"Zzzzzoey?" It breathed my name, its voice sounding wrong and flat and utterly inhuman. "We havvvve been loooooking for you."

My body felt frozen. My mind was screaming inside my head they've been looking for me! But nothing came out of my mouth--no warning to Heath. Not even the shrill girl scream that filled my throat.

"My father will be very pleassssssed when I presssssent you to him," the Mocker hissed, spreading his wings as if he was preparing to fly down and snatch me up.

"I'll have to say `hell no' to that little messed-up plan of yours," Heath yelled.

Chapter Twelve

I tore my horrified gaze from the Raven Mocker to see Heath standing just a couple of feet in front of me. He had his gun out and was holding it before him, pointing it directly at the creature in the tree.

"Puny human!" the thing screeched. "You think to ssssstop an Old One?"

Everything went into fast-forward then. The creature exploded from the tree at the same time my body thawed and I sprinted forward. I saw Heath squeeze the trigger and heard the deafening blast of the gun, but the Raven Mocker was moving with inhuman speed. It dodged, and the place Heath had been aiming at was empty the instant before the bullet sliced through the air, embedding itself in the ice-coated tree. As the thing flew toward Heath, I saw its jagged talons curling into claws and I remembered how, even in spirit form, a creature like this had almost sliced through my neck. Now the Raven Mockers had their bodies returned to them and I knew unless I did something fast, this one was going to kill Heath.

With a scream I gave voice to my fear and rage as I launched myself at Heath, knocking him aside a moment before the Raven Mocker reached him so that the creature struck me instead. I didn't feel any pain then, just an odd pressure against my skin, starting at the top of my left shoulder and slicing across the upper part of my chest, above my br**sts, all the way to my right shoulder. The force of the blow spun me around in a half circle so that I was still facing the Raven Mocker as it flew past us and then dropped to the ground on its terrible human legs.

Its blood-colored eyes widened as it looked at me. "No!" it cried in a voice that could belong to no sane being. "He wantssss you alive!"

"Zoey! Oh, God, Zoey! Get behind me!" Heath was yelling at me as he tried to scramble to his feet, but he slipped on the icy pavement that had somehow turned a wet red. He fell hard.

I glanced at him and thought how weird it was that even though he was right next to me it sounded like he was yelling from way down a long tunnel.

I didn't understand why, bu.Blood? Is that what's all over the pavement? That's odd. With a mental shrug I disregarded the pooling blood and shouted, "Wind, come to me!"

At least I thought I shouted. What really came out of my mouth was barely a whisper. Thankfully, wind is a good listener because the air instantly began to swirl around me.

"Keep that thing on the ground," I said. Wind instantly obeyed, and a lovely mini-tornado engulfed the grotesque birdman, causing its wings to be useless. With a terrible screeching sound the thing tucked its useless wings against its back and began to trudge toward me, ducking its mutated head against the battering of wind.

"Zoey! Shit, Zoey!" Heath was suddenly beside me. His strong arm was around me, which felt really good because I was thinking that I might want to fall over.

I smiled at him, wondering why he was crying. "Just a sec. Gotta finish off that thing." Wearily, I turned my attention back to the birdman. "Fire, I need you." Heat was there, warming the swirling air around me. Then I used the finger of the bloody hand I was still holding upright and I pointed it at the thing that was getting closer and closer to Heath and me. "Burn it up," I commanded.

The warmth that had been surrounding me changed tempo, going from gentle heat to a column of consuming flame. It followed the direction of my pointing finger and of my will, and it plowed into the Raven Mocker, engulfing it in an angry yellow flame. The air was filled with the awful scent of roasting meat and burnt feathers. I thought I might puke.

"Oh, ugh. Fire, thank you. Wind, before you leave, could you please blow that nasty smell away?" It was so strange that I thought I was saying all this stuff really loud, but my voice was actually coming out as a weak little whisper. The elements obeyed me anyway, which was good, because a wave of sickening dizziness washed over me and I was suddenly slumping against Heath, unable to hold myself upright anymore.

I tried to understand what was wrong with me, but my thoughts were all muddied, and for some reason knowing exactly what was going on didn't seem very important.