Page 67

“Of course, dear. Why do you think I warned you about the creature?”

“Creature?” I shake my head adamantly. “No, Orion hasn't killed anyone.”

Okay, that's a bit of a fib—but he only ever defended himself. The fact that he'd sometimes eat them after is just resourceful.

Jesus, what am I even thinking?

Confusion flickers over Mary's features. “Who is Orion?”

“The creature. That's his name, he told me.”

She blinks at me for several silent seconds, clearly stunned speechless.

I continue in her silence. “Mary, your sheriff tried to kill me. He shot Manny right before my eyes and then marched me off to some hole in the woods. Gale was there, too. They were going to throw my body in the mine, but I think Orion showed up and scared them. Earl managed to get a shot in, though.”

Standing up, I move to unbutton my jeans so that I can show her the bullet wound in my thigh, but the fact that I have nothing on underneath stops me short.

Look, I'm not above stealing pants off a corpse, but dead people’s underwear is where I draw the line. Apparently, flashing old ladies is also on that list.

“Benjamin,” Mary whispers, hand over her mouth. “What on earth has gotten into you?”

“I'm telling the truth. Earl wanted me dead, but Orion saved me. He popped my bones back into place and licked my wounds clean.”

Okay, so, saying it out loud sounds absolutely insane.

“Maybe I should call the doctor,” she murmurs, attempting to rise from her seat.

“Mary, please. Listen to me. Orion is not the bad guy, Earl is!”

Her head jerks in a tiny, frantic shake. “That creature doesn't care for people.”

“You don't know him!”

The defensiveness in my voice stuns us both.

Seconds tick by as we stare at each other across the kitchen table. The older woman studies me with an expression I can’t decipher, and I slowly sink back into my chair.

“He isn’t what everyone thinks.”

“I know exactly what it is,” she barks.

“Do you?”

“My grandfather saw what it did to those miners.”

“Your grandfather saw what Earl's great-great-whatever wanted him to see.”

Mary's eyes harden. “There were bodies.”

“Yeah, there are hundreds of bodies down there. And the majority of them weren’t killed by Orion.”

“What are you talking about, boy?”

Releasing a frustrated breath, I drag a hand through my knotted curls. “There’s a pit. Like, a whole cavern filled with skeletons. Some of them were chained, or shot and tied up with rope. Handcuffed. I think people in this town have been throwing bodies down there and blaming it on the monster for years.”

Her lips thin into a grim line. “No.”

“I saw it, Mary. With my own two eyes.”