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“Reece!” I cried, throwing my arms around him and hugging him tight. I seemed so much bigger than he was, though I wasn’t quite sure why.
He frowned and pushed me away. “What are you doing?”
My stomach dropped. “Nothing. I’m just pleased to see you.”
“You’re not supposed to be here.”
His comment took me back. “What?”
“You’re dead, remember? That guy killed you.”
Tears filled my eyes, and confusion swept through me. Was that the truth? Was I really dead?
“Jolie?”
A male voice, deep and gravelly, came from behind me.
I turned slowly to see Hayden standing at the other end of the corridor. He put his hand out toward me.
“That’s enough now, Jolie. It’s time to go home.”
I shook my head. “This is my home.”
“Not anymore, it isn’t. Your home is with me now.”
Deep down, I knew he was telling me the truth, but my heart longed to go back, to a time before all of this horror happened. I looked to Reece again, standing in his pajamas. I didn’t know what I thought a nine-year-old boy could do to help me, not against someone like Hayden Vale, but still I wanted him to do something.
“Please, Reece. You’re my brother. Tell him this is where I live.”
But Reece only shrugged. “I’m not your brother anymore,” he said. “Sorry.” And he lifted his hand to his face, his fingers digging into the skin of his hairline. I stared in horror and revulsion as he pulled the skin down, revealing something beneath.
I’d been expecting to see blood and muscle and bone, but instead a second face stared out at me.
“Hello, Jolie,” my father said. “I’ve missed you so much...”
