Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 88119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Just breathe, I reminded myself. Breathe. This doesn’t mean anything to you. She’s just a means to an end, a way to get to Holly. Nothing else.
But in her daze, she looked so much like the mother in the photo. The mother who’d once held me with a smile. I perched on the edge of the bed. I could feel Devon’s and Penny’s eyes on me, could practically feel their pity radiating off of them in waves.
I uncurled my fist, felt the blood return to my fingers. Slowly I reached out, hand shaking—body shaking—and brushed a strand of hair from her passive face. I trailed it over her eyes, which twitched once more, and cupped her cheek.
“Mom?” I asked.
I didn’t recognize the sounds that formed that word, didn’t recognize my own voice. I sounded like a small, scared child. For a moment my mother leaned into my touch. She’s drugged, I reminded myself. She wasn’t in her right mind; this meant nothing. Then why did a feeling of happiness flood through me?
She moaned, her lips parting. She rolled over, revealing bruises on her arms and shoulders.
I jerked back, gasping. My throat, my ribcage, even my body felt too tight. I let out a cry—a cry so foreign that it made goose bumps flash across my skin. And suddenly my body seemed to explode. Rippling, shifting. I flew through the transformations. The bodies became a blur. My bones ached, my head throbbed, but I kept changing bodies. Faster and faster. Someone wrapped their arms around me, warm and reassuring, and the transformations slowed until they finally stopped and I was myself again. I breathed in Devon’s scent and closed my eyes.
But the moment was interrupted as the door was flung open. “What’s going on?” a deep voice demanded.
I pulled back. A tall, heavyset man with a bald head and seedy yellow eyes stood in the doorway. The resemblance to Penny was undeniable. I tore myself from Devon’s embrace and moved without actually realizing what I was doing. But suddenly I was in front of the man and my fist collided with his cheekbone with a satisfying pop. He had given my mother his drug—and the bruises. I didn’t dare to consider what she’d done in return for the Spittle.
His eyes rolled back and he hit the door—which was thrust shut upon impact- before sinking to a heap on the ground. He held his cheek, a stunned expression on his face. Penny shook off her stupor and kneeled beside him.
“You all right?” She touched his arm, but he pushed her away. Hurt flickered across her face but it was already gone by the time she straightened.
“I’m fine. Get Benny,” he snarled. “He can kick the bitch out.”
“If you throw me out, I’ll immediately tell the FEA about your existence,” I said in a thick voice. I hoped I’d managed to sound stronger than I felt.
He bared his blood-covered teeth in a terrible jack-o’-lantern smile. His eyes squinted at me. “If you weren’t on the run from them, you wouldn’t be here, girl.”
I took a step closer to him. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but his gaze stayed frozen on my eyes. A horrible look of recognition crossed his face as if he’d seen them before and his entire face went white.
“Your eyes,” he muttered, then he shook his head. “No. That’s impossible.” He stumbled to his feet and stared at my mother. “Heather, what the fuck is going on?”
My mother raised herself up on her elbows, blinking dazedly. “Stanley?” The word was drawn out like a long sigh.
Her eyes brushed over me without recognition. She didn’t know who I was. But in that moment, I wasn’t even sure she knew who she was. Heat gathered behind my eyeballs. Why did she still have the ability to make me angry? Why did I still care about her after all she’d done? Why couldn’t I stop loving her when she had never as much as cared about me?
Stanley tried to walk past me to get to the bed, but I stepped in his way. I was a full head smaller than him, and he tried to push me away. His hands collided painfully with my collarbones and I lurched to the side, barely keeping upright. Devon gripped his arm and twisted it but Stanley swung a fist at him. In a swift move, Devon ducked, so the knuckles only grazed the top of his head and landed a punch in Stanley’s stomach. The man gasped and stumbled and had to catch himself on the shabby wardrobe. He panted, his face red. Penny came forward and gripped his forearm.
“Dad, that’s enough. We don’t need any more trouble.”
“More trouble?” he cried and pointed a shaking finger at me. “I’m not the one causing trouble. That girl is trouble worth a lifetime!”