Ugh. “Hard pass. I’d rather eat shit, to be honest.”
His face colors. I glance over my shoulder. Nia hovers at the street exit, her face uncertain. “Kennedy—,”
It’s a mistake. I feel the air shift, turn—
He shoves me hard enough that my side slams into the wall. Pain fritzes through my side as Eric follows. “Nobody’s gonna care if I have a little fun with you, trash. Not the town murderer.”
His hand wraps around my neck, and I dig my fingers in, tearing at the skin as my choke echoes into the air. Eric’s hands move down, feeling over my clothes, roughly rubbing at my breasts. Nausea twists my stomach into knots at the pain. Remembered and real. “What the fuck are you wearing? It’s not fucking winter.”
My vision… shifts.
In a moment, the world turns to shades of red. A face looms in front of me, and my lips split to bare my teeth. My throat vibrates, a deep noise yanking free.
Threat.
My body… itmoves.
But I’m not the one in control. I’m shoved into a small box, screaming and banging on the walls as somethingelsetakes over. It threatens to push me down, to stamp me out.
No—
My body no longer belongs to me. It’s something more primal, growling and snapping. My nails rake and tear and savage, those snapping noises tumbling over each other as I push the face back, following it.
Too soon. It’s too soon—
Nobody can hear me. Nobody. I’m trapped, suddenly imprisoned inside my own mind, and panic floods me. Or is ither—
“Kennedy!” Hands shake me, and I flinch away, growling in warning.
Stay back.
But the face is gone. This is something else. A hand reaches for me, and I swipe. Movement pauses, and my body tenses, waiting for the next threat.
“Kennedy,” the voice whispers. “He’s gone. He left. It’s okay.”
My body twists, searching. Assessing.
“It’s okay.” Another face. This one is smaller. It smells like vanilla cupcakes. And salt, salt in the air as I breathe in. “You’re okay.”
There’s no trace of oil. The thing in control of my body breathes again. A crack appears in the box, and I push on it.
Let me out.
Not like this.
I still have time.
Red, to color, to red.
And then I blink, and the world is normal once more.
My fingers twitch when I move them. My eyes move when I tell them to.
I’m crouching against the wall, my hands up. A few feet away, Nia is crouching too, her hand out and eyes wide.
She has Theo’s eyes. I focus on them, and it helps. “Kennedy?”
Slowly, I look down to my hands, curling my fingers into fists.
