Page 58 of Never Say Die
It went on like that, him asking her innocent things, until they were asleep. He didn’t know how long they’d gone, but the night still felt young when she stirred awake. Her chest rose and fell in fast, short breaths, and she scrambled against the sheets, kicking and clawing. Aiden grabbed her the same way he wouldCamila. Held her tightly, pinning her arms, hugging his chest to her back.
“Georgia, hey, it’s a nightmare.” He shushed her. “Just a bad dream.”
She went limp, gripping his forearm. “Jesus, I keep seein’ her. All… All mangled. I wish I hadn’t looked—I shouldn’t have.Shit.”
Aiden let her go. At first, he thought he was awake. Waking came after sleep, didn’t it? But he blinked. Stepped into lucidity and found their bed shadowed by something—someone—only he could see. Thomas hovered over them, knees pressed against the mattress, face half-gone and tipped downward. His lips had peeled backward, gums receded, revealing a sallow-toothed smile. His empty chest buckled; ribcage bent away from his body like antlers.
“That poor fucking girl,” she said.
“You need to get some rest, Georgia,” he said, still trained to the ghost standing at their bedside.
Thomas carried the sea with him, like always. Water dripped from his nose and landed on Georgia’s cheek, splattering. She rubbed a hand over her face and sighed, as if the wetness hadn’t struck her, as if it’d been there all along.
“I’m a weepy mess.” She rolled over to face him. “Where you goin’?”
“Cigarette,” he said, slipping quietly from under the covers. “Go back to sleep.”
“Yeah, okay. Quit those, though. I’m serious.”
“I hear you.” He waited for Georgia to close her eyes before squinting at what was left of Thomas. Aiden grabbed his jacket. Cigarettes. Keys. Stepped backward. Waited. Stepped again. The ghost moved awkwardly, dragging himself on fractured feet.C’mon. You’re here for me. Aiden crossed the doorway. Listened to heavy, sore sounds: loose skin, sopping clothes. Once Thomasslumped into the brightly lit hall, he vanished. “I’m used to you, fucker,” Aiden whispered, easing the door shut. “Can’t scare me anymore.”
That was a bold-faced lie. Aiden almost tripped putting distance between himself and the wet footprints on the carpet. He made it to the elevator without Thomas reappearing, and crossed the lobby to the automatic doors, stepping into the damp, summer air.
The storm he’d seen earlier had arrived without warning, dumping quarter-sized raindrops on Roswell and the surrounding desert. He stood under an awning and smoked, watching water obscure streetlights and pelt windshields. At the end of the parking lot, someone else did the same. Her silhouette punched a hole in the night. Darker, somehow. Topped with a wide-brimmed hat. When Aiden lifted his cigarette, she did the same. When he flicked ash onto the sidewalk, orange embers sparked near her thigh. When he took a step forward, Cit did, too, and the space between them lessened.
You’re dead,he thought, sucking hard on the smoky filter.I put a knife in you.
“Hey.”
Aiden startled, snapping his cigarette in half. He cursed and whirled around, facing Shay, who flashed his palms in surrender. “Shay. . . Fuck, man, you. . .” He glanced at the parking lot. Cit’s shadow was gone. “You scared me.”
“Sorry,” he said, cringing. “I heard you leave. Just thought. . . I don’t know. Thought you might want company.”
Aiden fished the last cigarette out of their stolen pack, striking the lighter with his thumb. “You saw her, right? Laura?” Smoke billowed from between his lips. He handed the cigarette to Shay. “She had?—”
“Yeah, I saw. Black eyes. Fangs.”
“Not just fangs.”
Shay smoked audibly, all crackling paper and suckling inhales. “How? I mean, they were trying to dosomething, but we interrupted it, didn’t we? We stopped it.”
“We changed it,” Aiden said. He held two fingers out and brought the cigarette to his mouth. “Clearly we didn’t stop anything. She evolved. Like you, but. . . butnot.”
“It’s over,” Shay said. The finality in his voice carried. “So, I guess it doesn’t matter. Whatever Cit started, we finished it. The police have a body. I’m sure they’ll put together a motive, too.”
“Yeah? Like, what? Young woman cannibalizes cult-leader in a murder-suicide ritual? C’mon, that’s. . .” Aiden trailed off.
Shay nodded, shrugging suggestively. “Like Dylan said, Cassie was into some wild shit. Won’t be a surprise to find out her friends were, too.”
“You don’t think the cops’ll investigate?”
“They will. But we’ll be in Austin this time tomorrow and they’ll have a cut-and-dry cult case. Six victims, dead. Seven, including Cassie. One lead, dead. Tragic, yeah. Sad, yeah. But still. No one’ll suspect a thing with their track record.”
“Hope you’re right.”
“How’d you think you’d get away with murder the first time?”
Aiden smashed the cigarette under his shoe. “Honestly? I didn’t think I would. Just hoped the devil might save me if I got caught.”
