Soul Taken (Mercy Thompson #13)
Release Date August 23, 2022
The team of wolves inside the corn maze had been making a lot of noise for a while. Sometimes it sounded like just over the wall of corn and sometimes further away–as was consistent with wolves playing tag in a maze. Everyone was looking at Adam and I, and Adam was looking at me–so I was the only one who saw Zack burst out of the exit.
He was running at top speed, his raised fist displayed a multitude of damp ribbons that proved he’d found the waypoints scattered throughout the maze. His face was turned to look behind him and held a sort of gleeful terror that told me Sherwood (our designated maze monster) was in hot pursuit.
I didn’t even have time to open my mouth to warn anyone.
Zack’s shoulder hit George at full speed, knocking the much bigger man into the mass of the gathered people. Zack, himself, tumbled all the way over George’s falling body and into Mary Jo, who dropped more from the unexpectedness of the impact than its force.
Just before Mary Jo hit the ground, a giant wolf leaped over the top of the cornstalks–which was a feat that not all the wolves in our pack would have managed because the wall of the maze was not only nearly ten feet tall but at least that wide--and this wolf did it missing one rear leg. From my vantage place on Adam’s lap, I could see the instant in which Sherwood (the three-legged wolf) took in the whole scene.
I had no doubt that he could have landed safely. But with an expression of satisfaction in his eyes, he chose to belly flop in the deepest part of the puddle I’d already fallen into. I felt just the lightest touch of magic, then everyone, including Adam and I, was doused with icy mudwater.
Zack crawled off the top of the pile of people, wiped his face with his forearm, then showed Adam and I the fistful of ribbons, now even wetter than before. “I brought out all fifteen ribbons. My whole team gets steak dinner at Uncle Mike’s, right?”
