“What are you doing?” Adam asked, but he seemed so far away.
“I’ve only done this once. It might not work.”
Jacinda nodded, her eyes brimming with determination. “There are others. Screamers. They’re still in their rooms.”
“I’ll find them,” Eden promised. “You have my word.”
Eden shut her eyes, forcing herself to remember the night before. She’d been nervous last night. She’d leaned forward. Sighed.
“Hands,” she whispered. Jacinda’s fingers found hers.
“Ready?” Jacinda squeezed. Eden took a deep breath, let it out. She couldn’t open her eyes, didn’t want to see what was happening, if it worked.
A burning current tingled up her arms. Her bones felt electrified.
“Jesus Christ!” Adam whispered.
Eden opened her eyes. In front of her, ashes lined the floor in the shape of the girl. All that was left.
She snatched the key out from Adam’s hand, heading down the hall, into the left wing. The doors there were closed, everything silent and still. She was pretty sure the key was a skeleton by the shape of it. Sure enough, when she tried it in the first door, it clicked open.
The boy on the bed jumped, his eyes wild when he caught sight of her.
“Jacinda found you!”
“We don’t have much time.” A sudden bolt of pain shot up her arm. “What the fuck,” she hissed through clenched teeth, shaking it out. It disappeared as suddenly as it had come. She turned her attention back to the boy. “You know what I can do?” He hopped off the bed, nodding. “Still in?”
“If I wanted torture, I would’ve stayed alive. High school was better than this shit.” She couldn’t help but return his smile.
Footsteps sounded in the hallway, stopped. For a panicked moment she thought she was caught, but it was only Adam.
“Eden, we gotta go.” He glanced over his shoulder. “We do not want to be here when she gets back.” She ignored him.
“Sit.” The boy did as he was told. Eden followed him down. “Hands,” she commanded, not hesitating. She counted backward from three, closing her eyes at one and sucking in a deep breath. When she let it out, opened her eyes, he was still there, staring at her.
“When’s it gonna happen? Do I have to wait?”
Unease crept into her stomach. What if that was it? What if she’d only been able to do it a few times and whatever was different about her had burned out? She pushed the questions away. No, think. You can do this.
“Adam, you were watching when it happened.” She pointed to the boy. “What did he do different?”
“Um.” Adam’s eyes jumped between the two of them. “He…she breathed in. She was taking a breath and his mouth was closed?” He looked at her like he expected her to give him a cookie and a pat on the head for a right answer. Like she had any idea what it was.
“Okay, we’ll give that a try,” she whispered, her voice giving away the trembling inside of her. “Take two. When I breathe out, you breathe it in, got it?” He nodded.
She grabbed his hands, inhaled. “Now,” she said as she breathed out. This time she kept her eyes open.
He leaned forward, his lips pursed, pulling in air hard enough to whistle. It took. Her fingers tingled, the sensation spreading up her arms slowly but growing stronger. A muscle wrenched in her neck, quivering spasms through her back.
“It didn’t work. He’s still here.”
“No,” she said. “It worked.” His body lay on its side, eyes rolled up just enough to be unnerving.
She scooted back across the floor. One of her shoes grazed the body.
The effect was instant. A dozen comparisons crackled in her brain, none of them quite right. Sand castle hit by a wave. Needle piercing a balloon.
“Holy fuck,” Adam whispered.
Yeah, Eden thought. That about covers it. She winced as her hand cramped into a claw.
“You all right?” he asked. She looked up, ready to tell him sure, everything was fine, but his head cocked before she could get the words out. “You look…”
“What?”
She winced as another pang shot up her arm. He held his hand up close to her cheek, but stopped before touching her. “Are you hurt? Is it because of what just happened? What you did?”
“I’m not exactly an expert, Adam.” She got to her feet, made her way to the next room. Before she could get the key in the lock, he dropped his hand to the knob.