Brandon grabbed at his chest abruptly, clutching where he’d been stabbed. Then he stood up, flung his head back and noise came screaming out of him. It was grating and horrible, both deep and high-pitched. It was far too loud for what he should have been capable of. It was preternatural.
Birds and bats lifted from the trees, flying away. Mothman gave a powerful screech of his own, struggling against his restraints, sensing something the same as the animals in the forest could as they fled in terror.
I slammed my hands against my ears and grit my teeth as tears pulled from my eyes. Ava’s natural instincts came roaring, goosebumps cascading across our entire body, fear splashing in our stomach. Something inside screamed but I batted it down.
When the horrible, animalistic, monstrous noise stopped, I dropped my hands and looked back up at Brandon. His blue eyes found me again.
“Ava,” he said. He took a step towards me and I felt Ava rise to the surface, pushing me out of control. Ben ran up behind Brandon and smashed the backside of his head. He hissed, dropping to the ground. They hit him again and he went down.
“Brandon!” Ava screamed.
20
Hungry. Soincrediblyhungry. I was starving—ravenous. It felt like my body was breaking down to feed itself. I could feel myself withering away, could feel my stomach collapsing.
I could eat anything right now. Everything. I’d eat a fucking sour sock if someone told me it was food.
Meat sounded so good—its sinewy texture sticking in my teeth, its juices spilling from my mouth. I’d grip it in my hands and tear into it without any utensils. I’d savor it, I’d fill myself up. My teeth would sink in and my tongue would collect the juices that were forced out with my bites.
I groaned in pain from the visual, rolling on my side and clutching my stomach. I was so hungry it hurt.
I was in a big bedroom, laying on a large four-poster bed. Something was on my face so I reached up, trying to take it off. My fingers smoothed over the hard material. There was a mask but I could feel my fingers as if I were touching my own skin. There were antlers, a long snout, and teeth. It was an animal skull. I tried to pull it off but it wouldn’t budge.
Then I remembered.
My hands flew to my chest as I gasped. The memory of the pain tore through my body, making my back arch and for me to cry out. I looked down as I spread my hands over my chest. My shirt was torn up but my body was fine.
I heard movement and sat up straight. The skull made it hard to see fully and I had to turn my head left and right to see the entire room. Three large cages were on the floor in the room. They looked like they were sized for large dogs but had bars like an old prison cell.
Insideweren’tdogs.
“Caspian,” I said, shoving from the bed, slamming to my knees, and scrambling towards him. I felt weak, my muscles shaky. Fuck, I was so hungry. So fucking hungry. I groaned, clutching my stomach as I slid towards him. He watched me with big eyes, saying nothing, and observing me like I was a wild animal. It was the damn mask that was stuck to my face.
I shuffled forward but then caught sight of who was inside the second cage.
“Ava!” I gasped, immediately appalled to see she’d been shoved in a cage too. I forgot Caspian and moved to her. She was sleeping. Anger reared up as I imagined what they might have done to her. I was worried about what all of them had gone through but especially her.
I wrapped my hands around the metal bars and gritted my teeth so hard I could hear the grating squeal of them grinding together.
“What did they do to her?” I asked Caspian.
“Nothing. She’s been sleeping a while. Something is going on with her. I don’t know what.” I reached through the bars and I felt Caspian shift nervously. “Stop,” he spat, but I didn’t. My fingers touched her arm and it made me feel a little better. I watched her chest expand as it filled with air. Her eyelashes fluttered slightly but she stayed asleep.
I pulled my hand out and leaned against her cage. Mothman was awake and in the third cage, eyeing me just as warily as Caspian was.
My eyes swept away from them, trying to find something in the room to eat. Anything, everything. Even something old. Perhaps some food had fallen on the floor under the bed and hadn’t been cleaned up. Anything was better than starving.
My eyes caught on the bedside table, where a large golden platter sat. On it heaped food.
I jerked forward, voracious. I grabbed whatever was on top in big handfuls. It was grapes. I didn’t pluck them, just shoved the entire thing under the mask and inside my mouth.
The grapes did nothing for my hunger and I felt so betrayed and angered by how unfulfilling they were. I growled, throwing them and diving in for the other things. Nuts, cheeses, syrups, honey, seeds, crackers. I began shoveling it all in, making animal-like noises, my breath heavy and loud through the mask.
I barely chewed before swallowing down more and more. My tongue came out, licking up the sides of the skull for any trace crumb or taste of syrup. My hands were already reaching for more but I realized I still felt so hungry and empty. I still felt like I wasstarving, my body eating itself to stay alive, not satisfied at all.
I barked out a frustrated yell and swept the platter off the bed. It landed loudly on the floor, the remains of the food spilling out everywhere. Caspian and Mothman looked tense as they watched me, never taking their eyes away.
My head jerked when I heard a noise. At the bottom of the door, there was a latch that had been opened and a new platter was shoved inside through the hole.Food, I thought, rushing forward, ignoring as the opening was closed back.
