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“The fuck?”
“Oh, Sky . . .”
“What did I just see?”
Dev scrubbed a hand through his curls and shook his head. “Well, I think it’s safe to say that inhuman entities follow the same psychic rules. They’re only visible if they want to be. It’s probably even more accurate with an entity of that kind of malevolence and intelligence.” He looked around at all of us. “But that means we’ll have to be extra careful tonight.”
He turned to Sky and looked her straight in the eyes. I felt her tense beneath my hand. “We know what happens next. Are you sure you want to see this?” he asked.
Sky took in a deep breath and then let it out slowly. “I mean, it’s not like I want to see myself get strangled, but Ineedto see. I need to see whatelseI might see. Does that make sense?”
“It makes sense to me,” I said and squeezed her again. And it did. Given Sky’s personality, she likely needed to see this, especially now that she knew she could witness more than the average person—even if she didn’t quite understand how, and likely hadn’t processed it yet.
Dev nodded solemnly and pushed play again. We watched as Sky tried to get up, only to be slammed back down. We watched as she clawed at her throat, scissoring her legs and scraping her heels against the wood floor. We watched as Lance made Seiko watch, and Seiko dissolved into tears, shaking uncontrollably in Lance’s punishing hold.
We heard Sky tell whatever had her that it couldn’t hurt her, and then we heard the most bone-chilling thing of all. A voice that sounded as if it had been scraped from the bowels of Hell, screaming, “no.” Then, in a guttural voice that trailed off, “Iwillhave you,” before Sky suddenly flopped down. Sky had never mentioned hearing that when this all happened. I wondered if itcouldn’tbe heard by the naked ear.
Just before we heard the footsteps on the stairs as I rushed up to her, we heard something else.
“Our daughter belongs to him.”
“Fucking hell.” I didn’t know who said it, but it was absolutely accurate.
Fucking Hell, indeed.
Dev looked at Schuyler. “I’m so proud of you for remembering what we taught you and taking charge in such a terrifying moment, Sky. You showed incredible bravery there.” He smiled. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this, and we’ll kick this thing’s ass. I promise you that.”
She only nodded her head.
CHAPTER21
~Schuyler~
We all took a minute to absorb what we had just seen and then went about our normal tasks of preparing for the last night of investigation. I couldn’t help wondering what tonight would be like—and how it would change me. Forever. I mean, I had been hired to be one of the show’s skeptics. To use science to disprove things. To be the yin to Dev and Birdie’s yang, so to speak. Would I even have a job after this given everything that had already happened?
Even now, seeing the figures on the screen when Iknewthey hadn’t been there at the time it’d happened was a complete mind fuck. Not to mention, I had—wrongfully, it appeared—assumed that the spell only worked on things in person. I had a feeling this was only the beginning of the things that I might see or experience tonight that would shake my foundation to its core.
I took a bit longer than usual gathering my things and readying myself for the team meeting we always had right before we started for the night, thinking over everything I had just seen and what Dev had said. I still felt the pressure inside me and that overwhelming sense of being watched and not being alone—and it had nothing to do with my friends in the room with me.
I peeked over at Pax where he knelt near his bag, going through his stuff. I saw his lips moving and figured he was probably saying some prayers for tonight. It wasn’t often, but occasionally—veryoccasionally—I wished I had some faith. A belief in something other than what I could see and touch and measure. I figured there was some comfort to be found there in giving up control. I likely wouldn’t even think that if it weren’t for Dev and Larken and Paxton and their very steadfast faiths and beliefs.
I checked my watch and saw that it was just about time. Dev walked into the room, and we all came to attention.
“Okay, guys. Birdie and I talked it over, and we don’t want anybody going anywhere alone tonight. In fact, we’d like to keep the groups to four.” He looked around the room. “Padre? Sky? Are you guys good heading to the back of the house tonight—the kitchen, dining room, butler’s pantry, and that back area with the exposed storage space? You can take Aaron and Birdie with you.” We both nodded and sought out Aaron where he stood on the other side of the room. Lark still wasn’t in attendance, and I hoped that everything was okay.
“Hanlen, you’re with me, and we’ll take James and Dakota upstairs.” Hanlen gave Dev a thumbs-up, and James nodded.
“Van, Lennie, Turner, Harper, I want you here in Control. And, as I said, nobody goes anywhere alone. Harper, Len? You gotta pee, take a buddy. Same goes for the guys.”
Van raised an eyebrow at the newest member of our team. “I’m not sure I know you well enough for that yet, bro,” Van said, and Turner shook his head and turned a little pink.
“Believe me, man. That’s the last thing I wanna see.”
Everybody chuckled.
“Oh, hey, guys,” Dev said with a smile, and I frowned. He’d just been talking to all of us, and I didn’t know what he—
Holy shit.
