Page 54 of Hysteria Rises
It makes a lot more sense now how she came to be in our room with a buck-naked Arrow, but before Hayze or I can comment on anything else, Nolan appears at the top of the staircase.Oh, fuck.
My father stops short when he sees the four of us, then his eyes dart to the door. “Did you take care ofit?” he barks out the question, almost like an accusation.
I’d almost forgotten about the snake with everything else going on.
“Yes,” Hayze grits out, “it’s dead on the far side of the room in a bucket if you want to have a look. I kinda mangled the head, though.” My father exhales harshly before his gaze snaps to me. Just as quickly he moves on to Twenty-three. “What the fuck is going on here?”
My eyes meet Hayze’s, and I send him as clear a message as I can manage without words. She’ll be in trouble if she forgets where she is and who she’s speaking to. I don’t claim to know how we’re going to handle this girl going forward, but I don’t think we need another round of corrections anytime soon.
A moment later, it’s clear Hayze has understood me as he grasps her chin with a few fingers and tips her face to his. “Are you forgetting something, Twenty-three?”
Knowledge flashes in those pretty blue eyes, and with it, a sudden intake of breath. She drops to her knees at Nolan’s feet, head bowed. “I follow…” She’s hesitant at first, but then finishes quickly, “I honor. I nourish. I kneel.”
Nolan expels a surprised huff of air, then gives a nod as he stares down at the top of her head. “How did the snake come to be in that bedroom?” His gaze flicks up to meet each ofours in turn.
I grimace. “We aren’t sure, sir. We only just got the situation under control.”
Wisely, Twenty-three remains silent.
“It just slithered into the room?” Nolan questions, his shoulders bristling.
Finally, Arrow speaks up. “No. It was in Rafe’s bed. Under the blanket.”
My father’s jaw twitches, and it’s plain to see he’s sorting through that information in his head. Analyzing. Considering all the angles, as he’s prone to doing. Then, abruptly, his attention shifts. “Woman, if I find out you had anything to do with this—” He clenches his jaw, glaring at her, then grabs her by the throat. “Up,” he spits. “Whatever you were supposed to have been doing, do it.” He takes only a quick breath and bellows, “Now!”
My heart jerks hard in my chest, and I only just barely stop myself from stepping in. To do so would be a mistake.
She scrambles to her feet, still shaky, and hurries away. As she reaches the bathroom, she dares only a backward glance. But the flash of fury in her eyes tells me everything I need to know. The parts of her that have piqued my interest have not yet been stamped out. A moment later, she disappears through the doorway.
Nolan lets out a sigh as if the altercation had no effect on him, then gestures to the stairs. “I have to get back outside. That room needs to be turned upside down.Where there’s one snake, there could be more.” Cocking his head to the side, Nolan grips Arrow’s arm, wrenching him around, then grimaces at the current state of his injuries before casting a frown in my direction. “Get him downstairs. Clean him up. We need him well enough to lend a hand in two days’ time. Is that clear?”
I bite my tongue. No one tells my father how to doctor, and I’m not foolish enough to argue.
Getting Arrow down to my father’s quarters proves to be a tediously difficult task. When we get there, Hayze and I help him back onto the same table where I cleaned him up directly after his correction.
“I don’t know how we’re gonna get this healed up in two days,” I mutter.
Hayze grimaces. “Got any more of that bourbon left?” He rubs a few fingers over his mouth. “I was going to mention that we should figure out what to fill the bottle with and make a plan to do that, but we were up and moving early.”
Arrow lets out a groan. “No.”
“No?” I question, leaning down to catch his eye.
He gives a jerk of his head. “I drank it.”
A startled gasp pulls from my throat. “Oh fuck. I wondered.” I meet Hayze’s astonished gaze. “Okay.” Ismear a dab of my father’s homemade salve over one of the open wounds.
“I know. I shouldn’t have. But it was the only thing helping, so I finished it off this morning.” He presses his lips together. “Twenty-three. She helped me.”
Hayze huffs out a disbelieving laugh. “What the hell does that mean?”
“We heard you all coming. And she kicked the bottle under my bed. To hide it. Don’t ask me how she knew I wasn’t supposed to have it.”
“Huh,” I murmur. “That’s interesting. You wanna tell us what’s going on with you two? I would have thought after the day Kiefer caught you?—”
“That she’d hate me.” He nods, wincing. “Yeah, me too. And I think she still might.”
“I wouldn’t doubt it. But maybe not.”There is more to that girl than any of us originally thought.
