I shuddered. There was blood in her hair.
“Breathe through it. You need to stay calm for her.”
Resentment rushed through me. How could I do that? The dreamy afternoon had twisted the world into a nightmare, and all because it
we
lost control!
“I’ll help you,”the monster reassured me, pouring itself into the cracks of my resolve as it had when it took me over at the chapel. I shuddered.
No. I didn’t want that.
Closing my eyes, I pictured the sky and begged the clouds to clear away. I wasn’t the storm. I was the whole damn sky, and I would not be made to shrink.
With a mighty shove, I threw off the creature’s hold, setting the towels on the toilet and wetting a clean rag in the sink. Bile swirled in my stomach as I blotted the streaks of blood off Eva’s skin. Her eyes looked dull, and she swayed a little. I took her face in my hands and softly brushed her cheeks with my thumbs until she met my gaze.
I couldn’t smile, but I could be here, and maybe that was enough.
Her swollen eyes tugged at my guilt. I shouldn’t have gone after Lenny. I should have just left the chapel like she’d wanted and gone straight home. But even in my darkest moments, I’d never thought to fearthis. Never this.
Never her.
Eva licked her lips. “Can I brush my teeth?”
I snatched her toothbrush off the counter. Eva used twice the amount of toothpaste needed as I ran a wet rag over the cut inmy arm. Lenny’s knife had grazed me, but adrenaline masked the pain, for now.
After she stood to spit her toothpaste into the sink, I handed Eva a cup of water. “Here. Drink this.”
She drained it in one go.
“Let’s clean you up.” I turned off the tap and helped her step in, then dragged over a footstool. I sat beside the tub just behind her and, using the cup on the ledge, scooped water onto her skin until the blood sloughed away, turning the water pink.
This would’ve been so much easier if the cottage had a shower.
I pumped the shampoo bottle and worked it through her tangles as best as I could. The scent of coconut dispelled the taint of iron, but only just. Eva brought her knees to her chest, quiet sobs racking her body.
I wrapped my arms around her and let her cry until the tears ran out and Eva sagged against me.
“Let’s rinse your hair, honey.”
She nodded and sank below the surface, bubbles churning as she scrubbed the lather out. Water slapped against the porcelain as she climbed out of the tub, and I wrapped a towel around her, using a second one to scrunch her hair dry, as I’d seen her do.
After putting on pajamas, Eva crawled into bed, clearly exhausted. When she tried to pull me down onto the mattress with her, I resisted. “I’ll be right back, bee girl.”
I had to burn the clothes.
Careful not to get any blood on her sheets, I wadded up the towel and retreated to the parlor. There, I set the paper with my mother’s number on the mantel and knelt by the fireplace. There was blood on my shirt. I could smell it, and I wanted it off.
Jack was right: We couldn’t let anyone tie her back to what Ihad done. My hands shook as I arranged the kindling and struck a match. The monster steadied my movements.
Its presence in the body we shared revolted me. I didn’t want to be this way. I didn’t want its help! But I could no longer fight its invasion either.
I wasn’t sure I even knew how.
Chapter 36
The Monster
