Page 84 of Petrify

I’m as good as lost. At his whim, like this, in these dark hallways. He reallycoulddrag me off somewhere they’d never be able to find me.

Through the maze, we come to that slim staircase again. Up two dozen steps, and his room appears. Dust motes sparkle in the hazy afternoon light shining through the window. His bed is unkempt, the top blanket strewn haphazardly. All of the sheets of music on the floor are gone, tucked away elsewhere, and the rest of his belongings are tidy.

He cleaned up.

But he didn’t hide the necklace still glinting atop the piano.

“You could have called for me if you wanted my company. I would have come.”

I face him once more. Look at him through my lashes. “I’m impatient.” It’s only been a few hours since he led me back tomy room, using a completely different winding path through the darkness.

“Obviously.” He doesn’t touch me. He’s changed into a plain, black crewneck and new jeans. The string fastening the mask around his head is a stark white amongst the waves of his messy dark hair.

After this morning,I can’t deny that there’s something tethering us together.

He’s been nothing but…honest. He’s never lied to me.

I realize he’s waiting for me. Hewon’ttouch me. He’s staring down at me, waiting for me to speak, to do something.

He must not have heard my conversation with Mariane.

“I have a request,” I say. I know I have his attention when he nods, slowly. “Leave Henri alone. Don’t… hurt him.”

He goes still. A barely-there twitch to his index finger. “Anything else?”

“I want to ask you to leave the staff alone, too.”

“You want me all to yourself?”

I can’t stop myself from touching him, making sure he’s real, tangible beneath my hands, stepping closer just to rest my palms on his chest. Maybe one of these days I’ll wake up and realize that he isn’t real, just a figment of my imagination. Maybe I have lost it. Maybe none of this is real. “Just—you don’t have to hurt anyone anymore.”

“Is that what you think?”

“The staff are not your enemy. Neither is Henri.”

The conversation steers away. “You’re too nice, Mallary. And isn’t that worse? They know to be scared of the Ghost. You’re the one hiding in plain sight.”

I steel myself. “I’m serious,Bastien.”

“What do I get in return?”

“You already have me. Isn’t that what you wanted?” I lean closer, unable to stop myself from glancing at the lips of hismask. “You torment me already. Do you have to split your attention between so many victims?”

“Victims.” There’s a cynical lilt to it. His voice is delicious. I wish I could record him speaking, just so I could fall asleep to it. “So you’re my victim now?”

“You know I am.”

He grips my arms, holding me still. “As though you haven’t begged for me to be inside of you.”

This ghost and I have found ourselves orbiting ever closer, and the pull of gravity is far too strong to resist. Hewantsme. He’s been clear about how much he craves me.

Each new sheet of music is another love letter.

He wants to consume me. I can see it in his eyes. Anything I say, he will gladly accept. There’s power in that, in having someone so dangerous waiting for whatever I say next.

I could tell him to?—

I blink. My heart is racing, and not because of our proximity. There are only inches separating us now.