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Something’s exchanged above my head. I hear Arabella swallowing behind me. “Dare I ask why you’re carrying this around in aschool?”
“London life, yo.” There’s another sigh. “Protection.Obviously.”
Arabella scoffs, but then she grabs my hair in a thick bunch and murmurs, “Got to be cruel to be kind,” before slicing a knife clean through my hair.
My head falls into her lap, and I make another whimpery sound.
“She’s going to absolutely hate me.”
“So what? She’s fucked everything up for us, anyway.No onehas failed the ritual before.”
“God knows what’s coming to us now.”
“The ritual’s a bunch of crap. I can’t believe you idiots actually believe in it.”
“You want to say that any louderhere?”
“I thought your kind was all about placing faith in a higher power.”
“Yeah, likeGod. One of the old tried-and-tested higher powers.”
“Oh, well, in that case… Forgive me, Daddy, for I have sinned. Turns out Ireallyget off on pagan rituals.”
“Can ye, like, flagellate me for my deep and bountiful sins o’ the flesh?”
“Will you all shut up?” Arabella doesn’t sound happy. “We need to get her out of here.”
It’s to Arabella’s voice that I slide into unconsciousness, and it’s to Arabella’s voice that I wake.
* * *
“Don’t scream.”
It’s the first words I hear. My eyes adjust to my surroundings, darting around the room without moving my head. With a silent sigh, I realize where I am.
Medical wing.
I’m becoming too familiar with this place.
And yet I feel okay.
I don’t know why I’m here.
“Why would I scream?”
My voice sounds unlike myself — all scratchy and tired, like it’s given up on life.
But when my breath flows from me, when I turn my head to the side, I feel amazing.
I don’t understand.
Hesitantly, I even twitch my feet, only to find that both of them are functioning way better than ever before.
Arabella is frowning at me. “What do you remember from Hallowe’en?”
I screw my eyes shut, my mind turning over nightmare figures in trees, animals forced to abuse one another. I moan in distress and Arabella places a hand over my forehead.
“Okay, maybe don’t do that.”
