Page 122 of Lamb

His bright green eyes jumped upwards, curiosity glowing through his every expression as he stared wide in my direction. “Hi.” He waved, giggling as Mint’s steps jostled him up and down like a theme park ride.

A smile fought to break through at the charming little gesture, but I schooled my face, not wanting to encourage the child’s good faith to an ill-fitting suitor. The boy did not falter, smiling unfazed whether I responded or not.

The pure giggles continued long after Mint and Adair disappeared out of sight. I wished they would last forever, but even they echoed into silence and I was once again left alone. I stared into my full cup of coffee, taking a small bitter sip.

It was cold.

Loud, shrill screaming tore through the clubhouse.

I was startled, throwing myself upright from the bed I had been lying in, staring at the ceiling moments before chaos erupted. Panic roiled through my veins, my stomach shivered and spasmed, my fingers grew cold and my feet hot, and the air turned thin.

The noises grew louder, and scuffling, smashing, and shouting swelled with each passing second. I tore my mind out of shock and scrambled towards the bedside table, knocking my glasses clear off the side. I swore, my eyes failing in the dark to find them.

I wasted no time looking for them, throwing myself across the room and slamming my shoulder into the door as I tore it open.

Air blasted across my face as people bulldozed past, thundering straight down the stairs leading to the main hall. I could not tell the brothers apart, not when they melded into one large and angry meat wall surging straight to the source.

The floor vibrated with their charging rumble, and I pressed myself tight into the wall, all too aware my ruined vision made me a prime candidate for a trampling. I took deep breaths, tampering down anything that threatened to rise from within, and hugged the wooden panelling, tracing every nook, cranny, and snag that signalled where I was. Darkness had swallowed the halls; no windows or doors could light my way, and the lack of light meant a lack of power.

I crested the staircase in the aftermath of the stampede, and the screaming voices began to separate, and words formed from the chaos.

“FBI!”

Icy tentacles surged from the earth, twining around my ankles and arms, and my heart and brain stopped dead in their grasp.

He’d found me.

Panic seeped from my blood into my mind like poison, my heart shivering in my chest, waves of adrenaline and cortisone tightening my muscles into knots as every fibre of my being screamed.

Run. Run. Run.

I fought for my breath, but fear held tight and crushed my lungs under its leaden weight, suffocating me from the inside out.

If you stay here. You’ll die. YOU’LL DI—

Abangburst through the room. Light flashed across the space, bouncing off every wall and ceiling for a blinding second, leaving in its wake … silence.

A soft, ringing buzz grew in my ears, and I realised that it was not that the world was not screaming. It was that I could not hear it.

The flashbang screamed in my ears, its resounding cry drowning the dull, distant shouting and scuffling piercing through the deafening veil.

A sudden pinching grip latched around my arm, and I swung.

Air sliced past my fist, a wave of red hair burning across my vision as my attacker swerved and ducked beneath my swing. Their hand clamped around my wrist, the inertia pulling me forwards as I stumbled and slammed chest first into the wall.

My jaw ached, and my nose rebuffed the concrete wall with a loudwhack.

“Ash,” my attacker hissed. “It’s me. Calm down.”

I thrust my chest and hips forwards, the momentum pulling back my shoulders with just enough force to break free of my bonds. I spun, whirling, ready to fight. Until I saw their face.

“Kay?”

“Yes, thank God,” Kay sighed, reclaiming her grip on my arm as she hauled me into a brisk jog at her side. “Come with me.”

“Wait.” I shook my head, fighting the confusion and disorientation. “That bang. Someone’s throwing flas—”

“That’s Anna’s doing.”

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