunter who supposedly
never
missed, because he seemed the greater threat, as they headed toward the ravine.

I knew what they’d find there before I even saw him.

The great white wolf stood only a few yards away, at the edge of the ravine. He glared at the expert hunter as he raised his gun. The red dot of the gun’s laser scope marked the hunter’s aim, about six inches left of the wolf’s heart.

The white wolf bared his teeth in a growl. He stepped back, and one of his hind paws slipped a bit on the cliff’s edge.

I could
feel
the satisfaction radiating off the hunter’s shoulders, and it made my insides roar with power. Just as his fingers went for the trigger, I ran up on a boulder and leaped onto the hunter’s back. I hit him hard from behind with my forearms as I landed. He shouted, and his gun went off, sending a wild bullet flying before I slammed him to the ground. He landed in a motionless heap with me on top of him.

I gasped and rolled him onto his side, noticing a trickle of blood seeping from the gash in his forehead. My heart quickened with panic. I hadn’t actually wanted to hurt him. I was about to feel for his pulse in his neck when he groaned. I pulled my hand back.

“Hey!” the second hunter shouted.

My head snapped up, and I saw him running toward me in the rain with his gun raised.

“What’d you do to him?” He stopped short when he got a better look at me—the teenage girl standing over his unconscious two-hundred-pound friend. “Who are you?”

It was then that I recognized the man. Pete Bradshaw’s only uncle, Jeff Bradshaw. I’d met him once, when my family were guests at Pete’s sister’s wedding two summers ago. He looked a lot like Pete’s dad, only blond, but he was only a few years older than we were. April had practically swooned when Jeff had asked her to dance at the wedding.

What on earth was I supposed to do now? I didn’t have time to think of a proper excuse for what I had done—and he might recognize me, too, if I let him look at me any longer.…

The white wolf let out a sharp growl. Jeff started to swing his gun around, ready to shoot at the crouching animal. Before he could finish the movement, I lunged for him, grabbed the end of his rifle, yanked it from his hands, and then swung it at him like baseball bat. The butt of the gun made a cracking noise as it smacked against the side of his head—almost as if I’d hit a home run. He fell to the ground, unconscious but still breathing, next to his friend.

The rain thickened. My soaked clothes clung to my shivering body. Lightning and thunder crashed as the white wolf arched his head back in a great, earsplitting howl. The first hunter I’d knocked down let out an answering groan. He’d be conscious soon. I had to get Daniel out of here.

“Come,” I said to the white wolf, motioning to him.

He whined, and I was afraid he’d try to run away.

“Come, please.”

He stepped cautiously toward me until his snout was almost touching my chest. I threaded my fingers into the wet fur around his neck. “This isn’t over yet. Not until you’re safe.”

He let out a grunt as if he understood.

“Let’s go, then.”