It knew me. And it knew I was unlocking its cage.
It pressed against me, rattling its cage and clawing at the locks. Its hot breath licked my skin as I carefully removed another raisin from the soggy bran muffin. I popped the raisin into my mouth and slowly chewed. It was crunchy and sour.
“Not hungry?” Principal Clark asked. His bald skin glowed a sickly green in the cold light. There was something reptilian about him. Perhaps it was the smoothness of his skin and how he plucked every hair, even his eyebrows and his eyelashes. It made him look like a freshly molted snake. But more likely, it was the way he studied me. He watched me as if he were contemplating unlatching his jaw and swallowing me whole.
Primus smirked at me. It was interesting—I’d never seen that expression on him before. It was almost like he thought we were two confidants enjoying an inside joke.
Last bounced in her seat and said, “Can I tell her? Can I?”
The Clark’s expression flattened. He set his spoon down firmly on the table and then slowly wiped his fingers on his paper napkin.
“I will tell her,” Primus said.
There was a prideful satisfaction in the way he leaned back in his chair. But there was something else too. He looked a bit like a little boy who’d just finger-painted his first picture and was eager for his mother’s approval.
I had a feeling he was about to hand me a gift.
“As you know,” Primus said, steepling his hands in front of him, “Thirteen died yesterday.”
I nodded. Thirteen, the Clark’s body, had sacrificed himself for Last at the wedding. She might’ve died if he hadn’t jumped in front of her. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
Primus grinned.
Last bounced in her seat.
The Clark watched me with a hungry smile.
I didn’t like where this was going.
The creature in the walls shoved against me, urging me to unlock its chains.
“As a reward for your service to us, you will be our next body.”
“Not Fourteen though,” Last said, leaning forward to grip my hand. “You’d be Mari. You’d be my body.”
Primus made a sound of disagreement. “Not quite, sister. The bodies belong to all of us.”
I let out a slow breath. My throat was constricting like a collapsing straw.
Last’s eyes darkened, and the skin around her mouth turned white. I knew she was thinking about Primus and her pet cricket. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that she’d stab me in the heart with her butter knife if she thought Primus was going to “take me.”
I would have to tread very carefully.
Primus smiled at me, waiting to see my response to his gift.
I knew what this was. He wanted to control me like Jagger controlled me. The only way he knew how was by making me a body.
“I’m honored,” I said, turning to the Clark, “and very . . . grateful. However, I’m a mine. I’m Jagger’s. His will is mine. I can’t become your body. He won’t allow it.”
“Do you speak for him?” the Clark asked, his smooth forehead rising at my rejection.
“Yes. In this.”
“Take note,” Primus said, knocking his knuckles against the breakfast table, “the mine has refused our gift. The mine is stupider than I thought.”
Last slumped in her chair and pushed the seat back from the table. “Fine. Time to unlock the monster. Come on, Mari. We’re going down into the tunnels.”
The excitement that had been drumming through her had dissipated. Now, she just looked tired.
