CHAPTER 18

Somewhere in the fog I heard my name. Felt a shaking, like an uneven cart. Something touching me, soft yet hard.

I groaned, an unnatural grogginess making it difficult to open my eyes. When I finally managed, even the indirectness of sun rays on the ceiling made my head hurt. Someone sat over me … their head on fire.

I blinked and my name came out of the fog. Blinked again, and the fiery creature transformed into a hysterical Emma, her red hair glinting golden highlights in the sun.

“Andromeda, bleawait unt!”

“Where are we?” I tried, my words slurring.

“Tongath vabee! Blea, you habbu eat!”

“What?” I fought to sit up, and felt her hands on my shoulders, assisting me. Immediately the room began to spin.

I lifted my hand to grab my aching head, the sharp smell of some herb invading my sinuses, clearing my mind. I opened my eyes wide to make them focus.

My bed. My room. Wait, it was coming back to me … the Waking. Saba breaking like clay.

Oh God. The hyena.

I leapt to my feet, my knees buckling, and caught myself with both hands. A small spot of red began to spread on my bandaged hand, and I watched it without being able to feel it.

“Andromeda,” Emma said, helping me sit up. She patted my cheeks, searching my face for signs of sanity, I was sure. “Are you all right?”

I didn’t remember ever getting out of that closet. But then again … I looked at my sliced fingers, which were individually bandaged and wrapped. I could barely feel them. I felt lethargic. The aftershock of a sleep aid, or some kind of painkiller, I was sure of it. I’d never consented to that, and it put my nerves on edge.

My guess was Saba. Which was sweet, considering what I’d done to her. And even so, she’d saved my life last night. Or stopped me from saving—

“Oh God,” I murmured. “Tom.”

“Yes, Tom.” Emma nodded, her relieved smile quickly dissolving to tears. “Please, help me find him, Andromeda. I think he’s vanished.”

“Vanished…” Memories were flooding back to me now, and that one slapped me right down my spine, making me tremble. The image of him lying mangled on the floor, his empty eyes staring at heaven, was scarred in my mind. No, he hadn’t vanished. And, unless Saba had cleared away the body, like she’d cleared away the evidence of our struggle last night, I knew in which room his body would still be lying.