Page 173 of Hunting Pretty

I stared at the needle, at the clear liquid inside the vial, sharp, acrid dread poisoning my veins. Was it lethal? Some sort of poison?

Would it kill me quickly or would it hurt as I died?

I glanced over toward the door to where my bag still lay on the ground where I’d dropped it.

Was my recording still on? Was it still streaming to Scáth through the message I sent him?

If I was going to die, I had to at least get Dr. Vale to confess. This couldn’t all be for nothing. I couldn’t have given up a life with Scáth for nothing.

I glared at Dr. Vale as he inserted the tip of the needle into the vial.

My skin broke out in goosebumps, making my skin crawl as I imagined him stabbing that needle intome.

“At least fucking admit what you did,” I said, trying to keep my voice from warbling. “You’re man enough for that, aren’t you?”

“Why, Ava”—Dr. Vale sucked the liquid into the needle until it was full—“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I know you drugged Liath. I know you abused her and suppressed her memories of it. You killed her when that failed, didn’t you?”

“Stupid girl.” Dr. Vale laughed. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t have a clue.”

I glanced down at the ropes around my wrists.

It was soft wool rope, the kind of rope that Dr. Vale used for his boundary exercises.

It wasn’t meant to tie a person down. It was meant to be used symbolically. He probably only used it to tie me up because it was all he had on hand.

I could free myself if I fought hard enough.

I struggled against the ropes binding my chest, ankles, and wrists to the chair. “I know the truth! You killed her. You killed Liath just like you’re going to kill me.”

Dr. Vale chuckled as he pressed down the needle depressor until a jet of liquid squirted out onto the oriental rug. “Oh my dear,I’mnot going to kill you.”

I stared at the clear liquid in the needle barrel, imagining it swirling into my veins. “Then w-what have you got in there?”

“Why, Ava… don’t youremember?”

“I…”

“You will soon.” Dr. Vale began to advance upon me, brandishing the needle like a knife, the shadows cast off hisface making him look like a demon. “Isn’t that what you wanted, Ava? Toremember?”

A cold sweat broke out along my skin, tiny beads forming at my hairline and down my spine.

Bile rose up in my throat like a sickness as dark flashes slammed across my mind.

The professor leaned over me, his sharp, angular features carved out of cold, pale skin under slicked-back dark hair.

His thin-lipped smile didn’t reach his emotionless dark eyes; it was more of a mask, calculated and cold.

“Sweet, sweet girl.” His sour breath swirled around my cheeks.

Fear closed its bony fingers around my throat, cutting off my oxygen.

His fingers pulled at the little ribbon at my throat. Cold air pressed against my chest, suffocating me, as he unbuttoned the front of my dress and opened it.

I tried to breathe.

I tried to scream.

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