Page 40 of Hysteria Rises (Dark Falls Hollow #1)

My eyes meet Hayze’s, and I send him as clear a message as I can manage without words.

She’ll be in trouble if she forgets where she is and who she’s speaking to.

I don’t claim to know how we’re going to handle this girl going forward, but I don’t think we need another round of corrections anytime soon.

A moment later, it’s clear Hayze has understood me as he grasps her chin with a few fingers and tips her face to his. “Are you forgetting something, Twenty-three?”

Knowledge flashes in those pretty blue eyes, and with it, a sudden intake of breath. She drops to her knees at Nolan’s feet, head bowed. “I follow …” She’s hesitant at first, but then finishes quickly, “I honor. I nourish. I kneel.”

Nolan expels a surprised huff of air, then gives a nod as he stares down at the top of her head. “How did the snake come to be in that bedroom?” His gaze flicks up to meet each of ours in turn.

I grimace. “We aren’t sure, sir. We only just got the situation under control.”

Wisely, Twenty-three remains silent.

“It just slithered into the room?” Nolan questions, his shoulders bristling.

Finally, Arrow speaks up. “No. It was in Rafe’s bed. Under the blanket.”

My father’s jaw twitches, and it’s plain to see he’s sorting through that information in his head.

Analyzing. Considering all the angles, as he’s prone to doing.

Then, abruptly, his attention shifts. “Woman, if I find out you had anything to do with this—” He clenches his jaw, glaring at her, then grabs her by the throat.

“Up,” he spits. “Whatever you were supposed to have been doing, do it.” He takes only a quick breath and bellows, “Now!”

My heart jerks hard in my chest, and I only just barely stop myself from stepping in. To do so would be a mistake.

She scrambles to her feet, still shaky, and hurries away.

As she reaches the bathroom, she dares only a backward glance.

But the flash of fury in her eyes tells me everything I need to know.

The parts of her that have piqued my interest have not yet been stamped out.

A moment later, she disappears through the doorway.

Nolan lets out a sigh as if the altercation had no effect on him, then gestures to the stairs.

“I have to get back outside. That room needs to be turned upside down. Where there’s one snake, there could be more.

” Cocking his head to the side, Nolan grips Arrow’s arm, wrenching him around, then grimaces at the current state of his injuries before casting a frown in my direction.

“Get him downstairs. Clean him up. We need him well enough to lend a hand in two days’ time. Is that clear?”

I bite my tongue. No one tells my father how to doctor, and I’m not foolish enough to argue.

Getting Arrow down to my father’s quarters proves to be a tediously difficult task. When we get there, Hayze and I help him back onto the same table where I cleaned him up directly after his correction.

“I don’t know how we’re gonna get this healed up in two days,” I mutter.

Hayze grimaces. “Got any more of that bourbon left?” He rubs a few fingers over his mouth. “I was going to mention that we should figure out what to fill the bottle with and make a plan to do that, but we were up and moving early.”

Arrow lets out a groan. “No.”

“No?” I question, leaning down to catch his eye.

He gives a jerk of his head. “I drank it.”

A startled gasp pulls from my throat. “Oh fuck. I wondered.” I meet Hayze’s astonished gaze. “Okay.” I smear a dab of my father’s homemade salve over one of the open wounds.

“I know. I shouldn’t have. But it was the only thing helping, so I finished it off this morning.” He presses his lips together. “Twenty-three. She helped me.”

Hayze huffs out a disbelieving laugh. “What the hell does that mean?”

“We heard you all coming. And she kicked the bottle under my bed. To hide it. Don’t ask me how she knew I wasn’t supposed to have it.”

“Huh,” I murmur. “That’s interesting. You wanna tell us what’s going on with you two? I would have thought after the day Kiefer caught you—”

“That she’d hate me.” He nods, wincing. “Yeah, me too. And I think she still might.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it. But maybe not.” There is more to that girl than any of us originally thought.

“Just a thought, but I’d bury the bottle somewhere maybe, rather than trying to refill it.”

All three of us jump out of our skin at the unexpected participant in our conversation. “Holy fuck,” I mutter, glancing up to find Malakai leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest and an amused smirk on his face.

Hayze practically growls. “If you want us to trust you, maybe don’t fucking sneak up on us like that.”

Malakai shrugs, the devil in his eye. “I’m already party to what you were discussing, so I didn’t figure it was necessary.

” He pushes off the frame and strides over to us.

“So you drank the rest of that bottle in one go, huh? Goddamn, that’s some tolerance you’ve built up.

Nobody’d want you at a party, though, finishing off all the alcohol by yourself like that.

Didn’t your mama teach you to share?” He cocks his head to the side. “Right. Probably not.”

Fucker. That was dumb of him. Arrow’s jaw is twitching in a way that tells me if it wouldn’t hurt like crazy, he’d be off the table and strangling Mal.

Meanwhile, Hayze looks like his head is going to pop right off.

I frown, taking a quick step toward him and hooking his neck in the crook of my elbow.

Beside his ear, I hiss, “Shut the fuck up. Mal. You aren’t helping. ”

He shrugs free of my hold, spinning on his heel and backing away, a glint in his eye. “Maybe I’m tired of helping you.”

I exhale hard. “Doesn’t it ever get tiring being the asshole?”

My question is met with a glaring eye roll. “They sent me up here for a reason. Henry wants to know if anyone had the presence of mind to look carefully at the snake so we know what we could be dealing with if there’s another?”

Arrow groans. “No. That fucker was fast, whatever it was. I was more focused on trying to keep us clear of it. Sorry.”

Clenching my teeth, I tip my head to the side. “He probably wants to know if it was venomous or not.”

Understanding dawns on Hayze’s face, and he grimaces. “I should have been more careful. But I got a pretty good look. Does Nolan keep paper anywhere around here? I could maybe draw what the head looked like before I bashed it in.”

“Yeah. The top drawer.” I gesture with a tip of my head toward the desk on the side of the room. “And Nolan has some books that might be useful on the bottom shelf there below his medical texts. Maybe we can compare.”

Hayze hurries over and quickly sketches while Malakai squats down, running a finger along volume after volume until he taps on one. “I bet it’s this.”

Returning a minute later with his sketch in one hand, Hayze takes the book from him and begins to thumb through it.

“That could take a while,” I huff out.

Several long minutes pass, and I’m about out of patience when Hayze finally holds up a finger, shaking his head. “I think I know what it was.”

Surprised, my brows raise. “Well, don’t keep us in suspense.”

He glances up from the page he’s scanning, his gaze casting toward me before moving on to Malakai and Arrow.

Bowing his head again, his eyes travel the text in the book.

A second later, he shoves the book into my hands.

“Have a look for yourself. That’s it right there.

” He turns, stalking toward the window with his arms crossed.

My brows furrow, but I peruse the image, comparing it to his drawing. “You’re sure?”

“What’s going on?” Arrow frowns.

My gut twists as I read. “It’s definitely venomous.”

A low whistle exits Malakai’s pursed lips, and his eyes widen as I show him the page. “Fuck me,” he grits out, swallowing. “How the hell did that get in the building, much less our room?”

Chewing on my lip, I wait while Hayze turns around again before I mutter, “And into Rafe’s bed? The whole thing is really fucking strange.”

Hayze gives a curt nod. “Agreed.”

Arrow swallows hard. “I can’t figure it out. Twenty-three bumped into the bed, and it just kinda crawled out from under the blanket and onto the floor, all angry and hissing at us.”

Pressing a few fingers to each of his temples, Hayze zeros in on Malakai. “Can you do me a favor?”

Mal raises a brow at him, and on instinct, I backhand his chest. “Come on, man.”

“Fine,” he scowls, sighing heavily. “What?”

“Think back,” Hayze demands. “You were at the river when the women came out to tell the Collective about the snake, right? Was anyone acting … I dunno. Not as expected?”

I eye Mal carefully. But I don’t think there’s anything amiss about his reaction.

“No. Not that I noticed. But the women showing up where they weren’t supposed to be kinda grabbed everyone’s attention.”

I roll over what I assume Hayze is suggesting, but I don’t know if I like it. For several moments, the four of us are dead quiet.

Was this a sick prank courtesy of Dragan or Gannon? Or something more?