Page 82 of Carnival
“That’s what I thought. There would’ve been a scar. Come here,’’ she stands up, and I’m left more confused than before. Wordlessly, I follow her as she takes me to a smaller room with a hospital bed.
“Lie down,’’ Freya instructs, switching the old gloves for new ones. James follows suit, entering the smaller room and leaning against the wall. I can tell by the look on his face that he’s figured this out, whatever it is, already.
Freya comes to my lying form with a much smaller syringe, then pushes it near the spot she touched previously. I hiss, hating the feeling of needles anywhere near me.
“This is just an anesthetic to numb the area. I’m about to cut your arm open to see what the fuck is inside.’’
“Wait, what? No!”
“Too late, you’re numb already.’’ She flicks the spot, and I can only feel the pressure of her finger, not actual pain. My eyes squeeze shut the moment I see Aria bring her the metal tray with a scalpel, tweezers, and a bunch of things I don’t know the names of.
The sound of metal scraping together fills my ears, but I keep my eyes closed. There’s no way I’m watching someone do a small surgery on me, and the fact that it doesn’t hurt at all is worrying. How strong is the anesthetic she used on me?
“Hand me the basin, Aria,’’ she instructs, and I can only imagine Aria does it without a word, because the next thing I’m feeling is Freya wrapping a bandage all over my forearm.
My eyes open, and I stare at the basin.
“Fucking hell,’’ James pushes off the wall, walking toward the small table where the basin is. He’s staring at it, wide-eyed, as if he’s unable to comprehend it all. My eyes follow his line of vision, and it all becomes fucking clear.
“It wasn’t a drive,’’ I whisper. “It was a chip.’’
“All along, the chip was in you,’’ James concludes, eyes snapping to meet mine. “Fucking hell.’’
“I’m assuming this thing is important,’’ Freya mocks. “I’ll clean it up and have it ready for you to take.’’
I’m still struggling to comprehend what the fuck just happened, slowly sitting up from the bed.
“Where do you think you’re going, missy?” Freya asks, and I immediately lie back down.
“I thought you wouldn’t end up chipping me.’’
“You have another arm, don’t you?”
“Any chance you can numb the area too?”
“Fine,’’ she sighs.
James and I lock eyes as Freya gets to work. It’s as if she and Aria suddenly vanished, and the two of us are left alone. Neither speaks, but no words are needed for this.
The thing Vivian needs is something I have. I don’t have the time to feel stupid for not noticing sooner, because now that the information she’s been looking for is in my hands, it means the game is finally on. A game Vivian will not win.
I’ll be damned if I let the old wench have the data.
31
Rose
Sleep slowly evades me when I feel something soft, almost fur-like, on my cheeks. My brows narrow, though my eyes are still closed. It’s like something is slowly crawling on my face, and that causes me to sit up straight, the little thing falling off my face.
A scream pierces through my lungs as I stare at the blanket that’s over my body. It’s covered with four spiders, one of which was fucking crawling on my face. I start shaking, too scared to move, and the little furry shits continue to climb all over me. These aren’t small spiders, either.
I’m pretty sure one of them is a black widow, from the pictures I’ve seen. I hold eye contact with the most disgusting thing I’ve ever had the displeasure of seeing, but it’s almost as if it’s taunting me — still climbing on me.
“James!” I yell out, my voice cracking.
Sound of footsteps approaching the bedroom fills my ears, and soon after, James pushes the door open, strolling insidewith nothing but a pair of grey sweatpants. His eyes glance between the spiders on the blanket and me.
“Oh,’’ he chuckles. “I see you’ve met Steve,’’ he points to the very persistent black widow still climbing on me.
