Page 38 of Lust

Cody retrieves his phone from the pants he discarded on the floor. He scrolls through it before passing it to me, revealing a drawing—a hunched creature with long, sharp, clawlike hands and wide eyes. “I sketched it after the first vision. This is what it looked like after it was born from the sac, but you didn’t see my version because you experienced everything through its eyes.”

I shudder. “Well, none of this tells us very much, does it?”

“It tells us, at least according to your vision, that this thing is still gonna get loose.”

But I have a bad feeling about that already. And something fresh is on my mind. “This monster…it’ll start here, right, if it’s breaking free from—what did you call it? The Rift?”

“The Guides call the places they escape fromgates—like open doorways from the Rift into our world.”

“And it’ll be hungry,” I add, “so it’ll need a victim right away.” I pull my phone out of my pants and key away.

“What are you doing?” Seth asks.

“Will you shut the fuck up for five seconds so I can think?” I search “missing” + “Lawrenceville, GA” + “news.” Sure enough, an article from yesterday pops up, with a face I recognize.“George Farrow hasn’t been seen since Monday, October twenty-first. Fuck,” I mutter, handing my phone to Brad. “That’s who I saw. That’s who I was chasing. This thing is already out, so clearly, my leaving isn’t gonna do shit.”

“Then something’s changed since my last vision,” Cody says. “Something’s happened that’s affected the outcome.”

“Or you read it wrong,” I insist.

“It’s possible,” Cody says. “We’ve just never had this happen before.”

“You’ve really fucked with everything since you got here,” Seth adds.

“So whatever the hell this thing is,” I say, ignoring Seth, “we know it’s out there and hunting people. I know with everything in me that it killed that guy. You have no idea how much it needs to kill. I could feel its hunger, and it was so intense both times I saw it attack. It’s like it’s not even just feeding off their bodies, but—and this sounds so fucked—feeding on their fear of it.”

“Their fear?” Cody asks.

“Yes, it’s like I was feeling satisfied even before eating them. Fuck, I don’t even know how I know that.”

Brad says, “You remember when I made that comment about it being like a dream where you just know certain things? You felt it about the guy it killed and about the place it came from, but you don’t have the other part that’s connected to you. We know you’re the reason this is all happening.”

“And I’m just supposed to trust that?”

Brad holds his hands up like he wants me to calm the hell down for a minute, but he didn’t have to see what I just saw.

I feel like a fucking monster myself.

“I’m not saying you guys are making this up, but you can understand why you bringing me here, telling me I’m gonna see one thing, then seeing something totally different, would make me suspect you have no idea what the hell you’re seeing.”

“That’s fine,” Brad says. “We all need to be skeptical, but it doesn’t have to turn into a fight about everything.”

I take a breath. He’s right. “Sorry, this stuff is fucking with my head.”

“It’s okay,” Cody says. “It’s a lot. But it clearly doesn’t knock you down the way it does me, which is a good sign.”

“Good sign? Did you hear what I said? There’s a monster on the loose and already killing people…and apparently will kill more people. We have to do something.”

“No, no,” Seth says. “Me, Cody, and Brad have to do something. You aren’t a part of this.”

“Seth…” Brad says. “You’re not being honest there.”

Seth’s jaw clenches. “Don’t do this. Don’t you dare fucking do this now.”

Brad gives Seth a stern look; a warning. “It’s time to tell him. He needs to know.”

“I need to know what?”

“We all agreed to this!” Seth insists.

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