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The hand severed…
Bile fills my mouth. Whoever staged that hand didn’t just bringit.They brought the whole corpse and then dumped it in here.
“Laney?”
“I know.”
She says something else, but I don’t hear it. I’m gritting my teeth and shoving aside the arm, which is attached to a body, that body lying over my pinned leg.
I’m sorry. Whoever you were, I’m sorry someone did this to your corpse, and I’m sorry I’m shoving you aside like this. We’ll figure it out and make sure you get to your proper resting place.
I have my hands under the armpit of the poor guy, and I heave, but my hip slips and pain shoots through my side and I lose my grip. The body topples toward me. My hands fly up to ward it off, and it lands on top of my arms, crossed over my face. I don’t see it. My eyes aresqueezed shut. I inhale, only to gag, the smell making it feel as if I’m tasting—
Oh God.
I swallow bile. Somewhere overhead, Jayla is frantically trying to talk to me, but I’m completely focused on this macabre predicament.
I open my eyes and—
There is a face over mine, held back by my crossed arms, but I can see it. I see the dark hair with a lock of blue. I see brown eyes, wide with final shock. I see the scar across one pale cheekbone, an ugly slice of recent scar tissue. Then, in a heartbeat, I’m seeing that scar in my memory, when it was still a cut across his cheek.
“What the hell happened?” I say.
“Shaving accident.”
“Did your dad—?”
“I’m fine, Ms. K. It was an accident.”
Nate. Oh God. Nate.
ELEVEN
“Laney?” Jayla calls.
“It’s—it’s Nate,” I manage to say.
Her voice drops. “I guessed that. I’m sorry. Just stay where you are. I’m coming down.”
I squeeze back tears. “Bring the others. I don’t want you getting stuck down here.”
“I’m not leaving you—”
“I’ve got it.”
“Goddamn you. Stop that.”
Her voice cracks, but I’m already nudging Nate’s body off mine. I move him, as best I can, to the side, propped against the wall. His arm hangs to his side, bone jutting—
Don’t look at it.
Don’t think about it.
“He’s off me,” I say. “Please go get the others.”
“Stay right there.”
I bite back a laugh, because if it escapes, I’ll start sobbing hysterically. “Not going anywhere.”
