The Rising Read Online Free Page B

whispered. Then she hiccupped a laugh. “I guess, if I’m hugging a cougar and it isn’t ripping out my throat, that answers my question.”
    She hugged me again.
    â€œI’m sorry,” she said. “You must be so angry and so confused. Are the others with you? Daniel and the rest?”
    I let out a chirp.
    She squeezed me again. “As horrible as this must be, at least you have each other.” She clutched my face between her hands. “If there’s any way for you to visit your parents, please, please do that. Your mother might not believe in the spirit world, but when she sees you, she’ll recognize her child. She’ll know you took the form of the cougar to come and say good-bye.”
    Good-bye? Spirit world?
    She didn’t know I was a skin-walker. She thought the birthmark meant I had a link to the big cats and that my spirit had taken their form to return one last time. It was like seeing a ghost.
    I pulled back and shook my head.
    â€œYou can’t go to them?” she said, her voice cracking, tears streaming down her face. “Do you want me to tell them I saw you?”
    I shook my head again. Then I pulled from her grasp and started to run to the guys, to get them over here to explain.
    â€œMaya!”
    As she shouted, I caught a scent on the breeze. One I recognized. Moreno—a man who worked with Calvin Antone, my biological father.
    Footsteps pounded so hard I could feel the vibration. I caught other scents. A Nast Cabal team with Moreno, approaching from the south.
    â€œMaya!” Grandma shouted.
    I wheeled, growling, hoping she’d see or hear the team, but she just kept running after me, calling my name.
    A dart whizzed past. I ran faster. Then I heard a gasp behind me and saw my grandmother falling face-first to the ground, a dart lodged in her leg. I tore back to her.
    Footsteps came from two directions. Daniel called for me. Corey shouted, too, telling me to stop, to come back.
    Another dart zinged past, so close it cut right through the fur on my haunch. I reached my grandmother. She was out cold, in the grass. I grabbed her shirt in my teeth and yanked as hard as I could. The fabric gave way and I tumbled back, a chunk of cloth in my mouth.
    Daniel grabbed me by the loose skin around my neck. “You can’t help her! Come on!”
    When he heaved on me, I caught another glimpse of my grandmother, lying in the grass. Rage and fear coursed through me and the world turned bloodred. Daniel heaved again and I spun, snarling, jaws opening, fangs slashing for his arm. Then I saw him and swung to the side, biting air instead.
    â€œMaya! Daniel!”
    Another voice I knew. One that filled my gut with ice water. Antone.
    â€œDaniel!” Corey shouted. “Leave her! She’ll be fine. Come on!”
    Daniel’s grip on my ruff didn’t loosen. He whispered, “Please, Maya. Please.”
    I looked back at my grandmother. Then up at Antone. Then at Moreno and two others running behind him, all armed with tranquilizer guns. And it was like when they’d shot Kenjii. When they’d shot Daniel. I’d watched them fall and there was nothing I could do. Not against so many.
    I tore my gaze from my grandmother and ran. When another dart whizzed by, I veered to the side. Daniel shouted, then realized I wasn’t circling back—I was separating us, making us tougher to shoot.
    We were already in the long grass. That made me nearly impossible to hit. I looked over at Daniel. A dart hit the flap of his sweatshirt and lodged there. As he batted it out, I circled, racing behind him and bumping the back of his legs. He understood and bent over, running as low as he could, zigzagging, his dark shirt making him nearly invisible in the night.
    â€œCorey!” He shouted. “Go!”
    We made it to the neighboring cabin. That blocked us from sight—and gunfire—and we could hear our pursuers cursing as we slipped