Page 26 of Horror and Chill

Sheshouldbe.

But she isn’t.

“I told you this would happen,” I mutter.

“You didn’t tell me shit,” the voice snaps back.

I pace.

“She wants us to come,” says the third. “She made this for us.”

“She made this for her followers,” I hiss.

“She made it forhim.”

The word strikes like a match.

“Stop,” I whisper. “Stop putting it in her mouth.”

“She put herself in our hands.”

“She doesn’t even know who we are.”

“She remembers.”

I sit. I pull the laptop closer and click the screen to pause on a single frame. Her head is tilted back, masked, frozen in place as if daring me to guess what she looks like beneath. But I don’t have to. I remember. Her mouth. Her scent. The way her hips trembled beneath my grip.

My hand tightens on the edge of the desk until the wood creaks.

“What is the plan?” I ask aloud.

“She left clues,” the quiet one says, “but not clear. Not enough.”

“She doesn’t want us tojustcome. She wants us toworkfor it,” says the harsh voice. “She wants to know if we’re watching.”

“She knows,” I say.

“She’s watching back.”

I scrub a hand down my face and stare at the ceiling. Part of me wants to smash the laptop. Another wants to cradle it like a cherished toy.

“She doesn’t get to choose the ending,” I say.

“She’s already writing it,” comes the reply.

I shut the laptop.

“She wants to see us,” one of us says.

“No,” I whisper. “She wants to seehim. Not us. Not all of us.”

“She called him a monster.”

“Shelikesmonsters.”

“She said so herself. Built her whole empire on them. Who are we if not exactly what she asked for?”

We fall quiet.