Above me, a door opened. With the sound of a thrown switch, a bulb overhead came on, sparked once, and then dimmed. Footsteps came down the stairs. Boots first, then jeans, leather-covered hands, a heavy sweater rolled up to the elbows… and then any hope I had that this was a good thing crumbled and died.

I squeezed my eyes shut and pretended to be asleepor dead.

The footsteps neared, stopped, and poked my curled toes. “I know you’re awake.”

I didn’t move, didn’t dare breathe. Not even when the buzzing droned to an intense pitch.

A sigh came. “Ember, I can read your thoughts. I know you’re awake. Don’t make this harder on yourself, or me.”

My eyes snapped opened then. I hadn’t realized how close the monster was to me, but only inches separated us. “Why?” My voice came out hoarse and weak.

Mr. Theo gave me a smilethe same one he wore when he lectured in class. “I’d think it would be obvious at this point.”

But it wasn’t. “I don’t understand.”

“Sorry to make you wait so long. I had to finish up school.” He picked up a rat by its tail. “Dirty little things.”

I swallowed back the taste of bile. His words gave me a hint at the timeline. Hours had passed if he was done teaching.

“You look cold.”

“I… I am,” I whispered.

He tossed the rat aside and rested his hands on his knees. Theo sighed. “You could’ve avoided this. I tried to make it fast before.”

My gaze fell back to him. “I don’t understand. I thought… I thought you liked me. That”

“That I related to you? With my sad, sad story about a sick mom and kids who hated me? Sorry. Not particularly true. My mother was a cold-hearted bitch who thought her kids were nothing but freaks. She shipped me and my sister off to the Facility when I was only six. Really, thisall of thisisn’t anything personal.”

“It’s not?”

His brows furrowed and he removed his glasses, putting them aside. “I tried the night of the bonfire. You would’ve been another teenager killed by one of their drunk friends, but you moved out of the way. Then the night you went walking through the woods, it seemed even more perfect, especially after all those nasty things were left in your locker. I figured they’d blame the empath, but once again you survived and no one blamed the other girl.”

My brain slowly worked though the sludge of fear and confusion. “You won’t get away with this.”

“I won’t?” His tone relaxed. “The last time I checked, Hayden was in the hospital and, thanks to your plans to snoop around, I know Jonathan Cromwell is out of town. By the time either of them realizes what’s going on, it’ll be too late.”

“Nono, you’re wrong.”