8.
In dread, Malachi obeyed his Master's orders to return home. He half-expected his Master to be waiting for them in the living room, ready to force the Hunt to wear the form of a Hound for the rest of eternity, but the others still sat in human form, waiting for their Master's orders.
As soon as Malachi's feet touched the stone floor, he shifted shape and fled into the kitchen, only wanting to be alone with his grief and sorrow on his last night in human form.
He could not see his Master allowing their freedom to remain in place. Not with Josiah gone so completely.
Malachi sat down at the kitchen table and buried his head in his hands. He didn't notice Nathaniel standing in the doorway until the other Hound spoke.
"What's wrong? What did you find?"
"Nothing," Malachi whispered, not glancing up. "Nothing at all. We weren't--permitted to finish our search."
"Perhaps our Master was afraid you, too, would be taken," Nathaniel said diplomatically. "I--"
Malachi raised his head. "He will not allow us our human forms, Nathaniel! Not after this!" He didn't realize how loud he had spoken until the others crowded in the doorway, uncharacteristically grim.
"Do you know this for fact?" Thomas demanded.
Malachi took a deep breath to quell the panic that raged through his body. "He thinks the Council stole Josiah away," he whispered, all-too-aware that their Master could open the bond at any second and punish him for speaking at all.
"Why?" Seth spoke first, his tone of voice disbelieving. "Why would they do such a thing?"
"Lucas knows Josiah is a Hound," Malachi whispered.
"I have never seen Lucas Lane act anything but honorably around our Master," Thomas said, his voice grave.
"But he is the only one who knows!" Malachi closed his eyes. "We are doomed."
"But--But won't our Master ask Lucas? If Lucas already knows Josiah is a Hound?" Zechariah's question was perfectly logical, of course. And in any other instance, Malachi could believe that their Master would do such a thing. But now--
"I wish he would," he said, and wondered how he had come to be the Hunt's spokesperson. "But I am afraid he will not. The Council's binding only holds us for ten more years, after all, and--"
"And if we anger them now--" Thomas spoke the words that Malachi did not want to speak. "I see."
"But what if the Council isn't involved?" Seth pressed. "What if Lucas has nothing to do with Josiah's disappearance?"
"He was a student at Darkbrook," Nathaniel said. "Won't they notice his absence?"
And that would be worse. Inquiries. "We're doomed," Malachi whispered. Should they all resume their Hound forms now and just get it over with?
He had possessed a luxury that the others had not for all these years. But Malachi doubted their Master would allow him his human form--even in secrecy. Unless they could prove the Council was not involved, perhaps, or that their secret that wasn't quite a secret had not been discovered.
Malachi closed his eyes as the damning thoughts raced through his mind. If he--If he dared to approach Lucas and ask for an honest answer about Josiah-- Would Lucas tell the truth?
Better yet, would his Master open the bond, read his thoughts, and kill him before he could make the attempt?
"You've thought of something," Seth said, almost begging his words to be true.
Malachi raised his head and opened his eyes. "Yes. I've thought of something, but I'll be killed if our Master finds out my intentions. That is why I can't tell you--I can't tell any of you what I intend to do."
"Don't risk your life for our sake," Thomas said. "I do not wish to see you dead, Malachi."
"Yes, but this is my fault," Malachi said, standing. His chair scraped across the stone floor. "I started this. Josiah wouldn't have been able to shift if it wasn't for me."
"Malachi, no." Of them all, Nathaniel was the only one who had figured out what Malachi intended. "I can't let you do this."
"You can't stop me, either," Malachi said. "Unless you tell our Master, and then I'll die for nothing."
"He will send us after you," Nathaniel whispered, blocking his way through the door. The others hovered behind him--Seth's face pinched and white, Thomas and Zechariah grim and silent. "And I do not wish to be forced to hunt you down, Malachi. Please don't do this!"
"What is it that you intend to do?" Seth asked. "I know you said you couldn't tell us, but if Nathaniel knows--"
Through the bond between them, Malachi felt Nathaniel share his knowledge with the others. "Damn you," he said helplessly. "Do you want to spend the rest of eternity in the form of a Hound?"
"I'd rather--" Nathaniel began to speak, but Thomas cut him off.
"No. Let him go. It's a good plan. If the Council didn't take Josiah, then our Master has no reason to force us to stay as Hounds."
"You are assuming that he will listen to reason when he finds out what Malachi has done," Nathaniel said stiffly.
"There is that," Zechariah said softly, and faded away from the pack, as if he did not wish to be involved any longer.
Thomas soon followed his lead, leaving Seth behind with Nathaniel.
"Would he kill two of us?" Seth asked, quite seriously. "Because I will go with you if it might mean saving your life."
Almost as one, Thomas and Zechariah stared at Seth in shock. Nathaniel spluttered a curse and turned away; Malachi felt some knot of tension release inside his chest. He couldn't allow Seth to come, but at least he knew that one of the five--one of the four, without Josiah--supported him enough to join him in punishment.
And it was true, more than likely, that their Master would not murder them all. There was always a possibility, of course, but if they banded together--
If they worked together, Gabriel would see it as the ultimate betrayal. If Malachi went by himself, then at least their Master could pretend that the betrayal was Malachi's alone.
"I have to go alone," he said aloud. "If we band together and defy him--"
"It would not go over well," Nathaniel whispered. "Go. Go now, and hurry back. If he--If our Master discovers your absence, he will make us Hunt you, and I don't want to have to do that."
"Be careful," Seth said, and stepped back, his eyes wide.
How long would it take for their Master to feel the tension between the Hounds and wonder what was going on? How long would it take for Gabriel to notice Malachi was missing?
And then, a sobering thought: What would happen if the Council was involved in Josiah's disappearance? And Malachi endangered the others by exposing himself--and his ability to shift--to Lucas? Did he dare take that kind of chance?
Did he dare not?
Malachi wrenched his mind away from what could be and tried to concentrate on what he knew he had to do.
"Hurry back," Nathaniel said, as if he could guess what kind of thoughts were spinning through Malachi's mind.
Without speaking, Malachi nodded and hurried out of the kitchen, tensed for a shout from their Master or the opening of the bond.
When nothing happened by the time he reached the mouth of the cave that led into the human world, he thought, perhaps, that his desperate scheme might just succeed. Out of habit, he shifted into the form of a Hound as soon as he stepped away from the cave and raced away across the forest floor, running as if the very Hounds of Hell were snapping at his feet.
Next Update: June 1st
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