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PROLOGUE
IVY
THAT NIGHT…
Opening one eye drains the little energy I have. The world rushes by. Fuzzy orange balls blur in and out of focus, streaking across my vision like shooting meteors, leaving a trail of fire behind. Have aliens abducted me, or are they streetlights? My eyelids are heavy, weighed down by the horror and impact of Spencer’s fists.
“Hang on.” A male voice I don’t recognise comes from nowhere. It’s deep, warm, reassuring… safe. “You’re going to be okay.” The man keeps talking, but his syllables merge into a long sentence I can’t understand. “Just a little longer…”
Everything aches. I can’t tell where the pain is coming from. It consumes me. I try moving my neck, but I groan from the effort.
“You have to stay awake,” my mysterious saviour urges.
I see him now. He turns to look at me over his shoulder. I can’t make out his features, but a halo of light surrounds him. Am I dead? We jolt abruptly. Nope, the afterlife won’t be plagued by potholes and speed bumps.We’re in a car.I’m sprawled across the backseat at an awkward angle. Where are the sirens and blue flashing lights? Where is…
“Daisy,” I croak. “Where’s Daisy?”
An overpowering foul odour assaults my nostrils, and I retch. Dirt, sweat, blood, and… something else. Aftershave.His aftershave. It oozes from my pores, making me want to scrub and claw my skin. Better still, I want to shed it like an unwanted outfit and leave it behind like a clingy dress that makes breathing difficult. But I can’t. I’m trapped in a body with no escape.
The man ignores my question. His faraway voice says, “We’re almost there.”
My hair falls over my face. It’s matted with brown leaves, twigs, and soil. I move my arm an inch, stroking a soft blanket laying over me, now damp from my weeping wounds. Underneath it, I’m naked.
Consciousness comes and goes. There isn’t a film of my life’s highlights or a long, dark tunnel with my dead relatives waiting at the end of it. It’s never-ending, like an open ocean at night. Violent images appear like snapshots.
I’m kicked to the ground.
Leaves scratch my tongue and silence my screams.
I’m suffocating.
His weight bearing down on top of me crushes my rib cage.
My lungs are about to burst.
Darkness closes in, smothering me with its inky cloak and forcing its way down my throat until it grabs my heart in its fist.
Panic should be taking over, but I have no fight left. My body is already shutting down.
This can’t be real…
It can’t…
The car stops abruptly, almost throwing me into the footwell.
The man opens the door and gently lifts me out of the car. He scoops me into his arms, and then I’m floating. Would he snap my neck if I asked him to? Anything would be better than this. The pain pulsating through my body burns hotter than fire, but that’s not the worst of it…
I see her now.
Daisy’s naked, lifeless body.
You have to save her!
I try sending mental signals into the universe, hoping someone will hear them. I’ve never prayed before, but God, if you’re listening, hear me now.Take me, not her.I’m the one you want!No one answers my desperate plight, but I hear Spencer. His callous voice makes me want to pour acid into my ears.
His feet smashed into my sides. My head. His belt unbuckled, and…
He didn’t stop when I begged.
