Came Back Haunted (Experiment in Terror #10) - Karina Halle Page 0,58
woman.
The arm reaches over the side of the tub, long bony fingers pressed against the porcelain.
And then the head rises, like a nightmare moon.
White face, black hair, black eyes, black teeth.
The woman in the ocean.
She smiles at me.
Hello again, she says.
And then, fast, disarmingly fast, she hauls herself out of the tub and onto the floor, coming toward us on all fours.
I scream so loud, I’m vibrating.
Dex grabs my arms, screaming along with me, and starts running, shoving me in front of him, running and running, my boots slipping on the blood.
I fall over just as I step out of the door, right onto the hardwood floor, my hands breaking my fall.
I cry out, rolling over, watching as Dex pulls the door shut.
“We’ve got to go,” he says frantically, hauling me to my feet and then swinging me up so I’m being carried on his back, for the second time in as many days.
He starts running down the stairs to the second floor.
“What the fuck!” he yells.
Before I get a chance to ask him what happened, if I can even form words with this level of horror running through me, Dex runs right SMACK into something, everything coming to a full stop.
The impact sends the both of us flying back, and I land on the floor again, this time my poor shoulder taking the brunt of the impact.
“Fuck,” I cry out, more in terror than pain.
I reach out to touch Dex, or my flashlight, anything, but there’s nothing.
“Sorry about that, little lady,” I hear Maximus’ voice drawl through the dark. “Didn’t know if I’d be able to stop you or not.”
I feel a hand on my arm, and I know it’s not Dex’s hand. Maximus gives my arm a squeeze, I guess trying to be comforting, though I don’t think I can be comforted right now by anything or anyone.
“Dex?” I ask uneasily.
“I’m afraid I might have knocked him out,” Maximus muses. “You got a flashlight on you?”
A flashlight? Can’t ghosts see in the dark?
I slowly sit up and then reach around until my hand grasps the flashlight. I knock it against the ground until a flickering light comes on and I quickly shine it around me.
Dex is crumpled on his side, Maximus standing off to the side of me, staring down at Dex with what can only be called amusement.
“Is he okay?” I ask, worry taking over as I get to my knees and crawl over to him.
“You ask if he’s okay?” Max says with a soft laugh. “Perry, you know your husband better than that by now. If he can survive a sword through the throat, he can survive almost anything.”
Almost anything.
“Dex?” I whisper, putting my hand on his shoulder and shaking him.
“Hopefully the camera is okay. You sure do have bad luck with that shit.”
I glance over at the camera. The light isn’t on anymore and it might be broken, but it’s the least of my concerns right now.
Max crouches down in front of Dex and gives me a sheepish smile. Just like last time, I’m completely struck by how whole and real and, well, large he looks. Like nothing changed for him at all. Like death was just a hiccup, like he hadn’t just been in Hell for a long time. I can’t even imagine what that would do to a person, whether they were alive or dead. Either he’s always been tougher than he seemed or he’s managed to move on. Maybe being a Jacob helps in that regard.
“I’m doing okay,” Max says to me softly. “Don’t you worry about me. Let’s just worry about him.”
“You said he can survive almost anything!” I cry out.
He laughs. “Yeah, I reckon he can. But how is he going to handle me? That’s another story entirely.”
But I can tell from the shit-eating twist to his lips that he’s going to enjoy the hell out of this.
He clears his throat and puts his hand on Dex’s arm. “Dex? Bout time you pulled yourself together, son.”
Dex lets out a moan and I shine the light on his face, his eyes pinching shut against the intrusion. “Fuck,” he eventually says, brows knitting together. “What the fuck just happened?”
“You fell,” I tell him.
He groans, trying to move, eyes still closed. He raises his hand to block the light. “Feels like I ran into a fucking tree.”
I glance at Maximus briefly before looking back at Dex. “Well, you kind of did. Remember that sequoia joke you told me?”