Gypsy Moon (All The Pretty Monsters #4)(57)

My stomach churns, even as I force myself to look around at the mostly corroded piles of rust where some of the metal wasn’t quality enough to withstand the test of time.

There’s a semi-standing metal structure in the corner that draws my attention amidst the rubble of the rest of the room. The second my fingertips brush it, my heartbeat drops as if on its own, and my knees wobble as my vision quickly dims.

The taste of the air changes, and my head swims. When my eyes reopen, a familiar sense of frozen invisibility hits me, while the room I’m in transforms into something else entirely.

Did I just accidentally pull up a death window?

A small mat in the corner draws my attention as beautiful light spills into the room. The cage door is back on, looking fresh and new. The dust has cleared, and my gaze jerks over as the sound of muffled sobbing draws my attention.

There’s a tall, slightly hunched woman on the ground that I recognize…from Vance’s death window. That’s Caroline.

Her eyes slowly blink open, and she huffs out a small whimper, as she wipes her tears and shakes her head.

My eyes take in the immaculate stones and dust-free environment I’m now in, but my heart breaks more when I realize that mat in the corner is her bed, and she has no furniture.

The metal structure in the corner is a chair of some sort, with straps and chains and various other painful bindings. My brow furrows, until I hear the snap of the door being slung open.

I startle, and my eyes widen painfully as the woman from the pristine portraits strolls in, more menace in her eyes than I’ve ever witnessed from one person.

The artist did a shit job of capturing that.

Caroline quickly sits up straighter and stares down at the ground, not making a single sound.

Idun starts talking in a language I don’t understand, and Caroline just nods along very quickly. But Idun grows more and more…interested in the chair, and without any warning I pick up on, she suddenly grabs Caroline by the hair.

I’m frozen to my spot, unable to do anything but helplessly watch, as Caroline screams.

Idun throws her in the chair, and I turn when I hear a light whimper, spotting a man far across the hallway that I didn’t notice in the dark. He stares with lifeless, sad eyes before turning and going into another barred room.

Caroline continues to scream, and I force myself to look back to see what Idun’s doing to her. Just as she gets her latched into the chair, a vicious barking noise has me jumping—actually jumping.

My vision swirls as the image fades quickly, and I blink into the darkness that quickly engulfs me.

My flashlight is shining at the metal chair I’m still barely touching, and I realize this chair is a death spot. For Caroline. How? I thought she was an immortal who couldn’t die even for a little while.

I’m so tied to this family that I’m somehow being guided to impossible death spots.

That same vicious growl I didn’t get to investigate in the death spot vision sounds out from behind me, and I swallow thickly as it continues on.

Not another wolf. Not another wolf. Not another wolf. Please, don’t let it be another wolf.

Slowly—oh so slowly—I turn with a mounting lump of dread gathering in my stomach. My light turns with me as the growl steadily intensifies, and the second the light connects with glowing yellow eyes on a beast like I’ve never seen, a scream freezes in my throat.

A long line of slobber drips from its very toothy mouth that is right below its long, wet snout.

Yellow eyes, long snout, big teeth…

Yep. That’s all I need. Especially when the thing lunges at me without any warning whatsoever.

Threads explode from under my coat, my clothing quickly grappling for the beast…but somehow, for the first time ever, I completely miss, and the threads get jerked out of the room by the erratic winds before I can scramble for a second try.

I fumble for the vials absent from my bra. Even if I hadn’t been changed into new underwear, it’d be empty because I didn’t want airport security mistaking me for a terrorist.

There was no airport security. Not that it matters at the moment.

My coat is too pretty to ruin, so I do the only other thing I can think of in a sheer moment of terror. I turn toward the lone window in the room, stumbling over my feet just barely as I break out into a sprint. Narrowly, I dodge gnashing teeth, as I hurl myself into the air with all my strength.

A scream whips out of me the second I take the leap, and the beast snaps at the air behind me, while my stomach rushes up to my mouth. I barely get one word out, before I’m screaming again.





CHAPTER 16





VANCE


As tempted as I am to go up there, I’m sure Violet would like some time alone to process, especially with all those bloody paintings still in there. At least twenty or more of us with Idun…

“He’s been gone too long,” I note, staring off into the distance in search of Emit, distracting myself from the fucking Idun-mess Violet will likely be hostile over.

“We should have torn them down like I said to do,” Damien tells me like he can see right through me.

“Idun’s cleaned and restored them recently. Let’s not anger her too much by tearing down her relics,” Arion answers, staring up the mountainside. “So what did she mean by uh-oh?”

“He’s worrying about Idun’s reaction to some missing portraits, and yet can’t fathom why Violet thinks he’s in denial,” Damien states in a droll tone.