Dark and Shallow Lies(87)

His eyes glow with rage. They’re animal eyes.

His teeth are bared.

Sharp.

He’s panting.

All fangs and claws.

Wrynn was right all along. For just a second, I see him the way she must have seen him that night. In the moment he first became the rougarou.

And that’s when I know for sure. And knowing feels unsurvivable. Whatever he might do to me tonight – even if he kills me – it can’t be worse than this terrible knowing.

Then I hear the boat horn.

One blast.

One last chance.

I’d given up on anything that felt like hope.

“Run!” I’m yelling at Evie, but I don’t know if she can hear me. “Boat!” I’m pointing in the direction of the boardwalk and screaming my throat raw. “Go!”

She looks at me. Then at Hart. Hesitates. And I shriek at her again. “Evie! He killed Elora! You know that! Get out of here! Go!”

Hart is staring at me. He looks dazed. Like I hit him over the head.

Evie scrambles to her feet and gives Hart one last look, then she takes off. Running like the dickens. But I don’t move. And neither does Hart.

We’re holding each other hostage.

The wind is merciless. It’s like being hit with a two-by-four.

Over and over and over. I grab one of the spindly little trees and hang on. But I don’t take my eyes off him. I can’t. Because there’s nobody else left in the whole world now. It’s down to just the two of us.

Him.

And me.

A second blast of the boat horn cuts through the wind.

I hang on as long as I can, to give Evie a few more seconds’ head start, then I let go of the tree and take a few steps back. Away from Hart.

Because this is where everything ends. We both know it now. And that’s when the rain finally comes again.

The sky splits open and it comes all at once. It comes in buckets.

Rivers.

The kind of rain that washes away the blood and carries away the evidence.

No clue. No trace.

No goodbye.

All those visions. Those strange flashes.

I didn’t understand what I was seeing. I had it all confused. It was never Elora running through the storm.

It was always me.

How could I not have known that?

I freeze. Terrified. Struck by my own stupidity. Because I’ve seen all this play out before. I know what’s coming.

I just don’t know how it ends.

Not yet, anyway.

“Don’t, Greycie!” Hart shouts at me, and he picks up his flashlight. “Don’t run!” His voice is pleading. But I do it anyway. I turn and run. I run like I have someplace to run to. Even though I don’t. I run like there’s somewhere to go. Even though I know there isn’t. “Fuck!” I hear him howl. Then he takes off after me.

He’s tearing through the brush behind me. Breathing hard and calling my name. Even with the wind and the driving rain, he’s all I hear. So I push myself faster.

We break out on to the wide-open flats, and I feel him closing in on me. There’s nowhere left to hide, except inside the dark. So I turn off my flashlight and let the blackness eat me alive.

I see the glow of his light, and I zigzag to stay out of the beam.

And now we’re playing flashlight tag. Like they were that night. The old rhyme jeers at me.

Run and hide.

Hide and run.

I’ll count from ten, then join the fun.

Say a prayer and bow your head.

If my light finds you, you’ll be dead.

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.

Ready or not, here I come.

I’m Dempsey Fontenot.

You better run.

I kick off my boots. They’re slowing me down. Then I swallow the panic along with the rain and keep running.

Blind.

Arms stretched out in front of me. Hoping not to feel anything.

Hoping if I do feel something, it won’t be him.

Not him.

Not him.

Please don’t let it be him.

I hear the third blast of the boat horn, and I’m trying to work out if Evie’s had time to make it to the dock.

Something grabs my ankle – cold, wet fingers – and I scream and go down hard. I hit the mud like it’s concrete, and it forces every bit of air out of my lungs. My chest aches and I couldn’t scream any more, even if I wanted to. Not that there’s anybody to scream for.

I kick at the hand at my ankle and realize it’s just a twisting root. But I don’t have the strength or the will to get up.

Slicing rain stings my skin like a thousand tiny knives. The mud is pulling at me.

Sucking me down.

If I don’t do something now, this is where they’ll find my body.

I wonder if Elora kept running.

Everything feels so surreal. Like watching a movie I’ve seen before. Only I was half asleep the first time. Not paying attention.

Now I’m wide awake.

I hear Hart calling my name. The sound of his voice makes me wish the mud would hurry up and do its job. I want it to suck me down and down and down and then cover me up for good, so there’s nothing left of me for him to find.

But then something thick and slimy moves against my leg. And I’m on my feet before I have time to think about what it might be.