Free Irish Magic by Caitlin Ricci Page A

joy.
    Hannah rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Ippy. “You okay?”
    You lied.
    Nodding, Hannah figured he might catch onto that. “Yeah. I did. I had to get them to trust me. Forgive me?”
    He shrugged and she thought that would have to be good enough for right now. “Alright, Caelum, here’s your skin. Now what’s around here? We need a phone. I’m going to call my dads.”
    He took it from her hands, looking grateful as he clutched the small scrap of stiff leather tightly to his chest before lifting his shirt and stuffing it into his front pocket. It hung out a bit, but he tucked the top into the side of his shorts, too. She figured that when he was all healed up it would be a lot larger than it was now because there was no way that the skin, no more than a few feet across, would be able to cover him otherwise. “There’s the diner.”
    Ippy shook his head. Look for us there first.
    “Ippy says they’d look for us there first. He’s right. No roads, no major places.”
    Caelum frowned. “Then we might be walking for a while.”
    Hannah nodded then quickly pulled them both down next to her behind a rotting log when she heard a twig snap in the distance. “That’s fine,” she whispered, wishing they hadn’t taken her phone.
    Deer. West.
    She nodded to Ippy, glad his sense of smell was much better than hers.
    “How do you know it’s a deer?” Caelum asked.
    Hannah was about to snap at him that Ippy just did, but then her mouth fell open and she could only stare up into his nearly black eyes. “You…how did…But he…”
    They both turned their attentions to Ippy, who only shrugged. Wanted to talk to both of you.
    Hannah grinned. “I’m going to hug you now. Okay?”
    He didn’t look too excited about that idea, but didn’t move away from her, either, as her arms came around his shoulders. She didn’t squeeze him, just wanted to let him know she was glad he’d figured out a way to talk to both of them at once. Or even just another person. She felt a moment of jealousy and uncertainty, like maybe he wouldn’t need her anymore. But she quickly brushed it aside. He didn’t really need her now. Not really, anyway. And now that he could talk to another person, maybe his parents would be next. And then their teacher and Samson, too. He could actually talk to them instead of her talking for him all the time.
    Hannah was ecstatic until Ippy said, Not a deer, startling her into pulling away from him.
    “What isn’t?” she asked him, looking around to see what he had heard or seen.
    He lifted his hand just as she spotted the men coming for them. Caelum ran first and Hannah grabbed Ippy’s hand, making sure he was close behind them before she took off running as well with the men screaming at their backs.
     

Chapter Six
     
     
    They found shelter a good mile later behind an old barn, but didn’t stay long out of fear that the men would easily be able to get them again. They avoided roads and other people, but kept heading east because that was the way Hannah knew their pack was. By the time they did stop to rest it was dark, their stomachs were growling and Hannah’s feet badly hurt from all the blisters forming on them. They found a spot behind a thick patch of trees a good ten minute walk from the nearest road and sank down in the old leaves.
    This sucks.
    Hannah nodded, easily agreeing with him. She turned onto her side and put her arm under her head, feeling miserable and like she’d let him down along with everyone else in the pack that was likely worried about them. “I’m sorry, Ippy,” she whispered. Her stomach hurt and she laid a hand over it. From beside her Ippy didn’t respond and she closed her eyes and tried not to think about how cold it was or how much she missed her dads, her alpha or Evangeline. They were her family and she’d really screwed up. The leaves crunched behind her and she opened her eyes to look over her shoulder as Caelum as he lay down behind her. He