Once she was confident that Sam was completely healed, she patched herself up and then there was a lot of talk. We ate canned fruit and pudding, sharing all that we knew. We told Lana about the FAYZ, the adults and everyone over fourteen vanishing into thin air. She told us more about the coyotes and Pack Leader, who was the head of the mangy beasts. The barrier, the power plant, ideas of what could have possibly caused all of this. Lana was telling us about the day it all started, the car accident, how her dog had been dying. How she had been dying. But she healed her dog and herself, the girl not understanding how or why she could do so.

From beyond the wooden door came a sudden chorus of excited yelps.

LEADER!

GET THEM!

HUMANS DIE!

FOOD..FOOD..FOOD!

HATE, FOOD, HATE, FOOD.

STUPID FOOLS. MEAL MEAL MEAL.

"Agh!" I put my hands to my head. It was like a thousand voices were all shouting in my mind.

"Pack Leader's here." Lana said. She crossed to the sink and picked up a large kitchen knife, before turning to Sam, her expression fierce. "I'll stab him in his heart if he comes in here." My brother and Edilio both drew their knives.

"Nell?" Astrid asked.

KILL THEM.

EAT.

EAT.

MEAL. MEAL. MEAL!

RIP.

TEAR.

HUNGER.

HUNGRY.

STARVING.

"STOP IT!" I shrieked, covering my ears. I bent forward, screaming as the voices continued.

"What's wrong with her?" Lana barked, her eyes wide with confusion.

"I don't know!" Sam was at my side. "Nell? Eleanora! Talk to me!" He was shaking me lightly as I yelled again.

"I can hear them!" I squeezed my eyes shut and Sam held me tight against him.

"Hear what? The coyotes? We all heard them!" Quinn fussed, but his tone was more scared than irritated.

"I can hear..." I trailed off as it all quieted down. "It's stopping, oh, thank God, it's..." I uncovered my ears, the others looking at me as if I were crazy.

From outside the door, just inches away, came the strangled, snarling, high-pitched voice. "Human. Come out."

"No!" Lana yelled.

"Human. Come out."

Lana said, "Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin."

Astrid smiled. "Nice," she whispered.

"Human. Come out. Human teach Pack Leader. Human say." The coyote's voice was making the hairs on my arms stand up.

"Shut it up." I hissed to my brother, who was looking at me strangely.

"Lesson number one, you filthy, ugly, nasty, mangy animal: Never trust a human." Lana said defiantly. That resulted in a protracted silence.

"The Darkness." Pack Leader growled.

"Go ahead. Go tell your master in the mine all about it." She looked as if she were about to say something more but stopped.

"What's this about a mine?" Sam asked, still holding onto me.

"Nothing."

"Then why is that coyote out there talking about it? What's this darkness thing?" My brother questioned.

Lana shook her head. "I don't know. They took me there. It's an old gold mine. That's all."

Sam finally let me go, looked at Lana and said, "Look, you saved our lives. But we still want to know what's going on."

The girl twined her fingers together around the knife hilt tightly. "I don't know what's going on, Sam. There's something down in that mine. That's all I know. The coyotes listen to it, they're scared of it, and they do what it says."

"Did you see it?"

"I don't know. I don't remember. I don't really want to remember." There was a loud thump at the door and it rattled on its hinges.

"Edilio, let's find more nails." Sam said wearily.

"What happened?' Astrid was at my side, her hand on my shoulder. The boys were working to to strip the cabin of everything they could use to barricade the door, but Sam stopped, watching me, waiting for an answer.

"Do you remember the day that Drake and I went into town?" I asked simply, staring at the floor.

"Yes." She replied.

"When we went back to the hospital that night to get supplies for the daycare, we were..we were almost done. And then I heard a voice." I looked up at Sam. "I thought I was going crazy for a second, you know? But then we heard a noise and there were a dozen coyotes surrounding us. I heard one of them...talking. But it wasn't talking." I shook my head. "Not like that one out there. Drake couldn't..hear it."

"What did it say?" Lana demanded.

"It-it said..." I tried to think back. "It said, "humans, get them" and then "circle them, trap, flank". But only I could hear it."

"That sounds like thoughts." Astrid said quietly.

"When they started yipping out there... All I heard were words. "Hungry, kill them, eat, meal, rip, tear". Other words...just all at once, I couldn't." I put a hand to my head. "It was like they were all in my head!"

"So that's your power? Reading minds?" Lana inquired.

"No." Sam and I said in unison.

"Then what?"

"I flung our step dad over a coffee table once." I grinned sheepishly at Sam. "To protect Sammy."

"Can you control it?" Lana had all the questions.

"I.. I don't know. Sometimes..sometimes I feel like I can, in the moment. I knocked that coyote off of you." I looked back at Sam. "And you.. But I think.. The power is in our hands, that's what it seems like. But I don't have to use my hands."

"What do you mean?" Edilio asked and I glanced at him.

"I mean, that if my hands are tied I can still use my power."

"Caine cannot find out." Sam said surely. "He'll have you killed on the spot."

"I still haven't quite figured out how to use them full force. I'm not even sure if I'm using them at half potential, honestly."

"You might have to find out tonight." Astrid was still staring at the door as the coyotes threw themselves against it.

All through the night the damned coyotes slammed against the door, trying to break it down. But Sam, Quinn, and Edilio had stripped the cabin of everything that could be used to strengthen the door, and it would hold. For a while, at least. We hoped.

"They're locked out." Sam said.

"And we're locked in." Lana agreed.

"Can you do it?" Astrid asked Sam.

"I don't know." My brother admitted. "I guess. But I have to go out there to do it. If it works, okay. Maybe. If it doesn't..."

"More pudding, anyone?" Quinn asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Better to stay in here." Astrid opined. "They'll have to come through the door. That means one or two at a time. Wouldn't that be easier, Sam?"

"Yeah. It'll be a party." He held out his tin cup. "Quinn, pudding me."

We took turns getting a couple hours of sleep, making sure there were at least two of us awake at all times. When the sky began to lighten to a pearl gray, not enough to see clearly, but enough to give some light, Edilio got up and found a knothole to peek out of. I sat up, interested to know what he could see in the dim yard.

"There's got to be, maybe, a hundred of them out there," he reported.

Lana got up from repairing her clothing with a needle and thread and looked for herself. "That's more than one pack."

"You can tell that?" Astrid asked, yawning and rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"I know a little more about coyotes now," Lana said. "If we see this many, it means there's at least twice as many around here. Some have to be out hunting. Coyotes hunt day and night." She sat back down and picked up her sewing. "They're waiting for something."

"What?" I asked.

"I didn't see Pack Leader. Maybe he left. Maybe they're waiting for him to come back."

"Sooner or later they'll lose interest, won't they?" Astrid questioned.

Lana shook her head, "Normal coyotes, sure. But these aren't normal coyotes."

We waited and every hour or so Sam or Edilio would check the view, and every time they saw coyotes. Suddenly there came the sound of a thousand canine voices raised in excited yips.

KILL THEM!

BURN...BURN.

FOOD.

DARKNESS SAY.

GIRL.

FIRE.

FIRE!

EAT!

EAT!

My hands went to my ears once again and Patrick stood up, bristling. I drew my knees up to my chest and rocked gently as I clamped my hands hard over my ears. Sam ran over to the peephole and Lana shone the flashlight on him.

"They have fire." My brother said. Lana pushed past him and climbed up to see for herself. The voices had quieted down and I dropped my hands from my ears.

"It's Pack Leader," she confirmed. "He has a burning branch."

"It's not just a burning branch, it's a torch." Sam said. "It's not just something he found. It's only burning at one end, a branch wouldn't do that. Someone with hands had to have made it. Someone gave it to him."

"The Darkness." Lana whispered.

"This cabin will burn like a match." Sam said.

"No, I don't want to burn!" Lana cried. "We have to get out, make some kind of deal with Pack Leader."

"What?" I looked at her like she was crazy.

"You said he'd kill us." Astrid said. She had her hands over Little Pete's ears.

"How do you know they'll even listen at this point?" I asked, standing.

"They want me alive, they want me to teach them human ways, that's what the Darkness said, he can't kill me, he needs me." Lana responded surely.

"Try." Sam encouraged.

"Pack Leader!" Lana shouted. "Pack Leader!"

"He doesn't hear you."

"He's a coyote, he can hear a mouse in its hole from fifty feet away." Lana snapped. Raising her voice to a scream then, "PACK LEADER! PACK LEADER! I'LL DO WHATEVER YOU WANT!"

Sam was back at the spy hole. "He's right outside," he whispered.

"Pack Leader, don't.." Lana begged.

"They're all backing away."

"Oh, God."

"Smoke," Edilio said, and pointed a flashlight beam at the door's threshold.

"Oh, shit..." I whispered, as it began to billow under the door. Lana hefted a gold brick and began beating at the boards they had nailed over the door. Edilio grabbed her arms.

"You want to burn alive?" Lana demanded. Edilio released her. "We're coming out!" Lana shouted as she banged at the boards. "We're coming out."

But the boards were no easier to remove than they had been to put up. A yellow tongue licked beneath the door. Sam pulled back suddenly from the spy hole. "Fire."

"I don't want to burn!" Lana wailed.

"There has to be a way out!" I yelped, looking at Sam.

"It's the smoke that kills you," Sam whispered, looking from me to Astrid. "Nell's right, there's got to be a way out."

Astrid said, "You know the way out. Both of you."

From the back wall now, smoke snuck in through cracks and seams. Lana hammered at the boards. Smoke was gathering under the rafters. The cabin was burning quickly, the smoke making me cough. Already the heat was becoming intolerable, making my eyes burn.

"Help me!" Lana cried. "We have to get out."

Edilio sprang into action, helping to pull the boards away. Sam leaned over Little Pete's head and kissed Astrid on the mouth. "Don't let me turn into Caine," he said.

"I'll keep an eye on you." Astrid assured.

"Me either." I mumbled as Sam and I stepped toward the door.

"Okay. Everyone get back from the door." My brother said, but too quietly for it to register above the panic sounds. He grabbed Lana's hand as she swung with a gold brick.

"What are you doing?" she cried.

"You saved our lives with your power." Sam said. "Our turn."

Lana and Edilio shrank back from the doorway. My stomach knotted, my fingers tingling with anxiety. What if I can't do it? What if it doesn't work? What if-

"Get angry." Sam said quietly and I looked over to see him close his eyes, hands extended. I followed his lead, only hoping that using my hands could make it stronger. Make it work. I thought about Caine, about how he had been ripped from us for whatever reason. How he was so horrible, how he had been so quick to order Drake to kill Astrid and Petey, how he was so cold. Powerful. How he could have been different.

I saw her. Mom. And suddenly I felt a rush I'd never felt before. The image of her in my head, the image of her abandoning our brother, but keeping us. Why? Why had she just given him up? I screamed and the door burst into pieces outward. Flames and smoke were everywhere, a torrent of choking smoke. Through the inferno leaped a coyote as big as a Great Dane.

Green-white light erupted from his upraised hands and the coyote dropped to the floor. An eight inch hole was burned clear through his body. A second flash, like a thousand flashbulbs, and the front of the cabin blew apart. The sudden vacuum swallowed some of the flame, not all, just a pause in the inferno and we were moving. Sam was dragging Astrid by the arm, Astrid dragging Petey in turn. The others shook off the shock and followed behind us.

We exited the through the hole in the cabin and the coyotes surged forward, a mass of dangerous teeth beneath cold, focused eyes. I raised my hands and screamed again. UP! A coyote flew in the air. BREAK! Its neck twisted with a sick snap. UP! UP! UP! FOUR! TEN! UP! SIDE! SIDE! SIX! EIGHT, UP, BREAK! Coyotes were flying and burning.

The cabin fell with a crash behind us, but I paid it no mind. I was focused with my brother. I knocked coyotes to the side so hard, they rolled, breaking bones across the hard ground. They kept coming and we kept fighting them off wave after wave.

"Pack Leader." Lana warned in a voice reduced to a croak by the smoke that swirled around them. There were hundreds of them, their eyes and teeth showing in the orange glow from behind us. Pack Leader faced us, barked out a command, and then they were running. The entire pack moved as one, a wave of snarling fury.

Sam and I held our hands high and I screamed as I my mind screamed LIFT THEM! UP! About two dozen coyotes were suddenly off the ground. DROP! They were falling and rolling, bones snapping, tripping the coyotes behind them as Sam sent beams of the purest green-white light fired directly at them. I focused on the slackers behind, ROLL! SIDE! SIDE! SIDE! I was knocking coyotes with amazing force, sending them rolling across the desert. That first wave of coyotes had caught fire instantly.

The pack turned tail and ran into the night. And Pack Leader was no longer fearless, no longer leading, but following, racing to keep up with his beaten army. Some burned as they ran and set alight the shrubbery. UP! TWIST! SIDE, UP, TWIST! SIDE! SIDE! I was catching stragglers, killing as many as I could.

"Eleanora!" A voice. "Nell, stop!" Arms pulling me backward. "Nell, they're gone! They're gone.." Sam. I went limp in his arm, feeling dizzy. The world felt like it was falling away from me, my legs were like jello. I tried to breathe, feeling like I suddenly couldn't.

"Sam.." I croaked, the breaths turning into sobs. Somehow I managed to stay on my feet, turning into my brother. I held onto him tight, sobbing into his chest. The power. The power, the rush, the killing.. It was terrifying. Terrifying how once you started using it against something that made you so angry... You didn't want to stop.

"I know.. I know." Sam said against my head. My head was spinning and I felt sick.

"Sam.." I managed to say. "Sam, I need to..sit down." My brother helped me sit on the ground and he stayed right beside me. I was shaking all over, trying to regain my composure. Deep breath in...out...in...out...in...out. I wiped my face with the backs of my hands.

"Dude.." Quinn said in an awestruck voice. Astrid had moved to stand beside Sam while he held my hand.

"I don't think they'll come back." Sammy said surely.

"Where to now, man?" Edilio asked him.

"Can you stand?" Sam whispered the question and I nodded.

"Maybe." My voice was little. He stood and held out his hand, grabbing my arm with his other to lift me to my feet. The two of us just gazed out into the desert and I thought about all the anger I had felt. It made me want to burst into tears again. It made me feel sick. Our mom had done her best, it wasn't her fault. Caine...we didn't know anything about his upbringing. Sam and I had each other, he was alone. He had to have felt like something was missing. I know I always did. Could I really blame him for the way he had turned out? Would he be different now if he had been with us?

"We'll head back to Perdido Beach." Astrid was speaking and I was grateful. Sam and I needed a moment. "We'll go back, and we'll make things right."

"And Caine will just step aside," Quinn said. "No problem, la di da."

Astrid flared. "I'm not saying it will be easy. It will be a test for us."

Edilio shook his head. "Isn't going to be a test. It's going to be a war."

"Well," I turned to the others, "if it's a war our brother wants, it's a war he'll get."

I am loving writing this story.

Thank you to all the amazing readers!

~Kaila B.