“You have everything written down, right?”
Aidan rolled his eyes and held up his phone, showing Dad the screen of his full itinerary. “Who writes shit down anymore, Dad?” he asked. “It’s all on here.”
“And what happens if you lose your phone?”
“I ask Mom. Or find a computer somewhere since it’s all on the cloud. Besides, it’s only two weeks.” Aidan went back to looking at his phone, thumbing through photos on his feed. Everyone his age had already gone off on a dozen adventures. Now it was his turn to see the world, to get out of this backwoods New England hellhole.
Now was his chance to actually live.
The fact that he was doing it with his mother, well...not his first choice, but at least it meant he was getting out of the country. Finally.
He was honestly surprised his parents had even come up with this idea. Take two weeks off of school? In a way, he almost felt bad. The entire reason they were going was to strengthen his relationship with his mom and get her away from the ghosts of this place. If they were willing to let him skip school, their relationship must have been truly failing.
Then again, now that magic had been discovered, the entire field of education was shifting. Very few of Aidan’s classmates actually showed up to class anymore. It didn’t feel worth it.
Dad grabbed his phone. “This is serious, son.”
Son. His dad only used that phrase when he was pissed.
“I’m going to Scotland, Dad,” Aidan replied. Were they really going to have this conversation again? “They have electricity there. And internet. They don’t all just live in castles by firelight.”
“I know. I’ve been there. I just want to make sure you two are safe.”
“We’ll be fine.” Aidan tried to level out his words. He and his mom left for the airport in a few hours. She was out running last-minute errands while Aidan finished packing.
This was the last time he’d see his dad for two weeks. He might as well try to make it a pleasant memory. “Promise. I’ll call you the moment I get there.”
“Liar,” his dad said with a grin. “You’ll text first.”
“Calling is for old people.” Aidan smiled.
“And yet you’ll call me when you get to the airport and let me know everything’s on time. If nothing else, so I know your phone still works.”
Aidan groaned. “Yeah, yeah, sure.”
His dad reached out, took his hand. Aidan tried to ignore just how bad Dad’s hand shook. “I love you, Aidan.”
Aidan smiled and turned his hand up, clenched his dad’s hand.
“I—”
The door slammed open.
Dad snapped back, shocked, as the Howls poured in. Kravens, putrid and decaying, their stench and gurgling filling the kitchen as they skittered forward on mangled legs, their flesh slopping across the floor.
They reached for his father, yanked him from his seat, their talons digging red into his shoulders, their teeth gnashing. Aidan screamed. He tried to stand, but he couldn’t move. He was glued to the chair.
“Aidan! Help me! Please, help!”
His father’s voice. And his mother’s.
But Aidan couldn’t move. And that’s when he realized he wasn’t stuck there. He was scared. He was too scared to move.
He yelled out again as the Howls dragged his father out of the room. Screamed for his dad. For someone. Anyone. Anyone to help.
He screamed.
Only when the door closed behind them was Aidan able to move. He jumped from his seat. Wrenched the door open.
The yard was empty. In the distance, he heard the bleating of sheep.
“Dad?” he called, his voice trembling. Nothing. Fear clenched his chest. No. No, he had to find him. He couldn’t be gone, he couldn’t—
“Dad!”
Aidan jerked awake, covered in sweat in the deepest darkness.
“Mate, calm down,” Lukas whispered. A hand on his chest, holding him fast to the bed. “It was just a nightmare. Your dad’s not here.”
Aidan collapsed back on the thin mattress. Stared up at the darkness. Wished against everything else it would consume him, wished the pain that seeped back into consciousness would take him away. The pain, and the everlasting cold.
For what he had done, he didn’t deserve anything better.