Kim and Sarah sat cross-legged on the living room floor. Sarah kept stealing glances at the vaulted ceilings and massive windows, her eyes wide before she caught herself and looked away. Macy and Adam were on the couch—Macy hovering, one hand near his arm like she could ward off whatever lingered in his head. Adam stared at the carpet, distant, like part of him was still trapped.

  Jill and Thomas had gone to the kitchen. The silence stretched until Macy broke.

  “What the hell happened to Adam?” Her voice cracked—no bravado left, just raw fear.

  “Nothing permanent,” Sarah said quietly. “It’ll fade. Thomas is better at explaining.”

  “Something attacked him?” Macy leaned forward, eyes blazing. “Like—actually tried to hurt him?”

  “Nearly,” Sarah said. “I stopped it before she could do anything permanent.”

  Macy’s gaze snapped to her. “It was Sam, wasn’t it?”

  Adam’s voice was flat. “Yeah.”

  Macy’s face went pale, then flushed red. “What did that bitch do?” She grabbed Adam’s sleeve, tight enough to wrinkle the fabric. “Tell me. Right now.”

  “I couldn’t move,” Adam muttered. “Like my brain shut down. I wanted to run, but… I just listened.”

  Macy made a choked sound—half sob, half snarl. “If that bitch thinks I was mean to her before, wait until I see her next! I’m gonna... I... I...”

  Kim stood and pulled Macy into a hug before she unraveled. “He’s here. Breathing. We’ll fix this. You always know how to help people—we’ll figure it out.”

  Macy let the hug last a few seconds before pulling back, wiping her face roughly. She dropped beside Adam again, closer. “What the hell is a wendigo?” she demanded.

  Sarah hesitated, glancing toward the kitchen. “I promised Thomas I’d be careful. And I don’t know much. Mom doesn’t talk about monsters a lot. She says it’s bad to. I don't know why. Thomas knows details.”

  “Can you tell us what you do know?” Kim asked gently.

  Sarah exhaled. “They start human. Then… they eat someone. And keep going. Eventually something notices, like a demon or the devil, and gives them power so they can do more. Wendigos are especially cruel. They don't kill their prey right away. They play with them.” Sarah seemed particularly bothered by the notion of playing with something before killing it. “That’s all I really know.”

  Macy stared. “So Sam…?”

  “If that thing pretending to be her is Sam,” Sarah said softly, “then the real Sam’s probably gone.”

  The room froze. Macy’s breathing hitched. “Gone. Like… eaten? Dead and replaced?”

  Sarah nodded, looking small and guilty.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Macy shot up. “No. No way. People don’t just get eaten and swapped like a horror movie prop!” Her voice cracked higher. “She was awful, but she was still a person! God, we’ve known her forever!” She spun toward Adam. “You almost got eaten too? By someone you went to fucking kindergarten with! Or worse, something wearing someone... holy shit, how did that sentence come out of my mouth!”

  Adam flinched. “I know, Mace. I can't stop thinking about it either.”

  Macy tugged at her hair, pacing. “This is insane. This town is insane. I’m going home. I’m getting my brothers, I'm getting my Dad! The fucking military! All the guns! And whatever else it takes!”

  Sarah’s eyes widened. “Wait, you can’t just—”

  But Macy was already spiraling. “Right now at my house there are enough weapons to arm a small nation! What's the point of having white Republicans in the family if they don't keep the heavy machinery around! They've dealt with worse than some cannibal ghost wearing faces! I would hope...”

  Thomas and Jill stepped in just then.

  “I can give you some answers,” Thomas said.

  Macy rounded on him. “Then start. What did it do to Adam? How do we fix him? What happened to Sam? What happened to Kim? And what the hell is going on?!”

  Thomas raised his hands. “One at a time. I won't play games, or be evasive. Some things I can say, some I can’t.”

  Jill spoke up. “What Sarah said about wendigos is true. Powerful. Dangerous. It wants something in this town, we don’t know what yet.”

  Thomas nodded. “We have ideas we're going to explore. But we have to figure out how to explore them.”

  “Did it eat Sam?” Macy demanded, voice shaking.

  Thomas met her eyes. “If that was Sam… yes. It consumed her.”

  Macy staggered back. “Consumed. Somehow that sounds a lot worse than ate. You mean… somewhere, what was Sam has been flushed down a toilet.” She looked at Adam, eyes glassy. “And it almost—”

  Kim reached for her as the girl flinched, tears spilling down her cheeks. She resisted at first but eventually buried her face in Kim’s arm, shoulders shaking.

  Thomas continued quietly. “Jill and I hunt things like this. In fact we're part of an organization that does. Sarah’s family does too; in their own way.”

  Jill snorted at “in their own way,” looking suspiciously at Kim.

  “Was that what attacked me at camp?” Kim asked.

  “I don't know why you were attacked at camp,” Thomas said. “But I think it's probably connected.”

  Macy’s voice came out in a fierce whisper. “Fix Adam. Fix Kim. Then tell me where it is so I can kill it.”

  Thomas looked over at Sarah. Kim looked as well to discover she looked mortified by the conversation.

  “The wendigo manipulated Adam's mind and emotions,” Thomas said. “It’ll fade in a day or two. He’ll be himself. Kim is healing. She survived. We're gonna call that a win.”

  Macy gripped Adam’s hand hard. “And if it comes back? If it tries again?”

  “You stay together,” Jill said. “Let us hunt the thing. We kill it before it can get anyone else.”

  Macy laughed bitterly. “You want us to sit while it wears people’s faces? No. My family doesn’t sit. We fight.” She was adamant.

  Thomas’s tone stayed calm, but firm. “You could bring in police, army, your brothers. And all the guns you can find. Wendigos thrive in chaos. This thing can take any form it’s consumed, along with their memories, mannerisms, everything. They become indistinguishable from the creatures they consume. Just crueler.”

  Macy stared, chest heaving. “So we’re supposed to… just wait?”

  “At this very moment, yes. Until Jill and I come up with a plan. We all just wait. Look at you, Macy. You're obviously a tough kid. Look what just a taste of all this has done to you. Do you really think your father will believe us? And if her does, what's the likelihood of him handling it any better?”

  “And we also don't know who else she consumed,” Jill added. Which did nothing for everyone's anxiety. “Only animals can detect them really. And it's not like they can tell us.”

  Kim caught Sarah giving Jill a nasty look.

  Jill continued coldly. “Animals can smell them. But we don't have any dogs tame enough to be of much use.”

  Sarah stomped out of the room. Her anger palpable. Kim felt her loyalties torn. But she was caught up in her two friends and the memory of how Sam smelled to her.

  Thomas glared at Jill before turning to chase after her.