Page 48 of Mindeater

“It sealed my mouth shut and ate something from my head,” Lake says from somewhere ahead of me.

Daring to glance at my new captor, I slowly raise my eyes. Steel meets them. Pure, liquid silver streaked with pale blue striations. My heart thumps to life, urgent and bloody. Every inch of me reacts. An electric shock to my dying system. Tears burn behind my eyes. For too long, he doesn’t say a word. But his scent is as familiar as ever. Just as strong and overpowering.

Wild.

Free.

Sage.

Alpha.

Ryx.

He’s alive.

“Hello, Saren,” he rasps before bashing me in the skull.

19

Ryx

What are the odds? And how dare the universe do this to me?

How. Fucking. Dare. It.

I knew when the Nightpulse showed up that there was a Telex among the bandits. They only come out for the leeches, but if I had known who I was sparing, I’d have let the creature eat him. Watched happily as it severed his throat, sucked out his internal organs through the slit, and left him as hollow as he left me. And seeing him like that? On his knees? Big lilac eyes welling up like he couldn’t believe what he saw?

Absolutely not.

Fuck no.

Too much is at stake. I should leave him here. Let the Barrens claim him. After all, it’s what he deserves. Let him know what it’s like to be saved and then abandoned—tossed aside and left to whatever demon decides to snatch up the scraps. This boy—man—destroyed me. It’s only right I do the same to him. And while I can’t remember everything, I remember enough. Know enough.

He was never different.

He was never special.

And he certainly wasn’t mine.

“Kane,” I bark.

He approaches slowly. One can never be too careful around these things. He knows it as well as I do. The higher-ranking leeches can still invade your mind even when unconscious. “What’s the plan?”

Ain’t that a question for the ages? I keep my face blank as I stare at Saren. His hair is darker than I remember. The orange more red. He has more freckles, too. A galaxy of taupe stars dusting his nose and cheeks. Still short, though. Or maybe I just kept growing. I don’t know.

“Boss?”

“Hmm?”

Did he always have a mole on his neck? Or is that new? His shirt collar is pulled down a bit, and raised white stripes snake up his back toward the base of his skull. When did he get those? A man lived with us. Did he beat him? I thought Telex healed…

“Aryx,” Kane says loud enough that I snap out of it.

“I’ll restrain him.”

“And after?” My friend eyes me suspiciously. Like me, he’s been ruined by the Telex. He’s as ravenous as I am for revenge. If left up to Kane, he’d put a bullet in Saren’s skull right here and now.

“I’ll interrogate him.”