Tears sprung to Cassidy’s eyes as she admitted to herself for the first time just how devastated she was not to be with Brandon anymore. Talk to Christian about it was the last thing she thought would make her feel better. Maybe it did.... Then again, maybe it only made her feel worse.
“Yeah, well, you can compare those two things, but until someone has actually done it, you have no idea.”
Cassidy had no idea what Christian was talking about. “What do you mean?” She was lost. Until someone had actually done what?
“Nothing. Never mind. It doesn’t matter. Don’t tell them where I am. Lie to them. Tell them you’re in my head, and I’m relaxing on the beach, all right? Just do it Cassidy.”
She didn’t know what else to say, so she agreed. “Fine. I’ll check on you later.”
“Don’t bother. I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine, though, Christian. If you were fine, you and I would’ve never started hating each other in the first place.”
“I don’t hate you. I don’t hate anyone—except the monster keeping me down here. I might not be fine. I sure as hell ain’t perfect, but I get my job done. And I do it well. Aaron and I have a mutual understanding that I don’t have to get along well with others, so long as that’s the case.”
“Okay, did your understanding include getting him killed twice?”
“Get out of my head, Cassidy.”
“I just want to know....”
“I swear to God, if you don’t get out of my head, I will do the unthinkable.”
“What are you talking about?”
Out of nowhere, Christian started singing “Achy Breaky Heart,” and Cassidy immediately regretted her decision to push him. “I’m going, I’m going. Don’t torture the others.”
He continued to sing, so she jumped out of his head and found herself back on her sofa, a stack of papers on her lap. She turned the stereo on with her powers to drown out the refrain of the horrible country song and took a few deep breaths.
Christian was going to get himself killed. She hadn’t promised to do what he said this time and lie about his location, but she had promised not to tell them where he was before he even left. She decided if her sister or Aaron asked her to use her telepathy to find Christian, she’d have to refuse and tell them to ask Heather. It was the only way she could keep her promise and still get Christian the help he needed.
Picking up the stack of papers, she flipped to the end of the first pile and set the others aside. The other times, she’d gone in order, starting with the first name on the list and working her way down. She decided to do something different this time. She looked at the paper intently and let a name jump out at her.
“Dala Toth.” The name seemed to be crying out to her. Cassidy closed her eyes and tried to conjure an image of what Dala Toth might look like, where she might be, whether or not she was alive. She’d only been missing for two days. Maybe there was a chance Cassidy could reach the woman.
She was surrounded by darkness. It was everywhere, all encompassing. Darker than anything Cassidy had ever experienced before, and she realized at once she was in the same place that Christian was in, only Dala felt all alone. She was crying, and the sounds of her sobs seemed to echo all around her, bouncing off of walls she could not see.
Cassidy’s heart ached for her, but she couldn’t let the emotions interfere with her job. She dug a little deeper. Dala had memories of what had happened to her. She’d been walking home from a friend’s house. It was late at night, and she was out way past her curfew. But she’d had a fight with her mom recently, and she really didn’t care if she got in trouble. Her parents were being so ridiculous anyway. She was almost eighteen, and she deserved a little more freedom.
Someone had grabbed her from behind. Or had it been something? The next thing she knew, she was in the back of a van. There were other bodies on the floor, too, but she was the only one being held down. And then, a sharp pain in her neck, and the world had gone dark.
When she’d awoken, she’d been here, wherever this was. This dark was far worse than the experience she’d had when she passed out. She couldn’t even see her hand in front of her face.
But she didn’t really want to see it anymore. Whatever that man had done to her, the first time he came, had made her hand unrecognizable even to herself. Thoughts of him made her tremble. She was already sitting on the ground with her knees pulled up to her chest, her arms wrapped around her torn blue jeans. He’d bitten her, too, on the wrist, just like she’d realized later that other person, or monster, or whatever it was, had done to her neck in the van. But this bite was different. Rather than her blood flowing out, this time something flowed in. And whatever it was, it was turning her fingers black. He’d told her not to worry, that she’d be fine, and in a few days, she wouldn’t feel any pain anymore, no sadness, nothing at all.
That scared Dala even more than the dark. She just wanted to go home....
Gasping for air, Cassidy opened her eyes and looked down at her own hand, expecting it to look like the black image she’d seen in Dala’s memories. The people in the holes... they were the monsters. And once they turned completely, they wouldn’t even remember who they were before, which was why Cassidy couldn’t see any thoughts in their heads. Whatever it was Daunator was injecting into them with his bite was turning them into those black creatures. And if Christian’s estimate was right, there were hundreds or thousands more of them incubating underneath the ground.
