Page 92 of Shadows in Bloom

And the fact we’re in the woods, alone, it’s so late, and she’s naked…

All I can think is, Why?

Why am I here?

Why am I not running?

Why do I feel this growing gnawing itch inside me, begging for some kind of…relief.

“You can look, you know. I won’t bite.”

My gaze springs to hers just as she comes to a stop a foot away from me.

She tilts her head, lip curving—clearer than it was moments ago—the flames dancing in her glassy pupils making them all the more mischievous as she adds, “Well, maybe I’ll nibble just a bit.”

I swallow hard, forcing myself to speak. “You never answered my question. What are we doing here? Where are we? And why are you?—”

“Don’t you hear it?”

A beat passes. “Hear what?”

She grins on a short, unexpected laugh that has a chill cutting down my spine. “The screams, Winnie. Can’t you hear them?” She nods somewhere behind me. “From up there.”

Frowning deeply, I twist my head around, eyes widening, and my stomach pitching when I see the black blurred silhouette of the Hollow Hill Sanitarium poking out above the trees.

The fact I can make it out—a shapeless blob that it is—shows just how close we are to the base of the cliffs. Closer than I’ve ever been before. Close enough, that I suddenly wonder if perhaps I might not make it home after all. As far as I know, no one has ever trekked this far and returned.

A loud pop comes from the fire, startling me, and I swing back around. Only to rear back with a yelp when I find Ophelia standing right in front of me, so close I can make out the sharp planes of her face and thick lashes. So close her body heat fans out over me like a furnace, making me wonder how long she’s been out here, basking naked by the fire.

Now that she’s right up in my space, there’s no missing the sheen of sweat clinging to her temples, dampening her hair into long stringy ropes that stick to her skin, and gleaming off the narrow slopes of her moon-silver shoulders.

I resist searching lower. Especially now that I don’t have the solace of poor vision to wall her off from me.

“I don’t like this,” I rush out stiffly. “I’m going home.”

I go to turn away, when her voice stops me. “Not so fast. There’s something we need to do first.” This time, she sounds more like the Ophelia I know—bossy and sharp-tongued. Making me wonder if I only imagined that sinisterly soft edge that was there before. The razor-edged, calculating glint in her dark eyes… eyes that seemed a little too dark.

Just your paranoia talking.

“We were brought here for a reason.”

I tense at her words, and while it doesn’t sting or burn anymore now that it seems to have dried up, my gaze drops to the spot on my hand once more.

“You want this to stop, don’t you?” she says.

“Wh-what do you mean?” I say shakily.

She blows out a harsh breath. Now, that’s definitely my Ophelia.

I give a quick shake of my head. Not mine.

“Don’t play stupid. You know exactly what this is about. We need to close the door we so idiotically opened so we can finally put this shit behind us.”

I still.

“I think I figured it out. Your mark… It makes so much sense now.”

“What does?” I hear myself say faintly, frowning down at my hand..

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