in her head and a whitish ring began to develop around her mouth. Seconds later, she went limp in his arms.
Nathan followed her down to the bed, where he straddled her lifeless body. He continued to strangle her even though she showed no signs of consciousness. He muttered something under his breath and shook her again.
Furiously, he growled and mumbled, spittle flying from his lips and peppering her ruddy face. Again and again, he shook her, her head snapping back and forth violently.
Finally, Nathan released his grip on the girl’s neck. Behind him, I saw Grey walk to the bed and slide in beside the girl’s limp body. With a toothy smile that turned my blood to ice, she lowered her mouth to the girl’s throat and bit down.
The girl’s body twitched, almost as if she’d felt it. I wanted to shout to the boy, “Check her pulse! Check her pulse!” I knew it wouldn’t have mattered, though. He wanted her to be dead. That much was obvious.
And then my living room floor was empty once more, all the characters in the macabre play vanishing into thin air.
I sat on the couch, appalled at what I’d seen, but also thankful that my tryst with Stephen Fitchco hadn’t gone that far awry, ending in a similar manner.
My mind raced with one thought. What can I do? What can I do? What can I do?
Derek’s words broke the loop, so clearly he could’ve spoken them aloud.
Now that you’ve made the deal, there’s a house you can use... has a bunch of doors...take you to the marked.
A house with a bunch of doors? I thought of the house that I’d dreamt of, that huge, dark monstrosity that seemed to ooze evil from every nook and cranny. Could he have meant that house? “But how do I even get there?” I asked absently, speaking to no one in particular.
“Get where?” I’d forgotten that Leah was there.
“Oh, uh, nowhere. I was just thinking.”
Leah tipped her head to the side. “Car-son,” she said warningly. “Spill.”
“I just, um, I, uh—”
“Stop trying to lie without lying,” she interrupted. “Just tell me the truth. Aren’t we kind of past keeping secrets by now anyway?”
She had a valid point. It’s not like I hadn’t just told her all the gory details about my insane life anyway. What was I afraid of? What was I hiding?
I told Leah what I’d seen (foregoing most of the detail) and then explained my dilemma. Leave it to Leah to see the logic.
“If you’ve been dreaming of the house and Derek knows about it, it’s probably not over here,” she reasoned. “Maybe you should start with the clearing. Seems like the woods are where all sorts of bad things happen anyway.” She said the last under her breath and with no small amount of bitterness.
I couldn’t fully agree, considering all the good times Derek and I had shared in the woods, but Leah didn’t have to know that so I didn’t argue with her.
“You may have a point,” I conceded, still trying to think of another way, one that didn’t involve going to the clearing.
“What exactly is your plan anyway?”
I looked at Leah, puzzled. “What do you mean? I’m going to save her. What do you think my plan is?”
“Save her?” Leah sounded skeptical, which was odd since she’d very recently benefited from just such a plan.
“Yes. Is there a problem with that?” Leah’s attitude rubbed me the wrong way, aggravating me.
“No,” she said, looking away, but her body language and expression clearly said there was.
“Alright, Leah. Out with it.”
“Nothing,” she maintained then, after a moment, reconsidered. When she lifted her eyes to mine, anger simmered in their sable depths. “Well, look at me. It’s not like your rescue of me worked out so perfectly, you know?”
I was speechless. Did she really feel like this was somehow my fault?
“Well, excuse me for saving your life. Maybe I should’ve thought of the pros and cons first, asked around a little bit even. Oh wait,” I snapped. “I was too busy saving your life.”
Leah opened her mouth to rebut, but I wasn’t interested in anything she had to say. I turned on my heel and stalked out of the living room. I grabbed my jacket and the keys then walked out to the garage.
On the short drive to the forks, I seethed over Leah’s audacity, the conversation playing over and over in my head. Then, unbidden, a cryptic warning Fahl had given me popped into my mind.