Wait…
That wasn’t normal? Flowers didn’t grow that fast.
I shifted my gaze back to the colorful petals. Did they always have a touch of purple in them? And where did that vine come from? The ivy was all the way over on the other side of the bridge.
“Did one of you move that vine?”
Rather than answer me, Reese and Devlin exchanged a look.
I rolled my eyes and muttered, “Whatever.”
Thanks to Devlin, I was sitting in a hot room with a hoodie and jeans on, and there was a string riding up my ass from the only pair of underwear I had. I wasn’t in the mood to play their games. Bet they were comfortable in their t-shirts.
Pricks.
My next outfit was going to be a burlap sack. Let’s see him complain about that. At least I wasn’t ogling them. There was a bonus. Well, not openly ogling them. They were still nice to look at. It was kind of annoying how good they looked in a pair of jeans.
“That shouldn’t work in here.”
“I know,” Devlin said to Reese while looking at me.
My lip curled back at them. “Have you guys been drinking?”
They were acting weird. Which was saying a lot.
“Tell me something, Sydney.” Devlin leaned forward to rest his arms on his thighs. “How do you feel right now?”
“Well, someone made me wear a sweater to the heat center of this stupid house, so I’m a bit irritated.”
When was the last time he had to sweat his ass off?
“I mean, what do you feel when you look at us?” he clarified.
I took a second to study the curious look on Devlin’s face, then turned my attention to the intrigue sparkling in Reese’s eyes.
“Yeah, I’m still gonna go with irritated.”
Reese once again shot Devlin a look. “Are you hot?”
Seriously. I responded with aduhglare. If he couldn’t see the sweat trickling down my brow, then he was blind.
I wasn’t sure what I said, but they were pulling me out of my chair before I could blink.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I snarled and tore my arms out of their grasp.
The ground beneath me suddenly lurched. I stumbled back from the heat wave crashing through the air. Reese reached out and said something. I couldn’t hear what he said, though. His lips were moving, but nothing came out. Either that, or it was blocked out by the insane crunching filling my mind.
I winced and covered my ears. “What the hell is that?”
Couldn’t they hear it? It was getting louder by the second. I looked around, trying to find the source. It seemed to be coming from everywhere. I tried to shut it out, but I couldn’t chase it away. Not even my fingers in my ears could dampen the screeching sound. It was starting to hurt.
I’m not sure where Reese came from. I felt his hands cup my face before I saw him. He whispered one word.
Sleep.
There were so many plants. I tugged and pulled, trying to get away, but they were everywhere. On my arms and legs, wrapping around my neck and torso. They were pulling me into a slithering pile of snake-like vines. I could feel them all over my skin.
I tried to fight them off and call out, but no one was there, or if they were, they couldn’t hear me. The only audible sound was horrible crunching. It echoed through my ears every time a leaf bloomed, or a vine thickened.
