My senses heighten. My mind clears as I blink the world into focus. I assess our situation as if I were looking at it through a cold, clinical lens rather than a muddy one.
My hand snatches the scalpel from my pocket.
Though I’m physically smaller than the Colberts, I have the element of surprise on my side. My anatomy education and my scalpel could cause some serious damage.
I know exactly where to stab someone so that they bleed out in minutes.
But there’s more than one person out there. If there were just one, Easton would’ve been able to fight them off. I sure can’t take out two of them.
Meaning one thing—I’m screwed.
We all are.
A sob catches in my throat.
The sounds of “Mmm!” get closer, louder.
They’re near my room.
Don’t let fear win!
I shove the image of my sister being taken out of my mind before I really lose it.
I’m close enough as it is, because it’s then that I come to one terrible conclusion—it’s not two Colberts out there.
It’s three.
One of them is coming for me too.
Maybe even him. Maybe he’s one of them. A kidnapper.
My stomach plummets under the weight of his betrayal.
Wait, what?
Betrayal? That’s insane. He doesn’t owe me a damn thing.
He’s on their side, not mine. Distracting me must’ve been his role all along.
I’m all alone. Outnumbered. Cornered.
My grip on my scalpel falters. My chest caves in.
My best chance is to wait for the Colberts to go downstairs and hope they draw Easton and Bronwyn outside, where I won’t be cornered easily.
Where I have a fighting chance.
That way, I can kill them if I play my cards right.
Sweat beads on my forehead and trickles down my back.
My insides twist violently. Killing people goes against everything I believe in. My entire life, I’ve been brought up to be a healer.
And now you get to be your sister’s savior, a voice that sounds like my mom’s whispers.
I swallow around the knot in my throat, forcing myself to focus on that. On saving Bronwyn from these people who aren’t really people.
They’re violent parasites I have to remove surgically from her. From Easton.
