But I didn’t move. I wasn’t going anywhere. The thing inside me had already started to stir, reaching for the door. Begging to be let out.
The man lunged for me—
And the air cracked. It snapped loose. The thing inside me tore from my chest like a storm, yanked him clean off the ground and hurled him backwards. He slammed into the wall. Bones cracked like twigs and when his head hit the wall, it burst.
Blood sprayed in a wide arc, dark and hot against the pale stone. Brain and flesh shattered, sticking to the wall, sliding down in thick ropes that spattered the cobbles, my boots, my face. Silence followed, except for the sound of blood dripping, thick and steady.
The girl shrieked, scrambled to her feet, and vanished down the street. Then everything spun. The alley tilted and the sky shifted above me like it no longer knew which way was up. My legs felt weightless and wrong, my head swimming. The curse, or the gift, whatever it was, always left the moment it finished. And it never warned me. It just came, took what it wanted, and left me standing in the wreckage, shaking. I can still hear the blood, dripping and sliding, that slow, awful sound of it hitting stone.
“Kera!” Will’s voice cracked through the air. Sharp. Panicked.
I turned, still reeling.
He stumbled into the alley and froze. His eyes locked on the wall. On the whatever was left of the man. Will’s hand flew to his mouth, and he doubled over with a gag, turning away before the nausea won.
“Oh gods,” he rasped. “Shit.”
When he looked back at me, his face was horrified. “Are you—what did he—what happened?” He took a step, then froze like his legs wouldn’t carry him. His eyes flicked from the blood to the wall to me, wide and frantic.
Aran burst into the alley, just seconds after Will.
“What the fuck did you—” He stopped short. His eyes fixed on the wall. For a long moment he just stared, mouth slightly open. Then he let out a breath and stepped closer to the body.
“Gods,” he muttered. His gaze shifted back to me. “You did that?” His voice was low, stunned, not angry, not afraid. Just stunned. “I leave you alone for two minutes. Two fucking minutes.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
The girl was gone. Of course she was. She had seenit—the way his skull split, the blood bursting against the stone, the sound it made when his skull cracked. She had seen me, and that was enough. And I had seen her, the fear in her face, the kind people don’t know how to hide. It didn’t matter that I was tired. That I could barely stand. That I hadn’t asked for any of it, or that I’d only tried to help. None of it mattered. All any rational person saw was the aftermath. Not that I was small, or that I looked like I couldn’t hurt a fly.
They didn’t see a girl.
They sawdeath.
And when people see death, they run.
My body moved before I could stop it, legs already carrying me down the same path she had taken.
Behind me, Will’s voice cut through the silence. “Wait!”
Then Aran’s followed, louder, bitter. “Fucking hel. Fine. We’ll take care of it. Like usual.”
His voice chased me down the street, heavy with the kind of rage he only used when everything had gone to shit and he was too tired to deal with it.
I should have stayed. I should have helped Will and Aran drag the body out of sight, wipe the wall, scrub the blood off the stones.
But I didn’t. I couldn’t.
I found the girl in a park. She hadn’t made it far. It was too open, too exposed. A man walked past with a dog, and kids were playing by a swing set. Everything looked normal. But it wasn’t.
She stood near the center, shaking, turning in slow circles like she didn’t know where to go. Her eyes moved between the street, the trees, the swings, every direction seemed like a threat. In the end, she didn’t run. She just stopped, and up close, the damage was clearer. Bones pressed sharp beneath paper-thin skin. Angry scratches covered her legs, some fresh and bleeding, others crusted over. Her dress clung to her body, filthy and torn, and her hair hung in damp strands across her cheeks and throat.
She didn’t meet my eyes. Didn’t seem to see me at all. Just stood there, locked in place, barely breathing. I stepped closer. One step at a time. Careful. Hands raised. I didn’t want to scare her more than she already was.
She was barely holding herself together.
So was I.
“Please…” Her voice cracked as she finally looked at me. “Don’t hurt me.”
