Page 97 of All Hallows Game

I suspect he would have continued like that if Cat hadn’t screamed, dropping to the woods floor so fast we couldn’t catch her. Death sank to his knees beside her, hands in her dark fur, stroking in an attempt to soothe a pain that wasn’t visible.

“We’re right here, little one, we’re right here, you’re okay.”

She whined, the sound animal at first but becoming human. Small and terrified and pained. A fist gripped my heart. I couldn't handle seeing her hurt. The first snap of bones breaking made me flinch, every consequent break driving into my stomach until I felt sick.

“It worked,” Miz breathed, fisting the back of my shirt as we watched Cat, our Cat, curl into a tight ball on the floor, her red dress ragged and shredded, her body human once more. “Fuck, the antidote worked.”

“There’s a box of syringes in the lab,” Virgil said, a tightness to his voice as he crouched beside his sister, ignoring our warning looks to brush a lock of white hair from her face. “I don’t… want to go back there.”

“How long were you there?” Misery asked, grunting when I swayed into him. Motherfuck, I was a mess. I needed to get my shit together and heal these wounds, but my body was struggling and my magic had no effect.

“Weeks,” Virgil said flatly. “Five weeks. I tracked it by the—by my shifts.” He lowered his voice to a murmur as he leaned over Cat. “It’s Virgil, I’m here with you. You’re going to be completely fine. I’ll help you every step of the way. You’re not alone.”

She whined, curling into a tighter ball, shaking all over.

“We need to get out of these woods,” Miz said, both of us jerking forward a step at her pained noise. I was holding him back, my weak ass stopping him from kneeling at her side. “We could go home but—Virgil will die there.”

With no death magic or bond to us like our little bride of death, his life would wane.

“I’m not leaving Cat’s side,” Virgil warned us, leaning over Cat protectively. “And no offense, but I don’t know any of you and I’m not leaving my sister in your hands.”

“I know a place we can go,” Miz said reluctantly. “There’s an abandoned house on the other side of the island. I warded it years ago and the shields still stand. If you shore it up with your magic too, she won’t get in.”

Death nodded decisively. “Let’s go.” He swept Cat up into his arms, his expression tortured. I waited for her to cry or whine, but she was silent. My gut clenched. I staggered closer, reaching for her face, a fucking mess when I felt the warmth of her breath on my knuckles. Alive—she was alive.

“She’ll wake up,” Virgil offered. “Her body’s just processing a lot of trauma and changes. I’ve been through it and I was—fine.”

The pause didn’t inspire me with confidence, but he was up and walking and capable of speech, at least. And Cat had all of us to take care of her. Who did Virgil have?

“We’re gonna have a nice, long chat,” I warned him, ignoring the fact he had two heads and both were fuzzy at the edges. “We have questions.”

“I bet,” he sighed, rubbing his face. Virgil’s eyes widened in panic when Misery leaned my deadweight ass against his side. Great, I couldn’t even hold myself up. I needed a random guy to keep me from face-planting the ground.

“Let him fall, and I’ll skin you,” Miz hissed, his gold eyes flashing. “Alive.”

With that, he raced back to the cottage, emerging moments later with a wooden box full of those yellow syringes. “Let’s go,” he snapped, stress lining every part of his face. “Before Tor passes out.”

“Hey,” I complained, taking a step—and swaying into Virgil. Hard. “I want to carry Cat.”

“Not happening,” Death huffed. He exchanged a look with Miz, and suddenly my legs were knocked from under me. My head spun. My thigh and shoulder pulsed, as hot as a poker.

“Don’t argue,” Misery warned, anticipating my complaint. I deflated, resting my head on his shoulder, mindful of the gash in his arm. My eyes glued to Cat, limp and unconscious in Death’s arms as we left the cottage behind, Miz leading the way through the woods and out the other side. We were too weak to use magic to transport us, so the walk to the safe house was a long trek through the shadowed woods, following a narrow, snaking path that fed out onto a tarmac road on the far side of Ford’s End.

Every footstep jostled my shoulder until I had to clench my jaw to hold in my sounds of pain. Black spots crept in at the edges of my vision, but I fought them, keeping my eyes on Cat’s head as it lolled on Death’s arm. She hadn’t woken up. Why hadn’t she woken up?

Miz inhaled sharply, stopping so abruptly that I cried out, the sound escaping my clenched teeth. Motherfucker, my body hurt. Misery’s breathing raced out of control, his arms shaking as he clutched me tighter. I tried to lift my hand to squeeze his arm but I couldn’t lift a fucking finger.

“There’s no escape,” Virgil breathed, hyperventilating too by the sounds of it. He edged closer to us, his arm knocking my feet, sending fire to the slash on my thigh. The black spots crept closer, framing my vision like a vignette.

I turned my head a fraction, squinting at our moonlit surroundings. There was a figure at the end of the road, draped in dark red silk like blood woven into fabric. She stood in our path, far enough away that I had to narrow my eyes to slits so they focused on her face.

“I’m here for my terror,” Nightmare said with soft amusement, her voice barely loud enough to carry across the road.

Could this night get any fucking worse?

“Oh, fuck off,” I groaned, throwing my head back in exasperation.

The sudden movement made pain erupt and the blackness snapped its jaws around me without warning.

Before I could hear the goddess’s response, I blacked out.