Page 90 of All Hallows Game

Nightmare, I thought. She’s finally shown her face.

But the woman who pinned me to the ground, her teeth bared as she snarled in my face, took me a moment to recognise.

Elaina Jackson. Ford’s administrator.

I grabbed her jaw in both hands when she snapped her teeth at me, my heart racing as I stared at her—the wildness in her green eyes, the gauntness of her features, the way her mouth stretched… and stretched. My stomach flipped. Oh, no. No, no, no.

I remembered the gift basket Nightmare had me deliver to Elaina’s room. Days before Caroline was murdered and left in shreds in the park.

Elaina lunged at me now, saliva dripping off teeth too sharp to be human, burning when it hit my face. Her breath was hot and rank, invading all my senses.

She was right above me, too close. I gritted my teeth against a scream when pain ripping through my injured shoulder, my arms locked to keep those teeth away from my face. My tailbone spiked with pain where I’d hit the ground, a distracting ache, but I couldn’t let it weaken me.

My elbows buckled when her mouth stretched to accommodate bigger teeth, her jaw cracking as it grew, her arms popping from their sockets and, oh god…

I tried to scramble away as the quiet, diminutive administrator transformed into a monster.

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

CAT

My cheek burned where the monster’s saliva dripped onto me. The monster who’d been our school administrator until seconds ago. It happened so fast I couldn’t scramble out from under Elaina, couldn’t do anything but try to keep her massive jaws away from me. But I was weakening. Being dragged through the woods had given me too many aches and pains to hold those huge teeth away for long, and they grew closer with every second.

“Get the fuck off my sister,” Virgil growled, only recognisable because of those two words—my sister. His voice was garbled and deep. I wanted to see if he’d come out of the cell but I didn’t dare take my eyes off Elaina as her chest vibrated with a growl and she lurched closer to me, enough that rancid breath pushed the hairs off my face.

Her eyes blazed sapphire blue, almost glowing as they pinned me in her sights and—weren’t the monster’s eyes amber? I remembered staring into its eyes through the gate to Death’s domain. It was burned into my memory. Those big eyes, soulful and menacing at the same time.

I was knocked out of my thoughts when Virgil threw himself into Elaina’s dark, furry side, slamming her into the wall. I scrambled to my feet, my legs like jelly, my hands shaking as adrenaline surged through me. All I could smell was the monster’s rancid breath.

My eyes shot to Virgil when he jumped back, his hands in fists and his whole body trembling. Elaina shook out her fur and rose to four feet, so big she towered over me, almost too big for this small tunnel. Now I’d got a good look at her, her fur wasn’t black but a very dark grey, and where I remembered her horns curled like a ram’s, these spiralled straight up to a point. Fear sharpened my vision until I saw every little detail as I backed up. Virgil took another step back.

He swallowed, his hands shaking harder as he glanced at me. “When you get an opening, I need you to run down the tunnel. In the first room you come to, there’s a heavy wooden box with a crescent moon on it. I need you to get two syringes from it and bring them here. Can you do that, Prickly?”

“What?” I breathed, jumping when Elaina lowered her head to the ground, huge teeth bared on a rumbling growl.

“Did you hear what I said?” Virgil demanded, raising fists in front of himself. Anticipating Elaina’s attack. The monster’s attack.

“I heard,” I confirmed shakily, flinching into the metal bars of his cell when Elaina suddenly leapt at Virgil. “I can’t leave you!”

“If you don’t, you’re dead,” he snapped. “Don’t worry about me, I’ve fought worse than this woman.”

Panic clawed at my chest, my head pounding as the numbness wore off all at once. “Virgil, I can’t—”

Elaina jerked toward me, her head lowered like a goat about to lock horns with another. She meant to split my stomach on her razor sharp horns. My heart pounded so loudly I heard it in my ears. On instinct, I threw myself aside, catching the bars of the next cell to stop myself falling. Every other cage was empty except for Virgil’s. But why did Nightmare need so many?

“Virgil!” I screamed when he leapt at the huge monster, grabbing her horns and swinging his body around so his feet slammed into her face. She stumbled into the wall, giving me a clear opening to the tunnel.

“Go!” he commanded, throaty and loud. Chills went down my arms. “If you meant what you said about loving me no matter what, go, Cat!”

I felt sick, but I forced myself to stumble away from the cells. I shook, every instinct screaming at me to stay at Virgil’s side, warning that I would lose him, but I put one foot in front of the other until I reached the tunnel’s mouth.

“I really do love you, Virgil,” I said, my stomach lurching when I saw him leap down from Elaina’s body, driving a trembling fist into her throat. Where did my brother learn to fight like that?

“Go!” he roared, his voice echoing off the ceiling, startling me back into motion.

I sprinted down the tunnel, the emergency lights making my own shadow look menacing. Behind me, a frightening roar came from the monster, and I gasped, running faster. What if I got back to Virgil and he was smeared on the cobbles like the florist? What if Elaina ripped him apart?

Why did he need a syringe more than he needed me beside him? My head pounded the harder I ran, but I didn’t stop until I skidded into the greenish room with the gurneys. I knew the answer to that question; there was only one that made sense. Whatever this syringe contained, it must be able to calm Elaina. Calm the monster.

---