Page 82 of Hallowed Bones

“Sick.” The word pops out of my mouth, and the memory of something else invades. Not the heat of a fever but the heat of too-long nails slicing into my flesh, the shock and fear of being captured by a monster right outside of my bedroom door. “I was attacked!” The words burst out of me so suddenly that Cameron jumps in his seat. I wince and offer a muttered sorry in apology.

He waves his hand in dismissal and refocuses on me. “You were attacked?” he asks. “When?”

“I … don’t know.” I shake my head. “What day is it?”

“It’s Tuesday,” he says. “You’ve been out of it for quite a while.”

Tuesday? When had I been attacked? It’d been during the week, but not Monday. It hadn’t been twenty-four hours but longer. I’d missed class after the attack because … “I was sick,” I finally recall. “After the monster attacked me, I started to feel hot and achy all over.”

Cameron nods. “That explains why you weren’t in class last Friday. We were all worried about you.”

“You were?” I blink as I raise my gaze back to his after realizing that I’d dropped my attention to the blanket over my lap as I’d tried to sort through what I could remember.

Cameron’s smile is small, but genuine. He leans forward and sets one of his hands on top of both of mine. “Of course we were,” he says. “Your roommate went to visit family for the weekend, and she contacted Amelie to let her know that you weren’t feeling well and someone from the school should go check on you. Reyes was with her when she was informed of your condition. He wanted to see you immediately.”

My heart swells. When was the last time someone took care of me when I was sick? It certainly hadn’t been my aunt. The few times I’d caught a cold or twenty-four-hour bug, she’d left me to recover on my own. My hands tighten in the soft sheets that cover my legs.

“Where—” I cut myself off before I can finish my question. I fear I already know the answer. My gaze moves back to the bookshelves. They’re stacked high with so many spines, some worn with age and many others new and uncracked. “This is your bedroom?” I guess.

Cameron’s low chuckle vibrates along each nerve ending. The sound is a hum of awareness beneath my skin. Distantly, I remember the night I was attacked and my date with Lyall.

We’d kissed on the beach, white sailboat sails dancing in the breeze as shadowy outlines of people had marched along the horizon. It’d been hot and wicked, and it had lit a fire within me that I hadn’t felt in too long. Even now, that same fire ignites inside of me, a solid feeling low in my belly. Tingles race over my flesh.

“Yes, this is my bedroom,” Cameron answers. “I hope you don’t mind, but it was closer to everyone else than the room you used before, and we wanted to keep an eye on you while you recovered.”

Words stick in my throat, forming claws of their own and digging into my insides as I try to force them out. In the end, they win, and I’m left silent and confused. My head turns toward the large, arching window that comes to a point at the top—almost as if this room is in a castle’s tower and not a …

“Wait, your room.” I squeeze the words out, pivoting back to Cameron. “This isn’t a dorm.”

Cameron shrugs. “I have a dorm room on campus because it’s required for all freshmen,” he says. “But there’s no rule that says I have to actually sleep there every night.” His gaze moves from me to the windows and back again. “I prefer my room here at Ezra’s anyway.”

“All of you have rooms here.” It’s not a question but a statement. It’d been pretty clear that the four of them lived together when I was last here. They’re a coven. A family.

“So do you,” Cameron tells me.

“I don’t—” Belong here? Deserve one? Whatever I’d been about to say, however, is cut off as the door creaks open and Reyes backs into the room, tray in hand.

“Oh, you’re awake.” Reyes pauses, half turned, when he sees me sitting up in bed. His eyes move to Cameron and then back to me. He starts forward again, and the door behind him swings slowly shut on its own as if pushed by an invisible hand. Magic? “How are you feeling?”

The tray clatters slightly as he sets it on the nightstand next to the pitcher and glasses.

“Confused,” I admit ruefully as my eyes scan the contents of the tray. A silver dome covers most of it, but I spy a fork and butter knife rolled up in a napkin next to it. My stomach rumbles with hope.

Both Reyes and Cameron chuckle, but it’s Reyes who responds to my stomach’s loud cry. “Good thing I came up when I did,” he says, taking the top of the silver dome and lifting it away to reveal a plate packed with food.

A groan emerges from my throat, and Cameron quickly takes the tray and transfers it from the nightstand to my lap. “I’ll refill your water,” he says. “Start eating.”

“But I—”

“Have questions?” Reyes finishes for me with a grin as he sets the dome back down next to the pitcher. “Don’t worry,” he says. “We’ll answer them, but only so long as you’re eating. You haven’t been able to keep anything down for days.”

“Did I throw up?” I ask, frowning even as I unroll the silverware.

The two men exchange glances. “In a way,” Cameron hedges as he fills a glass and sets it on the nightstand corner closest to me so that I can reach it.

Frowning, I scoop up the first bite of scrambled eggs as I watch Reyes head across the room, lifting up another chair from somewhere around a corner—Just how big is this room?—and coming back to plop it next to Cameron’s. The two are quiet as I chew thoughtfully. Questions spiral around my mind, but one bite is all it takes for the floodgates of hunger to open and an animal to unleash.

I dive into the scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, and toast with fervor. I might be embarrassed by my silent devouring if it weren’t for the fact that I’ve never felt this hungry a day in my life. It’s as if a creature has crawled into my belly and sits with its mouth open, swallowing every bit of food I feed it as it demands more, more, more.