Someone breathing.
There is someone down here.
It was human, of that much I am sure.
My heart races inside my head.Did Sullen follow me?Giddiness threatens to burst behind my ribs at the thought, but I do not trust it.
He would keep me in a jar if it meant keeping me safe.
He might have planned this with Cosmo for all I know, and I do not have time to throw a fucking fit about it right now.
Later.
Just survive.
A footstep.
I hear it, in the dirt.
But there is no light, and when I turn, so slowly, to glance over my shoulder, I see nothing, and I know they cannot see me either.
Do they know I am down here?
Who the fuck is it?
I curl my finger around the trigger of the gun, but I cannot be too hasty. If I shoot too soon, I may kill the wrong person, and if I hurt Sullen, I would never forgive myself.
My mother would be embarrassed of me now, the ways I am hesitant to act. The way I have been shoved down here at all.Winning Scarletta Ven’s approval has never happened to me, and I would keep disappointing her now.
At least I am consistent, I suppose.
But I think of my father breaking down on the phone.
I will not fucking die, even if he expects me to.
I lift the gun.
Another scuffle of feet, but this time, to my left.
I turn quick.
Another.
I shift again.
Then a match flares. I smell sulfur before I see it.
Him.
A plague mask, illuminated by a candelabra, suspended from the cement ceiling by a short chain. Only one candle lit, black like ink, already dripping down the side.
Klein straightens.
He drops the dead match, and he stares right at me. Tall like Cosmo. Lean. All in black, including black leather gloves on his visible hand that remind me too much of Sullen. It makes my heart ache, knowing he likely hates this parallel between them, and wondering if he learned it from him all the same.
My stomach twists.
I aim the gun at Klein’s head.
