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“It hurts. It hurts. It hurts!” I punched and fought and attacked.
Dropping me as if I’d shoved a sword in his belly, Henri ripped his hands away and stared in shocked, terrible silence. “Ily…”
I panted hard on all fours, swimming through mirages of monsters and sinister shades of sin.
For a split second, I remembered.
I blinked and was free.
Don’t fight him.
Whatever you do, don’t fight!
“Henri…” I crawled to him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I-I’m better now. I’m—” My throat closed up as darkness gathered around him, sucked from all corners of the crypt. Smog wafted around his bare feet, creeping up his legs. In the smog lurked snakes and pain, just waiting to snatch and hurt me.
I shuddered and closed my eyes.
Don’t look.
Focus.
You’re not alone.
We can get through this together…
Henri’s presence towered over me as he bent and cupped my elbows. Lifting me to my feet, he groan-slurred, “Come on. Let’s get thish over with.”
I tried to stay logical.
Tried to ignore the howls, clicks, and screams.
But as his fingers tightened around my wrist and he dragged me into his smog full of snapping, vicious teeth, I broke again.
“No!” I reeled backward, throwing myself out of his hold and landing in a heap on the floor. “Leave me alone!”
Peter reached for me. “Ily, it’s okay—”
“Don’t you dare fucking touch her!” Henri roared.
His snarl sounded like a dragon. The entire castle shook. Gargoyles chuckled. Lightning forked. My heart pounded and skipped, thundered and squeezed.
I couldn’t get a proper breath.
Couldn’t tell what was real and what was not.
Couldn’t remember why every part of my body begged me to submit to him when the only thing in my mind was run.
Swaying a little, Henri ducked over me again. A black-dripping angel ready to tear into my chest and claim my racing, rancid heart.
“Please,” I begged. “Don’t.”
“Goddammit, listen to me.” Wrapping his arm around my waist, he hauled me upright. “Ensemble, tu te rappelles? (Together, remember?) Please God, tell me you remember.”
I remembered nothing.
Felt everything.
Drowned beneath fear and failure.
