Her fingers brush the girl’s chin.
Just barely.
Enough.
The girl’s jaw slackens with a soft, wet sound.
Then it opens.
And they spill out.
Dark shapes tumble from her mouth, hitting Arianette’s hands, the stone, the edge of the fountain. Beetles. Flies. Crawling, skittering,alive. They pour out in a writhing stream, wings buzzing, legs clicking, bodies glossy in the flashlight beams.
“Holy motherfucking hell!” someone swears. Behind me someone gags.
“Jesus Christ.” The night explodes into movement and noise, brothers stumbling back, flashlights jerking wildly as the insects scatter.
Arianette screams.
It tears out of her, raw and unbroken, ripping straight through me.
I’m on her instantly, arms wrapping around her as she stumbles back, shaking violently. She claws at my jacket, still screaming, body locked in pure panic. I pull her tight against my chest, turning her away from the fountain, from the girl, from the crawling mass on the stone.
“It’s okay,” I lie into her hair, holding her like I can anchor her to the ground. “I’ve got you. You’re okay. You’re okay.”
Her screams crack into sobs, breath coming in jagged gasps as she buries her face against me, trembling so hard it feels like she might shatter.
I lift her slightly, putting my body fully between her and the scene, my jaw clenched so tight it aches. I look at Hunter. It’s written all over his face. We pushed too far.
And whoever staged that body?
They knew exactly what they were doing.
The drive back is a blur.She’s curled in the passenger seat, knees to her chest, still shaking like she’s freezing even though the heater is blasting. Every few minutes a fresh sob rips out of her, small and broken, and each one feels like a knife in my ribs.
Neither Hunter or I speak, but there’s no doubt we’re both thinking about the same thing. I can’t shake the image of that girl,once beautiful, skin mottled with death, those bugs spilling out of her mouth.
I shudder, thinking of all the little legs tickling her throat.
It’s the stuff of fucking nightmares.
Hunter stops the car just outside the door, and I pull her into my arms and carry her inside. My arms are under her knees and back, careful of the still healing welts.
Hunter’s already splitting off down the hall, headed toward the main building. “I’ll find Graves. Give him the update.”
He’s gone before I can think of a reason he shouldn’t leave us alone.
Carrying her down the hall, I look down at her. “You want to go to bed?”
She shakes her head fast, almost frantic. “No. Every time I close my eyes I…”
“Yeah, I get it.” The gaping jaw. The insects. “Same, Doll Baby.”
I carry her into the sitting room just off our bedroom. It’s cozy enough with the fireplace, the worn leather couch, the rug that’s seen too many late nights.
She nods, small and mechanical.
Ares hears us come in and pads out of the bedroom. He trots right up to Arianette and sniffs her feet. Keeping close as I sit, l lower her onto the couch next to me. She shudders in my arms, like her body is trying to repel what we just saw.
