Chapter 9

Nightmare stepped over Milani's body and toed the line of fire around her, giving the gathered students a curious look. "Where is the bride of death?"

My stomach sank to my feet.

I clutched Honey with shaking hands and irrationally hoped that line of fire somehow trapped Nightmare, even if she'd willingly walked into it.

Not me, not me, I'm not the bride of death, please mean someone else.

"There you are," Nightmare said, a smile in her voice. I darted the world's quickest glance at her and couldn't trap a whimper when I found her eerie eyes on me. "It was pure chance, you realise? Whoever chose the dress and veil would become his bride. But he'll like you—a scared little rabbit with fire in her eyes. Yes, he'll like you very much."

I shook my head and realised I wasn't frozen in place at all, I was just terrified. No, I wanted to say. No. I'm no one's bride, no one will like me, no thank you very much.

I got the sense she was smiling at me but I couldn't breathe, couldn't lift my head, couldn't do anything except shake and cling to Honey who lunged forward suddenly and said, "Hey, my bitch'snot marrying anyone. Even if they've got a giant schlong."

Terror had me shivering, my hands snapping out to grab her. Like our movement had shocked them out of their frozen terror, everyone in the room erupted into a sudden flurry of motion, racing for the door.

"Yes, my terrors, run. Run so I can chase." Nightmare scuffed her shoe against the line of fire again and flames shot so high they obscured her face. A wall of heat hit us. The five robed figures started chanting again.

I didn't stick around to see what happened next. I grabbed Honey, shoved her out of the bloodstained room, and ran as fast as my legs would carry me through the hall, under the obnoxious chandelier, and out into the garden. I sucked down air like I'd been drowning. My ears buzzed. I could still feel the horrid weight of Nightmare's power, could still taste blood.

"That was a joke, right?" someone gasped behind us. "That wasn't real."

An asshole shoved past us so forcefully that I splayed into the topiary beside the door, and I was so afraid, so shaken, that I didn't care that vomit smeared on my white dress. Or that Alastor Carmichael was the dick who shoved me out of the way in his frantic attempt to get free.

Honey pulled me back to my feet, her blue eyes wide and glassy. "Are you alright?"

"No," I breathed, but I guided us back onto the path and down it towards the gate. The only way out was through, and I didn't dare hesitate. Nightmare would chase us, would hunt us down. I choked back a cry.

Whoever chose the dress and veil would become his bride. But he'll like you—a scared little rabbit with fire in her eyes.

A chill tripped down my spine. I clutched Honey tightly as my numb feet carried me away, scanning the garden for Byron, needing my friend's stability and reassurance. I wanted a hug so suddenly that my eyes burned.

"We need to—get out of here," I rasped, ignoring the fracturing of my breathing, the adrenaline shaking through my system until my legs were jelly. I grabbed the fence post and then we were through the gate, surrounded by jesters and grim reapers and sexy nurses.

"What the fuck was that?" Justin Merchant demanded, grabbing Duncan by the front of his plague doctor outfit and wrenching him close. Justin's fist collided with Duncan's nose in the next moment, cartilage crunching. I glanced away at the gushing blood, too reminiscent of the walls in that room.

"I know you're her disciple," Justin snarled in his face. "It was your party, all your idea, because you were going to fucking sacrifice us."

The word sacrifice sent a chill down my spine and I shuddered, holding Honey tighter to my side as we cut across the path in front of Ford House, aiming for the park that would take us home. But Nightmare, whoever she even was, just did all that on Ford grounds. Was anywhere safe?

Oh, god, she killed Mason Lindgren. And Rone. And Orwell. And Milani.

"If anyone's her disciple, it's you, Merchant," Duncan Ford spat, his voice thick with blood. "Everyone knows you're obsessed with the devil and all that shit—"

"Look!" someone shrieked, and despite every instinct in my body I couldn't help but turn back towards Ford House. My stare went to the windows, the glass gleaming blood-red, but snagged on the sheer amount of people milling in the street around the building. Far more than the twenty-one of us who'd been trapped in that room. Vultures, dying for a story to tell their friends, or just other people like us who'd got caught up in whatever the fuck was happening tonight.

"What is that…?" the guy in the clown costume breathed. "Why is it… breathing?"

The crimson light throbbed, every bit as alive as the power was around Nightmare. I backed up towards the park, grabbing Honey's hand and squeezing so tight I must have rearranged her bones. I couldn't feel the cold of the sea wind on my skin, couldn't hear the shouts of alarm and speculating murmurs anymore. I felt the caress of that red light across my skin, like a tangible touch, and judging by the way Honey stiffened she felt it too.

"Run!"someone yelled. Duncan, maybe, his voice garbled by his broken nose.

I stumbled back a step but too late. Sanguine light exploded from Ford House, bursting through every window, through the door. It cast everything it touched in shades of vermillion blood. And it touched all of us, splashed over part of Milton Hall and the park. No one was spared its bloody glow, and I knew deep in my bones it was far more than light, like that woman had been far more than human.

As the crimson light swept over me, I heard Nightmare's sultry voice again.

Yes, he'll like you very much.