“Where’s Julien?”
Dan tips his head back the way they came and says, “He was hiding in his room when we ran past.”
Emily looks away from the growing crowd of fleeing Feeders and back to Jax. “This isn’t your slayer friend’s doing?”
“No. But we need to leave.Now.”
I turn to rally Manni and Cole when shock spears through me.
Manni is standing on my bed.
Manni is on my fucking bed and sliding the vent aside.
I step towards her and screech, “No, don’t!”
She pulls herself up through the vent, and time seems to stand still. A hissing sound seeps down, eerily low. Emily and Cole turn to watch in horror while Jax yanks on my arm. As I stumble, I manage to hook my fingers in Cole’s collar and drag him along until we reach the door.
The ceiling seems to vibrate. Manni suddenly falls back through the opening with a scream, hitting the bed, then rolling off and thudding to the ground. Above her, darkness oozes from the vent, and Jax suddenly grabs my hips and pulls me and Cole wholly out of the room. Emily follows, taking Dan’s hand when he reaches for her.
The lights are still flashing red. They switch off, plunging us into darkness. My ragged breath hitches, and my heartstrings loosen, slipping away as seconds tick by until the light finally blinks back on. Red drenches the walls, and the hiss of insect noises reverberates from the vent.
When the light switches off again, it’s as if time slows. I draw in a ragged breath and my grip on Cole tightens, making sure he is by my side. Red illuminates the room once more, this time revealing stringy saliva slipping down from the open vent. Sharp claws grip the edges, its skin a translucent, watery red.
“Manni, get the fuck up!” Emily screams.
The inky gloom spills from the vent, and Manni scrambles to her feet as Jax slams his hand down on the button outside, locking the door. Manni collides with the door, and her panicked, pale face peers through the strip of glass with pleading eyes as she tries to open it.
“Jax,”—my breath hitches—“what are you doing?”
Emily steps forward, but Dan intertwines his fingers with hers and drags her away towards the stairs. My feet remain unmoving, and my attention is locked on Manni’s panicked expression.
Thethingtwitches behind her. Long, clawed hands grip the mattress of the top bunk as if it were tender flesh. Leathery wings stretch out on either side, black shadows obscuring most of its body.
“If we open the door, that creature will slaughter us,” Jax says.
Manni smashes her palm to the glass and screams, “Open the fucking door, Jax!”
I spin around and shove him, but he doesn’t budge. “You promised!” I shove him again. “You fuckingpromisedit wouldn’t be like this!Jax!”
Cole is frozen in place. His wide, dark eyes stare into the room as Manni slams her hand against the door again and again. The creature crawls down from the bunk and saunters towards her. Its wings seem to vibrate to the rhythm of its low hiss, trembling with strange, insectoid sounds that ring in my ears.
Fuck it.
I reach for the emergency override, but Jax grabs me by the waist and drags me back. “By the time we fucking open the door, that thing will come with her. You know it takes forever for these doors to open, Saya,” he hisses as I twist and try to pull away, but Jax keeps a tight hold on me.
Manni slams her shoulder against the door, screaming, “Open the door!” Then her focus lands on my brother. “Cole, please! Cole!” She points to the green button. “Press the override lock.Please, justpressit!”
“Cole,” I plead. “Let Manni out!” I grab at Jax’s arms, trying to push them down and break his hold. “Please, open the door.Please—she is our friend!”
Cole steps back, shaking his head. The smell of urine cuts potently through the air, and a yellow puddle forms around his bare feet.
Jax lifts me with ease, caging me in his arms while my fists beat uselessly against him. My screams transform into a desperate cry that echoes in the now still corridor. “Get. Her. Out. Of. There!” I say, my fists pounding into him with every word.
“I’m sorry, Saya.” Jax snatches my wrists and holds them tight. “But I can’t risk losing you.”
Manni stops banging on the glass and rests her forehead against it, her shoulders trembling. “I don’t want to die,” she chokes out, steam from her breath misting the glass. “I don’t want to fucking die like Vinny.”
“Manni,” I croak.
