Page 115 of The Mourning Throne
Just him. Just Morgan.
Lex didn’t realize anything was wrong until he saw Morgan looking at him. Nose scrunched, eyebrows furrowed. Lex glanced down and that’s when he saw it.
Bloody footprints—hisbloody footprints. They tracked from the door to where he was standing.
An envelope laid there, lodged halfway under the crack. One side soaked through with red.
Lex crouched, his stomach coiled tight as he reached for it. He used the tip of one fingernail to lift the corner. The envelope made a sound when it peeled off the carpet—squelchy and faint, like a dishrag left too long in the wash.
He didn’t open it right away. Couldn’t figure out how to without smudging blood on every inch of his clothes.
“Lex?” Morgan’s voice came from behind him.
Lex didn’t answer. He turned the envelope over.
Morgan’s name was on it.
In pink glitter pen. The kind little girls might use in a diary in middle school. The handwriting was round, looping, full of unnecessary hearts. Theain Morgan’s name had turned into a star.
“What the fuck,”he whispered.
Morgan crossed the room in three strides, leaned over Lex’s shoulder. But Lex kept it to himself, held the envelope tight in both hands, like it was proof of something no one else could understand. Blood had already soaked into his palms, tacky and thick. That wasn’t something he could’ve stopped.
“Hand it over.” Morgan said.
“Don’t touch it.”
Lex finally tore the flap open.
Just a tongue.
A tongue.
It wasn’t processing right in his head.
He was holding onto a severed,humantongue.
Still wet. Still pink around the root, taste buds bloated and soft. It folded over itself like a slug, like it was going to magically jump up and slither away if he didn’t put salt on it.
And stuck to it was a small card.
Lex set down the tongue with shaking fingers. Picked up the card instead.
It was bright yellow, glossy. Way too damn cheerful. On the front, in the same freaky pink ink, it read:Found you~
Inside: a childlike drawing of two figures. One tall, one short. Stick people. The tall one had a heart drawn over its head. The other? A frown and Xs for eyes. Red crayon lines ran from its neck to the bottom of the paper like the blood on Lex’s hands.
“Is this—” Lex choked out a laugh. “Is thisreal?Or is this some weird prank?”
Morgan reached over, slid his finger over the tongue.Licked it.
Lex was going to fucking vomit.
“It’s very real,” Morgan said. “Fresh, too. Maybe two… two and half hours.”
Thanks. Morgan, you’re the greatest. My favorite. But I don’t want to know anything about your gross-ass food preferences.
He forced back the shiver, shaking it out of his arms.
