“You already have!” she yelled. “Something was choking him. He stopped breathing. Look at him, he’s covered in blood!”

“He is all right,” Rastin assured her. “He will be all right. Please, calm yourself.”

“Calm myself?” sobbed Charlotte.

Above me, the turning ceiling fan sped into a swirling drain—a whirling funnel that threatened to swallow me.

Nauseated, I shut my eyes and fought the urge to puke. Shunting Rastin’s staying arm aside, I sat up.

“Charlotte,” I managed. “It’s not Rastin’s fault.”

“You almost died!” she yelled—loud enough for our sleeping hotel neighbors to hear.

“I didn’t die,” I said. Because I didn’t have an argument. Only a purpose I couldn’t walk away from. Especially now that I’d faced and confronted the monster head-on. Officially, Erik had become someone and not just something. The legend about him was true, too. He had the face of a god. Still, the face I’d seen wasn’t his real one. Not anymore.

“Someone fetch me some towels and warm water,” said Rastin. “Use the ice bucket.”

“Lucas, this has gone too far,” said Charlotte. “You can’t go in that house again.”

“Charlotte,” I said as the rotation of the room began to slow. “I have to.”

“No, you don’t,” she snapped. “Stephanie doesn’t want you to die for her.”

I scowled, not caring for Charlotte’s new stance.

“This is insanity, Lucas,” said Charlotte. “Look at us. We’re not equipped for this.” She thrust an arm toward Rastin. “He’s not equipped for this!”

“Stephanie doesn’t have anyone else,” I said, keeping my voice as reasonable as I could make it while my brain was still trying to sort through all that had happened.

“She has me,” Charlotte said, gesturing to herself.

“What?” snapped Wes.

“I will go in with Rastin and talk to her,” said Charlotte, causing a stunned silence to chill the room. I gawped at Charlotte, who didn’t leap to take her words back. “I’ll go in,” she said. “However I need to. But not you, Lucas. You’re done.”

I shook my head, baffled. “There’s no way I’m let—”

“You don’t get to let me do or not do anything,” she said. “Erik hates you. He’ll kill you the moment you step foot in his world. But he’s not going to hurt me.”

“Are you insane?” I asked her. “Of course he’d try to hurt you!”

“There are no certainties when it comes to Erik,” said Rastin, cutting in quickly, his eyes straying to me with a reluctance I didn’t like. “But . . . knowing what I do about him, I believe Charlotte’s theory is sound. He may just allow Charlotte to speak to her.”

“No,” I told him, before repeating the word to her. “No. There’s no way.”

“I don’t like it either,” said Patrick, “but I think we should hear Charlotte out on this one.”

“No,” said Wes. “I’m with Lucas. That’s a bad idea.”

“This is a bad idea!” hissed Charlotte as she gestured to my arm.

“You hate Stephanie,” I reminded her.