“No.”
“Liar.”
The sun was suddenly obstructed by a dark object—it hovered inches from my face.
Slit pupils were stark against neon purple, and a slippery forked tongue dragged across my cheek.
“I told youI was real,” Nyx hissed.
A... a... colossal black snake—as long as one of my legs, with twin fangs gleaming, razor-sharp, and purple eyes—hovered inches in the air in front of me.
She looked dangerous.
Predatory.
“What are you?” I whispered.
Her shiny black head swayed back and forth on the summer breeze like she was trying to hypnotize me. “I’m an echidna, an ancient race of invisible snakes. Of course, you wouldn’t know—humans know nothing of the ways of beasts.”
I swallowed thickly. “Are you venomous?”
Razor-sharp fangs flashed as the snake’s head nodded. “Extremely so. Just a graze from one of my fangs would kill you in seconds.”
“Wicked,” I said with awe. “Want to be friends?” I’d never had one.
Purple eyes glowed.
“Fine,” Nyx hissed, her jaw opening as she spoke, “but only because your life seems miserable, and I’ve been misplaced in this barbaric land with no one to speak to.”
“Cool.” I reached out and patted her shiny head.
Nyx snapped the air with a click. “Nevertouch me like that or I’ll bite you to death, girl—I’m not a common dog.” She sniffed haughtily. “This is only a temporary arrangement.”
I laughed.
She was funny.
Hours later, after I’d frolicked about with my new bestie and tried to ignore the pain in my wrists, the sun set in a fiery pink sky.
If I didn’t get back to the trailer before nightfall, I’d be locked out and forced to sleep in the dark.
I was determined to sleep inside tonight.
“Let’s go back together,” I whispered. Nyx turned invisible and slithered next to me. Her head brushed against my feet as I ran.
We made it back with light still in the sky—not that anyone noticed.
Mother and Father were sitting in the yard, emaciated and glassy-eyed as they sipped on dirty cups full of their “special drink.” Their pupils were blown wide, heads tipped back at an unnatural angle, as they stared up at the clouds.
Living corpses.
I hummed to soothe myself.
“They look—sick.” Nyx’s wet tongue slicked across my ear as she rose behind me and followed me into the trailer. “Do you want me to kill them?”
“No,” I whispered as I led her down the hall. “That’s wrong.”
The lamp on the wall flickered weakly with green light, the electricity humming as it struggled to power the decrepit trailer—a mix of metal and wood parts from a time before the Titans.
