Page 146 of Shadowface

He’s breathless, watching me hold the glass, and leans close to my ear, teasing my lips. “I want you to kill her, pretty girl.”

He moves back from me, one slow step after another. Watching me, waiting, his eyes twitching. “That’s why I took her. So we can give them her body, and we can finally be together.”

I shift my gaze to Misty, who’s gone wholly still. Her eyes are wide and red, almost like they’re bleeding. I stare back at Mikael, who is watching me. His face is truly neutral, and for a moment, it’s like I’m watching Lincoln.

Then…he pounces.

And I fucking run…

CHAPTER

FORTY

SUMMER

Blood.

Lots of it drips down my arm as I run as fast as I can out toward the dark night into the thick woods. I’m too full of adrenaline—and freezing—to register any pain. I’m not sure it’s my blood; it must be a mix because I got him. I remember the glass in my hand digging into his chest, using the weapon he gave me against him.

All I know is I finally had the urge to run.

A heavy mist develops over the switchgrass, causing a ghostly light to bounce off the trees. I don’t look back; I push forward, sliding on the wet ground and fall foliage at my feet. I spring into tall grass and don’t dare look back, and eventually, I stagger and fall behind a large tree stump, pull my knees into my chest, and just…hide.

The insidious sickness builds in my stomach, causing me to convulse.

I think back to all the reading I’ve done on this condition, trying to understand Mikael and what happened to him.

This creature that emerges within him must be an emotional fragment in his mind. These fragments can split off and create sentient beings. These splits know no boundaries and have no fear. They have no consciousness, no identity, and only have one memory, one emotion.

A singular purpose.

They can, however, quickly gain substance the longer they are left to grow. In the beginning, this split only had a slight flash of sentience, but the longer it remains untethered, it grows, pulling the entire system into a frenzy. Without Lincoln holding it all together, this split is taking over.

It is the driving force behind why Mikael kills. It must be the opposite of Lincoln in terms of its function. And it’s been here the entire time, hiding in the contours of his mind. Festering, growing, pushing forward.

The night is silent, and I tremble, holding my breath, too afraid to exhale in case he hears me.

I can sense his presence as if it lives inside me.

His footsteps surround me, and a cloud moves across the sky, causing the moon to cast a heavy, ominous glow, as if the night is truly on his side.

A gust of wind rustles the leaves.

He’s toying with me. He could have easily captured me, but he let me escape. A pulsing sensation hits my arm, and I instinctively cover the wound, only to see my palm covered in blood.

A clicking sound, like he’s ticking a clock with his tongue. Counting down…

Click. Click. Click.

“Summer…” he sings in a haunting voice, and his footsteps crunch in the night. “It’s me, baby. It’s Lincoln. Where are you?”

Lincoln…

But his dark, malicious tone sends shivers down my spine.

His voice sounds so calm, so much like Lincoln—and nothing like the voice I just heard in the warehouse. A sharp pain settles in my chest. I stay still, unable to move because I doubt it’s really him.

Emotionless prick.