Five: Out of the Dark by Anderson Holli

Author:Anderson, Holli [Anderson, Holli]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Published: 2013-08-20T00:00:00+00:00

y head hurt where I’d whacked it against the stairs the night before. I was surprised I felt no obvious ill effects of the drug—like in a hung-over, hugging-the-toilet kind of way.

The last one to wake, I emerged from the bathroom to three apprehensive stares and one mostly curious one—the curious one being Halli, as she hadn’t been witness to my multiple displays of insanity.

Johnathan wouldn’t meet my gaze. “How’re you feeling?” he asked, looking down at the dishes he was drying.

“Um … okay, I guess. My throat feels like I swallowed a cactus, but other than that …” I shrugged. I really didn’t feel like talking; it was difficult to force air through my ravaged vocal cords and my voice came out in a squeaky whisper.

“Are you hungry? We saved you some lunch.” Halli slid a covered plate across the bar to where I stood.

I really wasn’t hungry. I removed the aluminum foil from the plate and picked up a fork. Then set it back down, shaking my head.

“You really should try to eat something, Paige,” Johnathan continued to avoid my eyes. “At least drink something.” He set a tall glass of water in front of me. I was more than a little devastated that Johnathan had reverted back to the antisocial, scared-to-look-at-me version of his new self.

“Are you gonna tell us what you saw last night?” Alec asked.

“Give her a break, Alice, she just woke up and has no voice,” Johnathan said.

“Come on, Johnny, you know you want to know what that stuff made her see, too. I’ve never heard anyone scream like that before in my life! It must have been horrible to make Paige scream like that.”

“Alec …” The glass Johnathan held in his hand shattered. We all stared at him in silence as he dropped the remaining glass shards to the floor and wiped the blood from his hand onto his pants. The cool, calm, and collected Johnathan from the previous night had vanished, replaced by the high-strung, on-edge, ready to explode Johnathan we’d been seeing the last few weeks. Gold flecks glinted in his brown eyes.

He walked from behind the bar and toward the stairs.

I stood to follow him, calling out to him to wait for me, but my voice only produced a small squeak. He must have heard the sound, because he stopped walking long enough for me to catch up. We silently climbed the stairs; he stayed a few steps above me. He took down the wards when we reached the exit of the ruined room above our home and I followed him out onto the Underground sidewalk. The darkness and the smell of mold, though familiar, seemed worse than usual.

He walked a few paces, then stopped, his back to me.

I waited.

“Paige,” he finally said. “I don’t … last night …” He slammed his fist into the wall he faced. Small pieces of brick flew around him. He lowered his head and breathed heavily.

“John,” I whisper-croaked. “I’m pretty sure I know what you want to say.

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