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Misha
Idon’t know what made me think this would be a good idea. I’ve had dumb thoughts before, but this one definitely ranks up there. I don’t know why I ever thought this would make any sense, or why I thought it would help, or why I thought that this would be good for anyone.
I feel like an idiot.
But mostly, I’m worried about Trine.
Trine looks like she’s going to throw up, her skin paling, her hair sticking to her forehead as she sweats. I try to pull her away from Tom, from this entire room, but she stays right where she is. Her entire body is glued in place, like she’s completely unable to move, like she’s fully entranced by Tom.
I don’t blame her. If I wasn’t worried about her, I would be staring at Tom too. But I’m not. I’m looking at her instead; at the way her mouth falls open and her bottom lip quivers.
There’s no time for her to process her feelings about this, so I sling my hand around her waist and pull her close to me. That seems to shake her out of whatever the fuck she’s experiencing, and she slowly inches her head to look up at me, her eyes widening.
"We have to leave," I say. "Come on, we have to get out of here."
She nods, but she’s still unable to move. Tom laughs from somewhere nearby, and I realize that our pathway is blocked by Salinas, who’s standing in front of the kid.
He looks frail—he looks like he’s falling apart. But looks can be deceiving, and this kid could lunge for any of us any minute. Right now, I think I could beat him up. Between the three of us, we could hold him back, if there’s nothing supernatural behind his strength.
That’s a big if.
"Trine," I say under my breath. "We’re going to have to leave through the window."
Her gaze darts toward the window. She shakes her head, and I can hear her breath trembling. There’s a screen behind the glass, and I know I’m going to have to punch my way out of it.
It doesn’t matter. I’ll do whatever it takes to get this girl out of here. Even if it means punching my way out of Tom’s room.
Tom laughs again. It’s as if he can read my mind because he’s closing the space between us, his hand on Trine’s chest. He’s pushing her back, even though Luke and Rei are grabbing him by the shoulder, trying their best to pull him away from her.
Both of them are strong men, so there must be something else at work with Tom—the tall, lanky kid who looks like he weighs about half as much as they both do. Tom palms at Trine, his hand slowly inching up toward her throat.
My eyes widen as I realize he’s planning to choke her, and I’m not going to let him. I reach out to grab his hand, trying to crush it in mine, but he’s way stronger than I anticipated, and I can’t close my fist around his. I grimace, attempting to put momentum into it, but it’s pointless.
Tom laughs. He doesn’t sound evil, he just sounds genuinely amused, and it makes my blood run cold. He pushes my hand away with a slap, as if I were a child, and my skin burns. I have to make an effort not to flinch, mostly because I don’t want to scare Trine.
Not that I have to help, since she’s obviously terrified.
And then he clasps his hand around her throat, pressing hard against her, and he lifts her up in the air.
Salinas takes a step away from him as Tom recites something under his breath. I’m not sure what it is; it sounds like a cross between a lullaby and an incantation, and Trine thrashes as he lifts her up off the ground by her throat. If this was Tom—if this was just Tom—it would take him a considerable amount of effort.
But this isn’t just Tom.
I know that because I can hear Trine’s skin sizzling under his touch.
Salinas is praying, splashing Tom with what I assume is holy water, and Tom winces as he backs away from Trine. She coughs, her hands instinctively going to her throat, and I have to keep my arms wrapped tightly around her so that she won’t drop to her knees.
I need to get her out of here.
Salinas is praying, Woods is recording on his phone, and they have this well in hand. I’ll come back if they need me.
Right now, my priority is to make sure that I take care of her.
I let go of her waist and grab her hand, pulling her away from the bedroom, Tom’s hollow laugh echoing behind us. The door slams closed when we walk into the sunken hallway.
We made sure Tom’s mother left the house because we knew it was going to be difficult, but I didn’t expect it to be quite this bad.
"What about…" her gaze darts between the room and my face, but I shake my head.
