Page 102 of Hunting Pretty

Protected.

Safe.

Fucked up, right?

But what Ididn’texpect was the small gift left beside it this morning.

I sat up and pushed aside the lily so I could see it properly.

A small black velvet jewelry box. The kind that necklaces or bracelets came in.

Or engagement rings.

I shoved that thought away. As if my stalker would leave me diamonds.

Apprehension filled me as I picked up the soft velvet.

It shifted, like there was something loose inside it.

Not a ring, then.

I carefully pried it open.

Inside the gift box, nestled in the velvet bed like a macabre piece of jewelry, was a human eyeball.

My heart slammed into my throat, the box almost falling from my grasp.

Fuck. It has to be fake. Right?

But I knew it wasn’t when my fingers flinched and it rolled aside to reveal the optic nerve still hanging off the back, pieces of sinew and flesh still clinging to it like a Halloween prop.

Why the fuck would he give me an eye?

And even more importantly, who did this eye belong to?

Then I realized where I’d seen the bright-blue iris flecked with pale gray.

I’d glared into this eye only yesterday.

This was Cormac’s eye.

Oh my God. I snapped the box shut and threw it aside with disgust. It clattered onto my bedside table, knocking the flower to the carpet.

I only then noticed the note.

It had been sitting under the box, a folded piece of notepaper with my name scrawled over the front in messy handwriting. I opened it. And it read:

Now he’ll leave you alone.

~ Scáth

The note slipped from my fingers and I watched it flutter to the ground as a memory rose up from the depths of the locked-up part of my mind.

He casually leaned against his locker as I stormed toward him in the deserted school hallway.

My ponytail in its velvet bow swished against my back in rhythm with my pounding heart. I clutched my schoolbooks to my chest to keep myself from exploding.

“It was you,” I said, fighting back tears because I couldn’t let him see he’d made me cry. “I know it was you.”

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