Page 101 of Hollow

But I’m a devil, and I don’t know if that prayer was for me.

I slip my trousers and shirt on. Pull on my boots.

Did I walk here from the school? Did I ride?

How late is it?

…who am I?

Who am I?

Who am I?

My head spins, and I stumble, having to lean against the wall for a moment. I try to catch my breath, but it feels like I’ll never breathe again.

Beneath my skin, the darkness bubbles.

It wants to fuck again. It wants to kill.

No, I think. No, you will not. You can’t have me that easily, not anymore.

Oh, but God. To belong to someone. I want to belong to someone.

The door to Kat’s door slowly creaks open.

I raise my head to see a woman’s silhouette in the doorway, the living room behind her lit by candles.

“Brom,” Sarah says softly. “My good soldier. How are you?”

She scares me. She always has.

I want to run, but I don’t want to be a coward. I don’t want to run again.

I try to speak but can only emit a noise. I sound like a wounded animal.

“It’s okay,” she says in a soothing voice. She walks into the room and stops in front of me. Puts her hand on my cheek. “You’re almost there, Brom. Just a little bit further.”

I flinch, try to move my face away, but she laughs. It’s a mirthless laugh, one that tells me she comes from that same black space as the thing inside me.

“It can be so hard to be someone else’s puppet, I know,” she says, tapping at my cheek, harder and harder and harder. “But it must be done. It’s our destiny, and it’s just over the horizon. When it’s all over, then you leave. Leave this place again. You’ll be free for the first time in your life, Abraham Van Brunt. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

She takes her hand off my cheek and presses the back of it against my lips.

“Give me a kiss. It’s only polite.”

I press my lips to her hand. It tastes like poison.

She smiles at me. Pure malice. “You should go and retrieve Katrina. She’s run off. You know what you have to do, don’t you, good soldier? You know what you’ve been bound to.”

I feel myself nodding.

I have to get Kat.

The witch leans in to my ear. “You’re a giver, Brom. I know you’re so good at giving. But this time, you’ll be taking. Taking what is owed to you, taking what you deserve. Go and get my daughter. Help us bring Goruun’s wishes to life. Help us usher in a new age.”

I will do no such thing! I scream, pushing her away. I am not your puppet! I am not your soldier! I am a man who is in love with your daughter!

Except the words don’t leave my mouth, and I don’t push her away.

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