for a second!” Hudson’s voice is deliberately soothing, which only makes me that much angrier. “Just listen to me.”
No! No, no, no! I’m not going to listen to you when you are controlling my body. What the ever-loving fuck is wrong with you?
“I just need you to think for a minute.”
And I just need you to let me go. If you don’t release me right this second, I swear to God, Hudson, when I finally get you out of my head, I will murder you. I will literally make you human and then stab you through your fucking black heart until you die right in front of me! And then I’ll stab you some more.
Hudson walks “us” off to the side, weaving around students rushing to grab their own seats, then eventually slips us between two panels into a hidden alcove. And I’m not going to lie, having someone else take control of your body, with you stuck in the passenger seat, might be one of the worst experiences of my life. The violation, the fear, the anger swirling inside me right now are all building into a storm of epic proportions.
Once we’re hidden, I can feel him struggling to give up control of my mind. It’s like trying to walk through wet mud, but eventually the resistance gives way with a little pop, and I’m free. I feel myself rush in to fill the emptiness, and I can’t fight the shiver of panic that overtakes my body.
When he moves around to face me, panic gives way to white-hot anger. He holds his hands up. “All right, all right. I’m sorry.”
I take a deep breath, fight for calm. And then say screw it, latching on to the part of me that I’ve pushed down for so long. “Fuck. You.”
“Feel better?” Hudson asks. “Now, can you just listen for a moment?”
Is he for real? I am beyond mad, well into a full-blown rage. “I am never listening to you again. Never!”
My heart is racing like I’ve run down twenty flights of stairs, double-time, my head whirling at the knowledge that Hudson must already have punched through the wall the Bloodletter helped me build. How is it possible for him to be that strong? How can he be knocking it down when it’s been less than a week?
Am I really that weak? Or is he just that strong?
He’s standing there perfectly still, his face pleading as he tries to get me to listen to him. “I’m only trying to help you, Grace. I only want—”
“Help me?” I hurl at him like a berserker, my rage so overwhelming that it’s all I can do not to claw his goddamn smug face off. Only the knowledge that he isn’t actually standing in front of me keeps me from punching him right now.
“By violating my trust and taking my free will? How can you possibly think that’s helping me?”
“It isn’t like that—”
“Well, that’s what it feels like!” I’m furious, absolutely furious, and I know it shows because Hudson’s eyes are wide with what looks like actual despair. I almost feel bad. Almost. But since Hudson has made it very obvious that not only will he not respect the sanctity of my right to do what I please with my body, he won’t even respect my right not to have five minutes without him yammering in my head.
So instead of heading to where Macy is waiting for me, I grab my phone and text her that I’ll be right back. Then I put my hands on my hips, so I can have this out with Hudson once and for all.
71
Revenge of the
Body Snatched
“Grace, I’m sorry.” Hudson must finally realize the full weight of my fury, because he rushes in to try to calm me down. “I didn’t mean to take your choice away from you—”
“Yeah, well, that’s exactly what you did, and I am not going to put up with it for one more minute. Not from you, not from anyone.”
Rage at everything that happened over the last five months wells up inside me, and I let Hudson have every single bit of it—partly because he deserves it and partly because I can’t hold it in for one second longer. “Ever since I first heard of this ridiculous school, my right to choose how to handle my own life has been almost nonexistent.”
“Grace, please—”
“No! You don’t talk now.” I point my finger in his face. “You don’t pull what you just pulled on me and