Page 15 of Noctis

“What did you see?” I prompted.

“Why?”

Because I think it might have moved from your room to mine. “I’m just interested in that sort of thing,” I said instead.

“That sort of thing?” she repeated as Edward stopped the group yet again, this time to enthuse over a yellow flower.

“Ghosts. Things that go bump in the night.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “It wasn’t a ghost.”

“Then what was it?”

“A shadow person. Or maybe a demon.” She frowned. “Given how it looked, I suppose it could have been both.”

“What did it look like?”

She studied me again, as though searching for evidence that I was taking the piss. Apparently satisfied I wasn’t, she lowered her voice. “Very tall. Man-shaped, but just like a silhouette, and it had glowing red eyes, fuck-ass horns, and a tail. No face—just those eyes staring back at you.”

A chill crawled across my skin. I’d seen only a shape, and only for a fraction of a second, but that had been enough.

“That sounds fucking terrifying. No wonder you were shouting.”

“It was.” She nodded, seeming relieved rather than offended by my reaction. “I wasn’t sleeping. But now it’s gone and I can finally sleep again.”

“When?” I asked, already dreading the answer.

“Two nights ago. Which”—she held up a finger―”proves it wasn’t the medication change because I didn’t start taking it until the next morning. So,” she announced to the tree we were passing as our little procession started moving again, “Dr. Collins can shove it up his arse. Except he’d probably enjoy that.” She gave me a sly, sideways look. “At least, I think so.”

“How do you know that?”

She tapped her nose. “I just do.”

We walked on for a few more paces while Edward explained why red squirrels had died out and we now saw only gray ones.

“Anyway,” Laura said once he’d moved far enough ahead not to overhear us, “I don’t care where that thing went as long as it’s not watching me anymore.”

“Is that all it did? Watch you?”

She nodded.

“Did you ever try talking to it?”

“No! I’m not insane. Did you not hear me say it had horns and glowing red eyes?” She glared at me. “Or do you think I imagined the whole thing?”

Hoped might have been a better word.

“Did you see it straight away when you got here?”

She shook her head. “Not for the first few nights, and it took another couple of nights before it stopped vanishing when I looked directly at it.”

Something to look forward to.

She shuddered. “I didn’t freak out until it started coming toward me.”

“What do you think it wanted?”

“I don’t know.” Her frown suggested she’d never considered the question before. “Nothing good.”