The Spirit Seducer

Chapter 15

Ignoring my suggestion, Layla swerved, her gaze intent on the other side of the road. Coyote expanded, growing larger, taking up all four lanes.

Layla hissed a curse.

"Don't try it, Layla. He'd love nothing more than to kill us in a head-on collision."

She stood up on the breaks, causing the car to slide sideways. The tires screamed in protest before they caught. My door faced Coyote and we pointed toward the open desert.

"I'm not getting out, E. That's suicide."

"Drive," I pointed into the dirt and cholla. The Rio Grande was there, to the west. My chest pinched tight. I tried to breathe through my fear. I was Water.

Zeke believed I'd saved him. I gripped the seatbelt, holding it away from my sore neck.

Layla gunned the engine and the tires tore into the loose sand. Rocks pinged the undercarriage as we fish-tailed out onto the scrubby desert.

Coyote shot forward with preternatural speed. He slammed into the car with so much force the car flipped and my head snapped back into my door. We rolled off the highway, over and over, stopping yards from the highway's shoulder.

"Do you see him?" she asked.

"No."

Something hit the car and we spun around. The sensation was horrible—completely out of control. Fear erupted through my belly, swarming up my spine faster than a disturbed fire ant nest.

"We have to get out!" I cried.

As soon as the car slowed, I jerked upward on the handle with as much force as I could as I slammed my shoulder into the door. I fell onto the sand, wheezing.

Once I was sure my legs would hold me, I stood in slow increments. Coyote gripped Layla by her waist. She was a good fifteen feet off the ground. Layla's legs swung in a slow bicycle kick as her hands gripped Coyote's huge one.

"Let her go," I yelled.

"She's not the one I want." He glanced down, tutting at the tears streaming down Layla's cheeks. "Hard to realize you're nothing more than a placeholder, I know."

He pulled her up higher, and Layla screamed, her feet thrashing for purchase on the ground twenty feet below her. "If you want her to live, tell me what happened at Yupkoyvi."

"Zeke, if you can hear me, now would be a really good time to show up," I whispered under my breath, trying to force my words into that spot in my head he'd used before. "I have no idea what to do."

I tried to ignore the pain contorting Layla's face. A thin bolt of silver shot from her hands into Coyote's chest. I'd never seen anything like it before.

Coyote stumbled, as surprised as I was by Layla's attack. He slammed a knee into the highway, causing a mini earthquake. I lost my balance, collapsing backward onto my butt.

I scrambled to my feet as quickly as I could, and one of the leather straps on my sandals snapped, oversetting me again. I fell forward onto my knees, ripping through the already damaged denim.

"I don't like waiting, Echo Ruiz. The air around us heated up. "Your friend grows nearly as tiresome as she is tired." I gasped, trying to breathe through air thicker than a sauna's.

"It's okay, E," Layla's voice was soft, full of regret. But I heard her, even across the distance. "Don't give him what he wants."

So much I wanted to say. We needed her to fulfill the prophecy. I needed her to laugh and cry with.