Page 457 of Coal Hearts

That voice again.

Giving me orders when he had no right to do so.

“Put the knife down so you don’t hurt her.”

Ily’s hand landed gently on my shaking forearm.

My head snapped up.

I looked past her to Peter.

He sat upright in a thicket of tussock. Bloody hands on his thighs, pain carved deep into his face. “Please, please don’t hurt her.”

“Henri...you’re okay. It’s over.” Ily reached for the knife. “Can I have this?”

My fingers tensed but then relaxed.

Opening my hand, I presented it to her on my red-dripping palm.

But I didn’t speak.

I didn’t think I would ever speak again.

Animals weren’t allowed the gift of words.

And only an animal could’ve done what I did.

“We need to get rid of the body,” Rachel said, cutting through the buzzing in my brain.

“Tie a few rocks to it and toss it into the ocean,” Peter muttered, faint and swaying. “The tide will drag it out to sea. That’s how Victor gets rid of all his other...” He faded off, swallowing hard.

With a soft gasp, he fell backward.

Ily and the two girls dashed toward him.

I followed silently, almost as if a tether lashed Ily and me together, binding me to her even now.

I was her animal.

Her nightmare.

Towering over Peter, I let the girls stroke his pallid cheeks and mutter worriedly to one another. Things like how they’d get him back to the castle. And how much he needed Dr Belford.

In the middle of their whispered debate, his eyes popped open again.

They locked on me.

And he smiled as if he saw an angel instead of a devil looming over him. “I see what she does now.” Almost dreamy and completely high on agony, he smiled. “You did come for us. You’re going to free us. I know it—”

And then, he passed out.

Chapter Nine

...............................

Ily

––––––––