The Isle Of Sin And Shadows - Keri Lake Page 0,172

as the misty haze fizzles away to the sharp edges of reality, fear explodes inside of me on a rush of adrenaline.

“Hey! Hey!” I kick one of my legs free, but it doesn’t seem to deter my captor, as he continues to drag me along like a robot. Another barefoot kick to the hand holding my other ankle does nothing to falter his grip. “Let me go!”

With both hands, I reach for the upturned root of a passing tree and kick at the same time.

His grip falls away.

Turning onto my belly sends a streak of white-hot pain across my skin, where the surface tears at it, but I ignore the burn and claw at the ground. Hands grapple for my ankles again. I kick out. My legs are swallowed up by thick unyielding arms that bind them so efficiently, I can’t so much as wriggle. A tickle of nausea flutters in my stomach as I’m thrown up into the air like a sack of potatoes, and I come smacking down hard against his backside. Pressure flares inside my skull, pulsing up into my nose, while I hang upside down. I can’t so much as scream, for fear my head will explode. The burn in my sinuses has me screwing my eyes shut, waiting for it to pass.

Blood dribbles down onto my arms that hang uselessly beneath me.

I dig my fingernails into the fleshy meat of his back, but a hard pinch of my thigh brings my attack to a halt and I let out a cry at the deep and burning pain that I’m certain comes from broken skin.

Dizziness settles over me again.

No, please. Don’t pass out. Don’t pass out.

The scene shrinks. Smaller. Smaller.

Fingers brush over the scar on my thigh. My attacker grinds his hard bulge into my trapped legs, humping against me, his face concealed behind a goat skull mask.

“Good boy, Jacques. Das a good boy! Now git off her.” At the sound of a female voice, I look up to find a second figure, also wearing a goat skull, standing over me. Head tipped to the side, it appears to study me for a moment. “Mais la, you look jus’ like your momma did when she was a ‘tit fille.”

My momma? How does she know her?

The pressure against my legs disappears, and I look down to find the enormous figure from before backing himself away. Fragments of bones, clipped like charms to his belt loop, clatter at his hip.

“Let’s git you outta here.” A quick nod to the monster standing off to the side, and she steps away as he lurches for me.

Another figure comes up from behind him. Big and imposing, with broad shoulders that show his strength, but I don’t recognize him. I don’t know if he’s here to hurt me, like the others.

He clobbers the monster with a thick log across the back of the head.

The monster falls.

Squeals.

The stranger beats the monster over and over.

“Jacques!” the voice from behind calls out. Hands grapple for me. Drag me backward. A sharp burn streaks across my jaw. “You leave my boy alone, or I will slice her throat open.”

The man twists toward her, his eyes burning with malice. Behind him, the monster squeals and moans, rolling on the ground. The stranger doesn’t listen to the woman, but tromps toward us.

“Stay back! I’m tellin’ you to stay back!”

An ice-cold burn slashes across my neck. Doesn’t hurt right away, but when I touch it, my fingers prod a slit where my skin has separated and it feels wet. Paralyzed with fear, I stare up toward the sky with panting breaths.

White petals falling from treetops. The fragrance of magnolias in full bloom. Overcast sky. Crows.

“Céleste!” The unfamiliar voice thunders inside my head, as the face of the stranger blocks my view. “Hang on, girl. I’m gonna gitcha outta here. You’re safe now.”

“R … R … Rsss.” A sudden dryness in my throat keeps me from saying the name my daddy told me.

“I’m Russ. Russ James. Now, you just hold on.”

The sky above me turns dark. The wings of the crow expand, like a splotch of paint spreading across the canvas. Darker. Darker. It eats the white magnolia petals.

“Russ!” I jerk out of the nightmare, and my eyes shoot open to the surrounding darkness.

Blood. Blood at my throat, dripping onto my clothes.

The scent. The horrible, putrid scent of earth and death lingering in my nose, so deeply embedded in my senses, I gag on it. A thick oppressive heat hangs