My ears rang.
I tried to scream.
Tried to fight.
But I couldn’t get my body to move.
“Stupid girl,” the first man hissed, standing over me with something in his hand.
The rag again.
I thrashed weakly, legs kicking. He grabbed my jaw and forced the cloth over my mouth.
Chemical.
Sharp.
Burning.
My lungs begged for air.
I couldn’t hold my breath.
Darkness swarmed in. Fast and unforgiving.
My last thought wasn’t fear.
It was him.
The sound of his voice, the feel of his arms around me, the promise he made.
He’d come for me.
He always did.
19
WRECKER
Smoke wouldn’t leave the hallway.
He was crouched low to the ground, tail twitching, nose pressed to the last place Amanda had stood. Every few seconds he let out this low, guttural whine that turned my stomach inside out.
She was gone.
Gone in the way that didn’t feel real yet.
Like if I stood still long enough, she’d come back down the hallway with that look she got when Smoke dragged her somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be. Like I’d hear her voice before I saw her.
But the air didn’t shift.
Nothing changed.
The world kept moving without her in it.
And I already knew that.
We all did.
