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Photos.
Of me.
Of Cillian. Of the two of us together—holding hands. Kissing. Each candid shot obviously taken through a telephoto lens from far away.
It’s not just us.
There are other shots too, of Neve and Ares, both together and separately. Of Eilish, and Castle. Of Hades, Kratos, Callie, and Dimitra.
“What the fuck…”
A meowing sound behind me almost gives me a heart attack.
“Bones!” I hiss, whirling as my eyes stab through the dim light in the room, trying to find him. With the blinds all down, the room is bathed in shadows. “Bones, we have to get the fuck out of here,now. Where—”
I freeze when my gaze lands on a table next to the desk.
A table with a handgun lying on it.
A remote control of some kind.
A package of red cake frosting dye.
My pulse starts to race, my mouth going bone dry as I ignore every voice screaming in my head to run, and approach the table instead. My head swims as my gaze slides over the gun, and the remote control, and more pictures of my new family and me, anda half dozen disposable flip phonescharging from a power strip, until it finally lands on the mask.
A numb feeling gnawing in my gut, my hands reach out, shaking, to pick it up. The top half is black, with two opaque mirrored lenses over the eyes. The bottom half is metallic, with what looks like a speaker over the mouth area.
What the fucking shit is this.
And what the FUCK is that smell?!
Something brushes my leg. I jolt, dropping the mask to the floor and slamming a hand over the scream before it bubbles out. I look down, my heart in my throat.
“Youabsolute asshole!” I hiss at Bones, who’s looking up at me, licking his lips. “You scared the shit out of me!”
Bones nuzzles the mask at my feet.
“Ew, don’t touch that,” I mutter. “It’s creepy.”
Bones meows. Then he sticks his faceinsidethe creepy mask.
“Bones,please—”
I almost scream again when he meows once more.
Through the mask.
Through the speaker over the mouth that turns his sweet little meow into a cold, metallic, rasping sound.
Holy Christ.
Suddenly, I have a revelation, like I’m looking past the blinders for the first time. And it feels like a cold knife being dragged down my spine.
This isn’t Gail’s office.
It’s Apostle’s.
Bones pulls his face out of the mask and meows as I quickly reach for him.
