Page 31 of Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World
My face heated until I was certain it was bright red. “Shut up, Sunil,” I said. “I didn’t do anything like that.”
His grin widened maliciously. “Yeah, right. Was it everyone on the executive board? Is your jaw still sore?” Tamsin touched the tip of her tongue to her upper lip as she watched, obviously enjoying herself.
My hands gripped the edge of the table until they ached.
“It’s going to take more than a couple of quickies in the executive bathrooms to snag one of those spots in middle management.”
Fury boiled through my veins, white-hot. “That’s more your style, isn’t it? Making sleazy offers in bathrooms?”
“You little shit,” he spat, eyes narrowing.
“Don’t talk to him like that.”
We all turned to Deborah. Even Jianguo looked up from his phone. She was staring at Sunil, scarred face expressionless but eyes burning with dislike, hand clenched around her knife so tightly that her knuckles had gone white.
Sunil hesitated. Then his lips curled into a faint sneer. “I should have known you’d rush to the defense of a loser like Harris,Debbie. Takes one to know one.”
Deborah bared her teeth in a snarl and rose to her feet, but I did as well, holding out a hand as if to restrain her. “Don’t bother. He’s not worth it.” Next to me, Sunil was watching Deborah warily, but at my words he flicked a contemptuous gaze in my direction.
“I’mnot worth it? You’re weak and scared and pointless, Harris. You’re less than nothing.”
As I heard him give voice to things I secretly feared, something inside me gave way, like a wall crumbling. I expected an avalanche of shame and humiliation to pour through, but instead, there was an icy clarity on the other side. Slowly, I leaned down until my face was inches from his, until I could see the contempt in his hazel eyes replaced by a flicker of uncertainty.
“Gerald and Andrea didn’taccidentallyfall into the Maw,” I told him, very quietly. “Iputthem there. And I’ll do the same to you if you mess with me.”
I straightened and grabbed my lunch tray. Deborah was still standing on the other side of the table, knife gleaming in her fist. I met her gaze and she nodded. Then I turned and walked away.
“You’re a dead man, Harris,” Sunil called after me, voice lifting over the jumbled murmurs of two dozen different conversations. “You hear me? I’m going to end you.”
Sitting behind my desk inthe anteroom outside Ms.Crenshaw’s office, I listened to the faint screams drifting in from the hallway while I considered my situation. I’d relaxed a little after reaching the thirteenth floor, as if the hard part was over. But if anything, I was in more danger now than I’d ever been in in Human Resources. I’d seen the calculating looks Tamsin had given me, and I had no doubt whatsoever that she would happily engineer a fatal accident if it got her my job. On top of that, Sunil wanted to end me, my boss was determined to break me, and the faceless Thing was out there somewhere, snacking on unsuspecting people.
Accruing power is a lot of work, I thought irritably. I should have been smarter and asked to be emperor of the world, or maybe a literal god. But no, like an idiot, I’d decided instead to ask for something reasonable. The next time I was promised my heart’s desire, I’d make smarter choices.
Nonetheless, I had a foothold on the path toward unimaginable rewards, and that was better than nothing. All I had to do now was impress Ms.Crenshaw along with the rest of the executive board, neutralize any employees who came after me, and figure out how to stop the world from ending. Oh, and also hang on to the handsomest, sweetest, most amazing man in New York.
Why did achieving all of my dreams have to be so hard?
I don’t know what wokeme that night—a change in air pressure, maybe, or a faint sound. Lifting my head, I peered groggily around my bedroom. Sulfur-yellow light from the streetlampsoutside wormed its way through the blinds over the window, striving in vain to dispel the deep gloom that cloaked the rest of the room. Nothing there. Or…wait. Was there something in that corner? I leaned forward a little, trying to pierce the shadows with my bleary gaze.
The darkness moved.
Hello, Colin.
My response was immediate, a nauseating rush of adrenaline that kicked my body into frenzied motion. I scrambled backward in bed, mouth open, trying to scream with lungs paralyzed by fear. Huddled against the headboard, I watched as a tall, emaciated figure drifted slowly out from the corner of the room.
Did I wake you?the Thing asked with false solicitude. Stripes of lamplight climbed across its spindly limbs as it drew closer.
“Wha—” Heart pounding, I took a deep, shuddering breath. “What are you doing here?”
I wanted to say hello.It stopped two or three feet away from the bed, forcing me to look up into…nothing, a pulsing blackness as vast and empty as the void between the stars, silhouetted against the paler, lesser darkness of the room.We’re old friends now, you and I.
My initial terror was subsiding a little, but my hands still shook as I gripped the duvet and pulled it closer. “Are you here to eat me?”
No, no. I promised I would save you for last, and I’m an entity of my word. Consider it…an expression of gratitude.Its narrow body tilted toward me.I can smell the blood on your hands. You’ve been busy. How many lives have you ruined since I granted your wish?
“I don’t—”
I knew you had a vicious streak, Colin, buried under all that self-loathing.
