“High-quality,” I groaned.

I couldn’t resist a smile when she moved my laptop computer apart so she might throw herself on me, hugging me tightly. I hugged her again more durable than regular however neither of us commented on it.

The scream Miz and I heard within the woods that day hadn’t led to a different homicide, however it had shaken each of us, and I couldn’t get the sound out of my head. Or the sound of Miz’s quick, frantic breaths and Nightmare’s laughter. She was toying with us.

I didn’t wish to take into consideration going to the gala, the place Honey could be vibrant with happiness and I’d should faux to be okay when each second of every single day I waited for certainly one of Nightmare’s followers to interrupt into my room and homicide me.

Virtually everybody at Ford had seen the cloaked individual I chased now—they had been calling him the Murderer. Duncan Ford had been crushed up as a result of everybody, particularly his blond pal Vogue Journal had managed to persuade everybody he did it. Duncan walked stooped with a limp now, and I’d have liked to imagine it was him who hunted and murdered folks, who pushed that envelope beneath my door, however it was too handy and I wasn’t satisfied.

When Miz and I obtained again that night time, there’d been no envelope, however I knew what I noticed, like I knew it was Nightmare’s twisted magic that had eliminated it.

“Thanks, thanks,” Honey was gushing, squeezing my shoulders. “You gained’t remorse it. And it’ll offer you an opportunity to put on that tremendous crimson gown you introduced.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, making an attempt to summon some enthusiasm. “That makes it value going.”

“And we get to avoid wasting kittens, and also you get to assist your bestie.”

I smiled, unable to withstand her enthusiasm. “And there’ll be meals, proper?”

“There’ll, one hundred percent,” she agreed, laughing, “be f—”

Honey’s chuckle minimize off. The world appeared to pause. To muffle, like a blanket was thrown over each noise.

“Cat, Honey,” Nightmare’s voice got here floating on the air, a ghostly name that snapped us each to consideration. “Come to me, my terrors. I’ve a job for you.”

And like puppets we climbed out of bed and obeyed.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

CAT

Honey didn’t communicate. I didn’t communicate. We walked in tense, pressured calm out of my room, down the steps, and throughout the park to the stretch of woods behind the laboratory constructing. Nightmare gave no additional directions, however we knew the place to search out her with out being given a location. Might she discover us, too, regardless of how distant we had been? The thought made me ice chilly.

I wished to know Honey’s hand however I didn’t dare transfer, didn’t wish to know if I might transfer or if I used to be a captive puppet who couldn’t even blink with out Nightmare’s approval. I’d moderately maintain onto that tiny phantasm of freedom and ignore the fact that I used to be a puppet.

“Don’t dawdle,” Nightmare chided after we reached her, like we had been wayward kids. The tree cowl sheltered us from sight, however the closeness of campus made my pores and skin itch. Would somebody see us and are available to our rescue? Or would Alastor see, and take it as proof that I used to be Nightmare’s disciple? That Honey was too? I wasn’t naïve sufficient to suppose issues couldn’t worsen. I knew they might, and would, and that made it unattainable to breathe.

“I’ve obtained one thing I want you to scrub up,” Nightmare advised us, wanting unnaturally lovely as at all times, her deep crimson hair a glossy waterfall and her face each beautiful and horrific, particularly when she smiled like she did now. “It shouldn’t take you too lengthy.”

She swept a tanned, long-fingernailed hand on the floor, and it was solely after I stared on the spot that I realised it wasn’t a shadow made by the bushes overhead however an extended black holdall.

“What’s inside?” Honey breathed, her voice so faint I barely recognised it. She gripped my hand so tightly it harm, however I didn’t let go of her.

“Only a block of hay, my terror,” Nightmare replied, the fondness in her voice terrifying. Goosebumps shaped on the again of my neck and flooded down my backbone. “All I want you to do is transfer it by way of the woods, in secret, and put it the place nobody will ever discover it.”

“The place?” I whispered, each relieved that my mouth moved and petrified when Nightmare’s mismatched eyes fell on me. I dropped my gaze, a horrible ache stabbing my frontal lobe.

“The lake,” she mentioned, her ft not touching the bottom as she drifted in the direction of us. One hand got here as much as cup my cheek, ignoring my flinch, and one stroked Honey’s face. “That’s all that you must do. Simply take this bag of hay and put it within the lake. You are able to do that for me, can’t you, my terrors?”

My mouth went dry, my knees knocking collectively. I imagined Dying was right here with me, his presence at my again supportive and livid without delay. And Tor beside me, holding my hand fiercely whereas he advised Nightmare precisely how he was going to torture her for scaring me. And Miz, who burned hotter and stronger than anybody else, who knew ache so intimately he might inflict it on others with skilled care.

I puzzled if he’d discovered that ache from her. And I mentioned, “No.”

Nightmare laughed like I used to be hilarious, her head thrown again, her tinkling chuckle grating my ears and coronary heart alike. I flinched, however this time my physique didn’t transfer. I used to be frozen in place.

“Say that once more,” she dared, her laughter reducing off so abruptly it was like a swap flipped. “Inform me no once more, Cat.”

My eyes—the one a part of me I nonetheless managed—darted from her to the bag of hay, and I didn’t know what thoughts video games she was enjoying, why she was so insistent we do that, however I knew it was designed for max impression. Most trauma. Like all the pieces she did.

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