Page 128 of Wicked Hungry

“Just a few minutes past midnight.”

“But that’s not possible!” I say. “We were gone for so long.”

“Time passes differently in different realms,” Connor says. “You know that.”

“I don’t know anything,” I say, still holding fiercely to Karen. “I’m not even sure Morgaine helped Nye. Look at him lying there. She probably killed him, too.”

“Stanley,” Connor says, touching my arm. “Stanley, you need to let it go. Karen’s dead, but Morgaine didn’t kill her. She tried to save her. And she saved Nye.”

Neiran groans on the floor, sits up. “Am I still alive?”

Connor helps him up.

“The poison,” Nye says. “It’s gone.” He looks a

round wildly, then sees Morgaine, drops to his knees at her feet. “Milady, you saved my–”

Once again she stops him with a finger to the lips, nodding toward me. Toward Karen.

“Oh,” Nye says, standing unsteadily and looking at Karen, then at me. “Is she hurt?”

“Dead,” I say. “She’s dead.”

Max starts to lick my hand.

And I let the tears flow.

Chapter 40: SAYING GOODBYE

I don’t really see when Enrique and Jonathan come in. They kind of hover around me. I mean, I can feel their presence, and it’s a small comfort in the coldness where I’m stuck. But I can’t really see anything, except these memories of Karen that keep running through my head, like some kind of infinite film loop. Playing cards at my party. Sitting with her in Burger King. All the labs together in science.

Holding her hand those two times. The warnings she gave me.

There’s a hand on my shoulder. I turn. It’s Jonathan.

“I’m sorry, Stanley.”

“Is that all anyone can say?” I ask.

“Dude,” Jonathan says. “There’s nothing else to say.”

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“They’ve come for her,” Enrique says. “And we need to go home.”

“Who’s come for who?” I ask, confused.

“Her sisters,” Morgaine says, coming back into the room. “They’ve come for Karen.”

“Sisters?” I ask. “Karen’s an only child.”

Morgaine looks at me patiently. “Stanley,” she says. “They’re her sisters of the night. You know she wasn’t alone.”

“No,” I say. “She needs to go to her parents.”

“How will that help?” she asks. “Her parents will never understand. It will drive them crazy.”

“Oh,” I say. “And what’s the other option? Karen just disappeared? Ran away?”