Thea’s head whips up abruptly, and she focuses on something just over Zaid’s shoulder, something I can’t see.
“Do you see that?” Her voice borders on desperation.
“There’s nothing there, sweetheart.” Zaid smooths back her golden hair.
“No. No. No. There’s something there.” The tears cascade faster and faster. “It’s coming towards me. Get it away! Get it away!”
She kicks at the air and then screams, focusing on her leg as if she sees something crawling up it.
“Thea! Baby! There is nothing on you! I promise!” Krystian grips her cheeks and forces her gaze to his. “You know I would never lie to you.”
“How can you say that?” she sobs, wrenching her head away. “I can feel it on my skin. No…under my skin. Oh god.”
Her fingernails rake against the inside of her wrist. Then she starts to pull at her skin, drawing blood.
“Fuck! No!” Zaid pulls her hand away. “Stop hurting yourself!”
“I need to get it out! Please, Zaid. Let me get it out. It hurts. It hurts so bad.” More blood oozes from the wound, steadily dripping onto the floor beneath her.
Rafe, his features carefully impassive, steps forward and removes his backpack. He grabs gauze and tape and kneels before the trembling reaper.
“I can’t lie,” he whispers, his voice as blank as his expression. “So listen to me carefully—there isnothingon you. Nothing inside of you. You’re safe, Thea. You’re with us.”
Thea sniffles and glances at him. No, not at him. Over him. She’s lost, gone somewhere that none of us can follow.
And that fucking terrifies me.
Rafe begins to address her bloody wound, his touch unexpectedly gentle. I’ve never seen the psychotic asshole behave like this. He treats her like she’s something precious, something he wishes to treasure until his dying days.
A lump forms in my throat.
Thea may be here with us, but she’s notwithus anymore. Not really. And until we can figure out how to save her, she’ll be stuck like this.
Trapped within her own mind.
I’m moving before I can think better of it and kneeling before her. Krystian shoots me a warning look, his eyes wide with panic, and Zaid simply sniffles and looks away. Rafe refuses to even acknowledge my presence, his gaze intent on her wrist.
“Listen to me, Thea, or so help me…”
Her gaze moves almost mechanically to mine. She’s shaking, her body trembling like a leaf in a storm, and her breath hitches slightly. But she doesn’t pull her gaze away.
“I know I can be an asshole, but haven’t I always looked after you? I did it then, and I’ll do it now. I gave you my promise, and I intend to keep it. You’re safe, Thea. You’re with people who…care about you. So tell those voices in your head to fuck right off and come back to me. Please.”
For a split second, she’s there—the girl I’ve come to know, admire, and despise. The reaper. The one who I can’t stand because she makes me feel too much.
But then her gaze shifts again, flaring with that hollowed-out look, and I can practically feel her pull away. She’s lost in a world only she can see, and there’s nothing we can do to stop it.
“Come on, Thea,” I say, my voice breaking against the weight of everything I’m holding back. “You’re not alone, okay? You’re not alone.”
Her eyes don’t focus. They flicker—distant and lost.
“I’m alone. They tell me I’m alone. So, so alone,” she whispers, barely audible. “Alone, alone, alone, alone.”
I swallow hard, willing myself not to panic. This is Thea, for fuck’s sake. I can’t give up on her. I won’t. She’s the same woman I’ve been silently protecting, the one I’ve been pushing away since she first batted those long lashes at me.
“Can you walk, baby?” I ask gently, helping her to her feet.
The term of endearment slips out before I can think better of it. Fortunately, no one pays me any attention.
