Page 159 of Sweet Nightmare

My fingers tingle. My chest tightens. My limbs hum with the need to move, to follow the sound, to find whatever is waiting at the end of it.

I know this feeling.

I’ve felt it only once before.

On another cold night.

Many years ago.

The night I discovered that something inside me was missing before I even knew it existed.

But this feels different.

More dangerous.

Because this time, a man is the one making the magic.

And before I can talk myself out of it, my feet begin to move as though they have a mind of their own.

I slide off the barstool.

“Where are you going?” Mrs. Han asks.

I don’t answer, mostly because I have absolutely no idea.

“Please don’t do anything stupid,” Mika sighs, sounding like someone who already knows I’m about to make a terrible decision.

I ignore them both and follow the melody out of the kitchen.

One step.

Thud.

Then another.

Thud.

The piano grows clearer with every step.

And somewhere between the kitchen and the hallway, I finally understand what’s happening to me.

The moody parasite has infiltrated my thoughts.

My curiosity.

Even my damn sleep.

And apparently, now, my heart.

My barely functioning, perpetually frozen heart.

I stop for half a second.

This realization should terrify me. In some capacity, it does.

But instead, warmth spreads through my chest.

Something soft.