Page 13

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Despite Damen’s reassurances that this was okay it still felt like I was hiding from my responsibilities. However, I attempted to follow his directions.

He’d wanted me to take a bath. Relax . I had lived with anxiety for so long that I wondered if my body would even know what to do in such a state.

Didn’t he know that ordering someone to relax pretty much had the opposite effect?

I eyed the jar while I waited for the deep tub to fill, wondering what exactly the bottle held. It smelled of lavender and rose, mixed with other scents and salts I did not recognize. It seemed handmade, though, which made my heart warm just a little more.

Distantly, the doorbell rang, and I tried to swallow past my rising anxiety. It was probably Titus and Miles. Soon, all four of them would all know about my past with Finn.

Why was it so embarrassing?

I wondered how Damen would tell Titus. Maybe he’d told Julian already. I wanted to go and watch. How would he present the details? Would he feel sorry for me?

It was probably best that I didn’t know. I was sure to overanalyze every reaction.

Besides, it didn’t matter. Damen had ordered me to relax .

I turned off the faucet right before the tub was almost completely filled and poured in Damen’s herbal concoction. The inside of the tub turned a purple-blue color, and smoke-like lines curled through the water as the powder dissolved into a shadowy foam.

The house was quiet as I lowered myself into the hot water, and I soaked—as per Damen’s instructions—long after twenty minutes passed and the temperature began to cool.

I knew I was procrastinating. I wanted to give Damen time to go over… everything, but I also wanted to give the boys a chance to either come to terms with it or leave.

I counted my breaths as I waited, and as my focus had returned, I realized that all sounds had vanished—even the ones I could normally pick up.

I jerked up, pulling my head from my folded arms.

This was not a good sign.

I had to get out of here.

I stepped out of the tub and grabbed a towel before crossing the cold ceramic tiles to the bathroom door.

It was possible—but not very likely—that this was only my overactive imagination. Even so, a sense of foreboding in the air caused my skin to crawl.

White hot fire radiated through my palm as I closed my fingers around the doorknob. I screamed, stumbling backward as I cradled my hand against my chest.

The pain was overridden as another realization came to me. I’d screamed—yet there was no sound .

I tried to shout, but my voice came out silent. A chill began to radiate through me. What was happening? Maybe Damen’s experiment hadn’t worked, or it had, and I was now dead?

If he killed me—even accidentally—I would haunt him.

The atmosphere grew heavier, and my panic thickened. There was something evil taking over this space, surrounding me from every direction. It was the same presence that’d scared away the visitor in my room.

And now, of course, I was trapped in a bathroom with it.

The short bursts of my breath frosted the air. It was so cold, terrifying…

Dark.

It was impossible to see anything, even my own hands.

“What do you want?” I tried to say. But still, there was a silence so profound that I feared I would never be able to hear anything ever again. Terror didn’t have the opportunity to consume my thoughts, though, before a noise finally broke through the air.

It was the harrowing sound of a low, pained moan. My blood chilled.

“Who’s there?” I asked, and this time, my voice had returned. Although that wasn’t much comfort, because now there was only me and the unknown.

A woman’s voice sounded through my head, whispering, “Run away, run away.” And then, before it could fade away completely, “Please help.”

The message was the same as before, but with a conflicted note. I clutched the towel to my chest as I desperately tried to see through the dark.

The groaning grew louder, more grating with every second; and I didn’t understand how—if any of the boys had stayed with me—they couldn’t hear it .

Or maybe I was imagining this, I had fallen asleep.

I dismissed that thought the second it occurred. This was real. I knew it.

Just when I felt I might go crazy, the hair-rising keening stopped, again leaving that dreadful silence in its wake. At this point, I didn’t know which was worse.

I needed to get out of here. It didn’t matter if I got burned.

I stumbled through the dark, reaching for where I knew the door to be—but I felt nothing. I’d gone too far not to have run into it, or anything else. But the world was empty outside of me, the presence, and this horrifying nightmare.

An eternity passed, or maybe it was only a moment. I only knew that it felt like forever, and with every second, despair continued to claw its way deeper into my very being.

Where was this feeling coming from? It wasn’t me. Was it?

I was forgotten. Nobody understood, nobody cared. Not even the person I was destined to be with. I cared so much, yet they still didn’t want me. I would be alone forever.

What did I have to do to be worthy?

I would do whatever it took.

I touched my head, pulling at my hair, as I fell forward to my knees. This wasn’t real.

I hadn’t known my new friends for very long, but being around them was different from anything I’d felt before. That was why I was so terrified of losing them.

These weren’t my thoughts, my feelings.

I wasn’t alone.

“I’m okay…” I pushed myself off the floor. These weren’t my thoughts. People would remember me. If I died now, for example, the boys would at least know my name, even if it was just the odd girl who was killed by Damen’s bath salts.

And at least Finn might remember me—for whatever reason .

“It’s okay,” I reminded myself again. I desperately tried to think of any way to escape this situation. I might go mad if I stayed any longer.

The spirit. Two presences entwined, fighting for dominance.

Why hadn’t they moved on?

“Leave,” I began to whisper under my breath. “Leave.” They did not belong in this world anymore.

“No!” The air exploded behind me, breaking free from the battle. The volume of the refusal was so unexpected that I fell to my knees and screamed. The soft energy of the second presence faded as the velvet darkness began to grow stronger.

I was choking on my breath, and my limbs refused to obey any command to escape.

But why, when there was nothing here holding me down?

My face was wet with tears. “I’m sorry,” I said, hoping to appease the angry spirit. I had done something to upset him—now that it was stronger, it was more obvious that this second presence was male—but maybe that would help.

The force of his presence grew closer, reaching for me. Suddenly the note of it had changed. “What’s this power?” he asked, his icy voice pierced through the darkness. “Give it to us.”

I was going to die.

My mind screamed at me to move—to fight. I had to do something . If I was killed, it might attack the others next. They’d never be able to defend themselves against something they couldn’t see.

I was stronger than this spirit. With a courage I didn’t know I possessed, I stood against the overwhelming pressure trying to keep me down.

I wouldn’t let them get hurt. “Go away,” I commanded.

The air moved like a current against me, like silk against skin. Even though I was trying to be brave, I couldn’t stop a whimper as the sensation brushed down my body in the dark. It reached my feet before it changed. A hand, the telltale sensation of skin over skin, encircled my ankle and held me in a bruising hold.

I was lightheaded with fear, and the touch trailed up my calf, inch by inch. I screamed and kicked at it, stumbling backward as I tried to get away.

The current in the air changed, but I couldn’t hear anything outside of the sound of my panic. The back of my legs smacked against the edge of the tub. I lost my balance and tumbled backward into the now-glacial water.

The pressure around my leg vanished. And an otherworldly growl made my heart race in fear.

“I need it!” It roared and slammed into me.

I wasn’t strong enough.

I slipped under the water, and fingers clawed at my shoulders as the surface closed over my head. I reached for the presence holding me down, but my fingers grasped nothing even though it was impossible to break free from the bruising weight.

I was drowning. It was kind of fitting, really, for me to die in a bathtub. It would be sure to go on my eulogy as something rather expected, considering my history with pools.

How humiliating.

An orange-red light flashed across the surface of the water, cutting through the darkness. As the presence vanished, another set of much larger hands grabbed at my shoulders. They were gentle yet strong, and I was pulled into the air.

Urgent voices drifted through the room around me, but I remained oblivious, cradled against a much larger form. The chill and darkness had vanished, but the light was overwhelming to my deprived senses, and I was temporarily blinded as my eyes struggled to adjust.

“Bianca”—soft hands cupped my cheeks, and as the spots faded from my eyes, Julian’s concerned face floated in my vision—“are you all right?” He lingered along the bare expanse of my arm, and goose bumps broke over my skin in the wake of his touch. I was being held by Titus, and was covered only by my long, thick hair twisted across my chest and lap.

“Bianca?” Julian asked again.

Momentary panic took over—this newest development, coupled with the events of the last few moments, was too much for my frazzled nerves to handle.

“Let me go!” I threw my fist into the air. My palm slammed against something, and although I’d certainly hit Titus, he didn’t drop me. Instead, the arm under my knees shifted, and suddenly, my feet brushed against the slippery floor. It was only then that I was released.

But that wasn’t why I fell.

I leaned against the side of the tub. My heart continued to race as my throat closed.

It was fine. It was fine.

It was only my new friends. They’d saved me. They wouldn’t hurt me.

The dark dots began to fade from the corners of my vision.

“Here.” Damen knelt in front of me. A soft, fluffy towel was draped across my shoulders. “It’s fine now, baby girl,” he said. “You don’t need to be scared anymore.”

Scared.

Why was I so scared?

Normally I’d hide, but when Damen brushed his fingers across my forehead—pushing back my matted hair—something in me broke. I fell toward him, crying, and twisted my fingers in the front of his shirt.

Nobody bothered me, though there was a bustle of movement around me as the tub was drained and the floor dried. But eventually, after my sobs had quieted into hiccupping sniffles, a second presence joined the two of us.

Damen stopped rubbing my back while Julian moved his finger over my cheek. I watched him as he frowned down at me. The room was slowly coming back into focus.

I couldn’t see Damen’s face since I was snuggled up against his chest, but Miles was sitting on the floor near the open bathroom door. He was breathing heavily, and his face was slightly flushed—almost as if he’d exerted a great amount of energy. My worried thoughts tumbled into concern that he might have been hurt.

Then there was Titus, leaning against the wall beside him with his right heel braced against the baseboard. His white shirt clung tightly across his chest, and his arms were crossed. His hair had fallen over his face as he looked to the floor, unmoved.

It was impossible not to tell what he was thinking.

I’d… I’d hurt his feelings.

I’d been so mean to him, yet he’d been so nice to me. He got me a nice phone, and he was the one who pulled me out of the bathtub.

I was the worst person ever.

“T-Titus…” I reached for him, waiting until his attention was on me. “Please don’t be mad.”

He blinked at me, and when he spoke, his voice was gruff. “What?”

“I wasn’t yelling at you,” I explained. I hadn’t been thinking. After all, what could be scary about a grown man who loved cute things? We had so much in common beneath the surface. “Forgive me?”

Titus pushed his hair back from his face. “You’re something else,” he grumbled. A pink imprint was blossoming along the bottom of his jaw, and I bit the inside of my lip.

“Are you okay?” I asked, allowing the guilt to chase away my fear. “I’m sorry.”

Everyone looked at the two of us, waiting for his reaction as if it signified some sort of pivotal moment. And I suppose it did—I was always apologizing to him, but this time, it felt different.

I really, truly did not want to be afraid of him anymore.

This was harder than facing that ghost.

He made a sound under his breath but then sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck, his guard dropping.

“Give me that,” he said, and Julian responded, handing Titus a second towel. Damen moved as Titus stepped in front of me and dropped it over my head. I stayed stunned, as he gathered my hair into the towel.

“What’s the plan?” he asked.

Was he talking to me? I was going to need some time to come up with—

“We can’t stay here tonight,” Damen mused. He was stroking his chin in thought. Titus put his arm under my elbow and helped me to my feet, and Damen continued, “Miles put up some wards, and Kasai is keeping an eye out, but it’s clearly targeting her.”

“Were you able to see what it was?” Julian asked.

Damen shook his head. “Everything happened too fast,” he sounded disappointed. “But it’s definitely not demonic.”

“Yeah…” I mumbled. I could have—and did—tell him that already. I pulled the towel over my shoulders, trying to hide my trembling. I was still wet, and the towel only covered me to my knees .

It was so cold.

The four of them looked at each other and launched into action.

“They’ll pack everything up,” Julian told me as Titus and Miles left the room. “In the meantime, let’s get you dried and dressed.” He pulled me to him and rubbed his hand up and down my arm. “Then we’ll head back to Damen’s.”

“But…” I couldn’t just leave. I’d made a promise, to myself at least, to help. “What about the gh—house?”

“We need to do some research before we decide on our next steps.” Damen leveled his face to mine. “The house will be fine overnight. I’m assuming you’ve done all your house-sitting duties?” He waited until I nodded before he added, “Then we’ll continue at my place.”

Did he still want to do that? I guess it made sense. What else were we supposed to do?

We could all get to know each other.

“Okay!” I answered. This was kind of exciting. Who knew that almost being murdered had an upside?

If everything went well, this could be our new monthly tradition. I had so many things I wanted to do, and Finn refused to humor me. Our parties had always consisted of violence and pizza, with no true tradition being involved.

It was impossible to hold back my smile. Despite everything, they still wanted me. “That could be fun. I love slumber parties.” It certainly sounded better than being stalked by a ghost.

Damen and Julian blinked at me, surprised, before shooting each other another one of those communicative glances. Of course, their hesitance threw off my mood. Slumber parties were a normal thing that friends did, and now I’d made it sound all weird .

I lowered my eyes, frowning. “I mean, it sounds cool. Whatever you want to do. It was your idea.”

“You want to have a slumber party, baby girl?”

I glanced up, wondering why Damen’s voice sounded strange. His intense eyes captured my attention as he slowly brushed a loose strand of hair back from my face. I nodded.

“Sure, we can have a slumber party. We’ll make it a party to remember.” Damen’s mouth twisted into a breathtaking grin, and I wondered if he was being serious. “In fact, we can have as many slumber parties as you want.”

“Why would it be a party to remember?” I hoped that my eagerness wasn’t too obvious. “Because I almost died?” That would make for a memorable party.

“Do you like pink?” Damen ignored my question, his tone still weird.

I blinked at the strange question, my excitement slightly ebbing. What did that have to do with anything?

“And lace?” he continued.

My focus drifted to Julian, who stood nearby—his hand over his face.

“Yes…” I replied, now a little weirded out. Damen apparently had particular tastes that I couldn’t begin to understand. And it was probably for the better. “I like both, although,” I added, “Green is my favorite color.”

What kind of party was he planning?

“Oh, Bianca.” Damen was in a mood. He reached for me and grabbed my hands. “You’re going to be so spoiled.”

That sounded awful. “I don’t want to be spoiled.”

“Want to go shopping when all of this is over?” he asked.

“Not really,” I told him. What I wanted was for him to drop that goofy expression. It was almost the same look he wore in the library, and it wasn’t the least bit appealing. Besides, I would have no money until I got paid, and I had to save up for more grand purchases than anything I could find at the mall.

Damen opened his mouth, but, thankfully, Julian intervened. He was clearly a man of manners. “Just stop,” he said, pushing Damen’s shoulder as he moved between us and took my hand. “You’re embarrassing yourself. Come on, Bianca, let’s get ready.”