Page 24 of Mud

“Why?” I wondered. “What happened?”

“I haven’t looked at the file yet.” He pushed the door of the dressing room open and stopped to look back at me. “I think a group of catfairies has been spotted near Back River. Looks like they’ve basically infested an entire woods in the past three weeks.”

I did a double take. “Threeweeks?” That was a long time for creatures like catfairies to go unnoticed. Their name might have sounded cute, but they were anything but. Very dangerous animals who could cause a lot of death. Very bloodthirsty for humans.

“Yep—but it’s nothing to worry about,” said Michael, scratching the back of his head as he smiled awkwardly, ruffling his sandy blond hair even more. He never really cared much about his appearance, but his shirt was ironed today. “We’ll, uh…we’ll talk more during briefing. Buh-bye.” And he basically slammed the door shut in my face.

Huh.That was strange. Very unlike Michael. That smile just now was awkward as all hell—definitely not genuine. I didn’t think I’d ever seen Michael so nervous before.

And I thought that was going to distract me. I thought Iwas going to be able to eat a little bit, at least, until the rest of the team came in and he briefed us on those catfairies.

I was wrong.

I’d just gone into the cafeteria and looked at the tray of fresh croissants that someone from the kitchen had brought in. I justlookedat them, and my body reacted like I was in front of the most disgusting thing to have ever existed.

This time it was so fucking violent that I had no choice but to run to the restrooms, barely make it into one of the stalls, and I threw up like I’d eaten nonstop for days.

Fuck, it felt awful, but so relieving at the same time.

When nothing came out of me anymore, I sat down on the cold tiles, wiped my face with toilet paper, and I breathed.

I was always good at talking to myself, getting through to me. I was always good at stopping whatever train of thought was taking over my mind at any given moment. I’d juststop it. Put a stone wall in front of it. Make it disappear.Easy.

Except today, it wasn’t working. Today, the train was way too powerful, all-consuming, and it broke through whatever stone walls or blocks I put in its way. I’d thought about it every second of interrogating that siren until she gave me all the information Cassie needed. I’d thought about it every second of showering, drying my hair, putting my clothes on. I’d thought about it while throwing my guts out in this very toilet, and I was thinking aboutthinking about itright now, too. Too powerful.

Hewas too present in my mind. I couldn’t make him disappear—and unfortunately for me, it wasn’t just the fear talking.

“I’m okay,” I whispered to myself, hoping the sound ofmy voice would make me believe my own bullshit. It didn’t, but I still tried.

And I reminded myself thathewould be okay, too.

Taland knew that the IDD would have their best on him already, so he was going to steer clear of the entire city, not just the Headquarters. He was not going to get killed because hewasn’tcoming to kill me. It wasn’t going to happen—he was too smart for that.

“So, there,” I told myself. There was no need to freak out. If he was smart enough to escape the Tomb, simply disappear into a wall, he was smart enough not to get caught, even if Wayne O’Bryan was after him. By now he was probably out of Maryland completely—out of the States. He wasn’t going to find me, and Wayne wasn’t going to find him.

That’s all I needed to think about.

Of course, I was still aware that it was bullshit, but for a little while, I clung to it. For a little while, it helped me get up from the stall, get my shit together, and make it all the way to the main meeting room before fifteen minutes were over.

The problem was, there seemed to be some sort of a mistake because agents from other teams were already there, waiting.

Main room,Michael said. I was sure I’d heard him right. So then…

“What in the fuck is this shit?”

I turned to look at Erid coming through the door, looking at the agents sitting around the big table while she chewed her gum, and last night’s eyeliner was smeared all around her eyes to give it a perfect smokey look I could never quite recreate deliberately.

“Michael said to meet him here,” I said. Even thoughshe wasn’t looking at me, we were on Michael’s team together, and she only ever talked to us. “But apparently other people are already using this room.”

“He told me to meet him here, too,” Erid said. “Something about catfairies. Fucker woke me up early for it.”

“It’s the catfairies,” one of the agents sitting at the table told me. Fernand was his name and he’d been here less than a year. We’d smiled at each other in the cafeteria once or twice.

“Yes, dipshit, that’s what I said,” Erid snapped at him.

“No, I meanwe’re allhere for the catfairies,” the guy said, cheeks already flushed a bright crimson.

Erid and I exchanged a look. Her black brows were raised to the middle of her forehead. Her dyed platinum-white hair was all over the place, and her shirt was the same one she’d had on the day before. I could tell by the coffee stain over her right boob that she’d cursed about for at least a full minute.

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