Page 68 of Merciless Prince
“She probably doesn’t even know she’s dead,” another guest piped up from the back.
I sucked in a series of deep, rasping breaths and sank down to a crouched position, placing my hands on my temples. “I don’t understand,” I said, letting a few tears roll down my cheeks. “What’s happening to me? It can’t all be because of him.”
“Him?” a guest near the front of the group said, cocking his head. “Who are you talking about?”
I swallowed thickly and rose to my feet on shaky legs. “I shouldn’t tell you,” I said, looking at the floor. “If I do, he might… he might do it to you too.”
“Do what?” someone asked. “What happened to you?”
I let out a quiet sigh of relief. The guests were responding to my scripted cues perfectly, so I didn’t need to improvise anything at all.
“It started when he came here,” I said, looking at the guest who’d asked the question. “He was a patient. Victor Hamersley. I could tell something was wrong with him from the start. Not because he was sick. It was the way he looked at us. Like he could see right into our minds. And his eyes…” I trailed off and let a shudder roll through my body. “When I brought it up, the doctors told me I was letting my imagination get the better of me. But then the babies disappeared.”
“Oh, shit. Didn’t we see a bunch of tiny skulls near the front door?” one of the male guests at the back muttered.
Behind him, another ‘ghost’ was approaching the group. He was tall and dressed in black, and his face had been made-up with black and white paint to look like a skull.
I couldn’t remember him from the character outlines, but there were over twenty-five ghostly characters in the show, so I figured I’d forgotten about him. He was probably just a minor player whose job was to linger in the background and frighten the guests while I spoke to them.
I averted my eyes and kept going with my story. “After the babies vanished, every pregnant woman in the hospital miscarried and died. Bled to death. I knew the man with the black eyes was responsible for all of it. I had no idea how he did it, but I justknew.He could do things with his mind. Make things happen. And then…” I slowly shook my head. “Thenithappened.”
Skull Face was pushing his way through the group now, black-rimmed eyes trained on me. A tickle of apprehension crawled down the back of my neck. Something wasn’t right. No one was supposed to approach me during this part of the scene.
“What happened?” one of the guests asked, forehead wrinkling with curiosity.
“He started—”
Before I could get any more words out, Skull Face grabbed my left arm and dragged me backward. “That’s enough, sweetheart,” he muttered. “Time to go now.”
A flush of adrenaline tingled through my body. “What the hell are you doing?” I hissed, digging my heels into the floor to stop him from pulling me any farther away.
The guests watched with wide-eyed fascination as Skull Face spun me around and pulled me into a rough embrace. He slipped one hand into his pocket and pulled out a small syringe filled with pale yellow liquid.
“Stop!” I said through gritted teeth, struggling against the strange man’s iron grip. “This isn’t supposed to happen.”
“They don’t know that, do they?” he replied, tilting his painted face even closer. Horror struck at my core as familiar blue eyes met mine.
Skull Face wasn’t a fellow actor who’d veered wildly off-script. It was Killian.
“You,” I whispered, eyes widening.
“That’s right.” He lifted the hand with the syringe, black lips twisting into a smirk. “Now be a good girl and take your medicine.”
I kicked and flailed, trying to wrestle my way out of his grasp. “Help!” I screamed. “This isn’t part of the show. He’s trying to hurt me!”
Killian tightened his grip on my upper arm and leaned his face even closer to mine. “You don’t learn, do you, Shay?” he said in a low voice. “You just can’t keep your fucking mouth shut.”
“Please!” I begged, whipping my head around to look at the guests. “Call 911! Now! This isn’t part of it, I swear!”
None of them moved. They just watched the scene unfold with tentative smiles on their faces.
“She’s good,” one of them muttered from somewhere at the back. “I like the guy, too.”
“Yeah, they’re both good,” someone replied. “I guess we’re meant to follow them after he drugs her?”
Oh, god.This was a nightmare. Everyone thought the attack was part of the show.
Tears clogged my throat as I clawed at Killian’s chest and shoulders, using every ounce of my strength to keep him at bay. It was pointless. He was ten times stronger than me, and with every split-second that passed, the syringe moved closer and closer to the side of my neck. Soon it was hovering right over the bare skin, threatening to break it.
