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“I have ascended,” he announces loudly into the silent night. “I have left my body and am now looking down on all of you from above. Everything is beautiful.”

“You’re lying in the dirt,” Cipher says in a deadpan tone.

“But spiritually, I’m free,” Noa replies with a chuckle.

Cave’s shadow falls over us, and his hand comes to rest in my hair as I look up at him over my shoulder.

He reaches out and runs his thumb over Cipher’s jaw for a second, and he turns his face into the motion.

“Mine,” Cave says, looking at us both.

He holds out his hand to me, helping me to my feet and pulling my back to his front. His large hand rests between my legs, and his fingers slide inside my pussy. Cave scissors them, and when he pulls them out, he brings them to his nose and inhales.

“Run,” he whispers, before pushing me forward.

“Run, Valli. It’s your turn now,” Noa says with a laugh.

I open my mouth to protest, but fuck it, I’ve come this far.

Chapter Fourteen

Cave

What cannot be shared and becomes mine the moment I claim it?

Something I have never possessed that I now refuse to lose.

What transforms a dead thing into something that lives?

Valli disappears between the first row of cornstalks, and they quickly swallow her whole.

People confuse my motives when I hunt. I like to wait and watch. Catching my prey isn’t the best part; hunting them is. I have been patient all night, and now it’s my time to take her.

Behind me, Noa is still lying in the dirt, reveling in his spiritual awakening, announcing it over and over again.

They are all mine, and no one will touch them ever again. I do not share people; I take things and do not give them back.

The world took something from me once before and never gave it back. I won’t let it happen again, even though it was my fault—I did not look after them right.

Cipher watches me, then smiles. “Go find her. Don’t let her get away.”

When I finally move, I don’t run. That is for people who are afraid of losing, and I’ve never lost anything in this cornfield.

I don’t intend to start with Valli.

As I step between the stalks, they close behind me without a sound, knowing me on a soul-deep level. This is my domain. I know every row, gap, and dip in the ground. Even where the stalks grow close enough together that a person must turn sideways to pass through. I know the direction the wind moves in the dark, and what it does to the sound of the stalks.

When people run from me, it’s easy to find them. When they’re afraid, they move toward the edges, searching for a way out. But there is never a way out, not until I grant one.

I can hear Valli, and her movements surprise me. She isn’t trying to leave, nor is she panicking. No, she wants me to find her.

I move parallel to her, shifting between the two rows over from her. She won’t be able to hear me like I can her. People tell me that my ability to move stealthily is unnatural, but I’ve never given it much thought. It’s simply how I am.

She stops, and I do too; I want to know why. Has she heard something? I listen to ensure no one else has come into my field. If they have entered while those who are mine are naked, they will die—slowly and painfully. Removing a person’s eyes isn’t hard, and I’m sure Banks would love a gift.

Valli moves again, circling back, and I tilt my head as I listen to her feet slapping against the ground. She is smart and has likely figured out that I would expect her to run to the edge of the field, so she started in that direction but then changed course. She is trying to think like me.

I drop back and follow her at a distance, wanting to see what she does next. To see if she can listen to the corn or if the silence of the night gets into her head.