Capitulum XV

" I t seems I have some visitors," he purred, his voice so low it rattled my teeth.

The nurses continued their task, seemingly apathetic to the knowledge someone had been eavesdropping in the corner.

Rigel became visible again, and I hesitantly followed suit.

"Apologies," I said, the word trembling on my tongue.

He laughed. "It's no bother. I love the smell of the young." He inhaled loudly, the sound wet as he sucked his snot back up into his nasal cavity.

"What are you?" Rigel deadpanned.

I shot him a glare, as I'd hoped to avoid pissing off the giant scary monster.

Luckily, he didn't seem bothered.

"Sensed I'm not entirely human, have you?"

One of the nurses picked up a large hacksaw while the other stretched a goat leg between them. The first nurse patted around the valley where the goat fur melded into the man's human flesh and, once satisfied, placed the saw blade along the seam.

The man only paid them a cursory mind as he continued talking. "Well, you'd be right. I was born to a woman and lived the same as you. But even though my mother was a mortal, my father was... otherwise."

"Like a Nephilim?" Rigel asked, head tipped to the side curiously.

"Call me what you want." He grunted as the blade sawed into his flesh, causing a sliver of blood to run down his side and soak into a cushion. The goat leg wiggled as if trying to escape the sawing of the blade, but its fight degraded into twitching halfway through.

"Does that hurt?" I asked.

"Exceptionally." His dark chuckle was cut off by a pained grunt as a nurse braced herself against his side to leverage the saw against the thick ivory femur protruding from him. "Regardless, the process is mutually beneficial. They keep me pruned, and I help to rebuild the lost souls of purgatory."

Rigel and I met eyes in realization as he asked, "You're the reason so many people look animalistic here?"

"Yes, my limbs are the only ones that can fuse to the bodies of others."

"And if they stop removing them, you'll . . ."

"They'll distort me to the point that I won't be able to move or function, and I'll be no better than a large slab of meat — a fate I find unappealing."

A final groan cut through his explanation as they severed the goat leg, and it fell limply into the nurse's arms. While they carried it down the stairs, the other nurse pressed a towel to the wound.

"Why does this happen to you?" Rigel asked.

"Seemingly, it's my punishment for being an abomination. A sort of penance for my many sins."

"Many sins?"

He grinned, but this time it appeared darker, slimier. I caught sight of the nurses exchanging glances before they slowly filed out of the room.

Rigel's hand tangled into the back of my sweater, but his feet remained planted.

The man laughed again, causing dust to shake free from the rafters and waft around him. "I was born with a specific craving. I tried to fight it, but, well..."

As he spoke, a new river of drool leaked down his chin, dripping onto the limbs protruding from his chest.

My eyes went to the door. We'd backed away subconsciously so much it sat perilously between us and the giant.

"It's so hard to live craving something you can't have. Especially when catching it would be all too easy."

Rigel took a step toward the door, dragging me along behind him.

"Go? So soon?" The man suddenly shifted his knees under himself and leaned forward.

The limb clusters all shuddered at the motion, his body squirming and writhing as he loomed toward us.

"Shit," Rigel said as his bony arm cut into my stomach, hoisting me against him as he made a break for the door.

The giant lunged, moving rapidly for his size, just as Rigel yanked the door open and leaped through. He lost his balance as we fell headfirst down the stairs. The impact ripped me from his grip as he rolled violently to the landing below, my cane clattering after him.

I caught myself on the handrail as the steps bit painfully into my sides. But before I could catch my breath, I heard the floorboards behind me squeal as a giant hand closed around my thigh.

"Rigel!" I screamed.

Though, logically, I wasn't sure what he could do.

My only advantage was that the giant's body was so misshapen he struggled to fit it back through the doorway. Limbs stuck out at every angle, and none were particularly pleased by the burst of movement.

A ram's head bleated as its thick horns got wedged against the doorframe. A set of canid legs kicked angrily, their large black claws gouging holes in the wooden stairs. I also caught sight of flaccid male genitals growing from his index finger, which bobbed against my leg as he tugged me backward.

I tried kicking him, but my detached foot was the free one, and it had dislodged, flopping in my sock.

From behind me came a whistle, and when I peered back, I found Rigel holding the bloody hacksaw. The nurses were restraining him, but he still threw the weapon my way.

To flip around, I let go of the handrail to grab it. With a painful yank, the creature pulled me until a rhinoceros horn growing from his elbow bit into the wall and jerked me to a stop.

I could no longer see the saw blade but groped desperately on the step until my fingertips brushed the cool metal. With a gasp of relief, I grabbed the weapon and brought it down hard on the top of the creature's hand.

With a deafening yowl, he released me, causing me to tumble down the stairs. The blade skittered away as I splayed on my back, watching as the nurses leaned over me.

"Thanks for all the help, guys," I wheezed, ribs aching.

"It's not our fault you went up there," one said, unamused.

Rigel lifted me upright, holding me steady while I adjusted my foot. "We're leaving."

Another nurse rolled their eyes and picked up the saw. "Do you know how hard it is to calm everyone down after these episodes?"

"Boo-hoo," Rigel said, taking me by the arm and guiding me toward the descending stairs.

Passing the room with the heads, I heard the distinct sound of the beast's raucous laughter, and I realized she wasn't quite as forgiving as she'd initially led on.

"You know what, you crazy bitch," I said, cutting into the room, cane at whacking height.

An arm grabbed me, and I expected it to belong to Rigel, but when I turned, I found Tom's face looking up at me, jarringly coherent. Even though all that remained of his body was a cross-section of his chest and a single arm I'd salvaged from the snake.

"Don't bother," he said smoothly before dragging himself toward the stairs. "I'll show you to the door."

The open part of his torso was heavily bandaged, the cotton sliding easily as he army crawled across the wood floor.

"You're even faster than you were with legs," Rigel said once we were on the porch, and I elbowed him hard in the side.

To my surprise, Tom laughed. "This arm makes me the envy of the ward."

"I'm really sorry."

He raised his hand to silence me. "It wasn't your fault. I know that now. It's me who should be sorry."

That was not the reaction I'd anticipated.

"Oh, well, thanks."

"I just wanted to say that before you guys left." He cleared his throat. "I also had something else to ask."

"Yeah?"

"Can you tell the other Reapers that I'm here? I haven't seen anyone in a while. I felt someone handling my body parts, wherever they are, a while ago, but it stopped. So, now, I don't know if anyone knows where to find this part of me. Can you ask?"

I had to hide my shock at his words. As I nodded stiffly, Rigel's eyes bore into me.

He shot me a smile before dragging himself back inside, and we descended the porch steps to begin the walk back to campus.

"His limbs," I said once safely out of earshot, my mind going to the finger I'd found. "Do you think those were the ones that..."

"It stands to reason," he said. "Who would have known where to find them besides you?"

I curled my lip. "You're the one who knows about the throughlines. Maybe you should ask yourself."

"I'm not accusing you, Agnes." He rolled his eyes impatiently. "It's a serious question. Who besides us would have known that Tom's chummed limbs were out there?"

"The school, I guess," I said. "Which also makes sense, given the fact that it would need to be someone connected to the school to freely come and go from campus."

"Yes, I suppose that does narrow it down significantly."

"Any guesses?"

"Sorry to disappoint, Ags. I'm still trying to shake the image of the man-eating giant from my brain."

When I opened my mouth to argue, something struck me. He called me Ags, which wasn't unheard of as a nickname, but he rarely called me anything other than Tits. In fact, he hadn't called me Tits in a while.

"You don't call me Tits anymore."

He shrugged as if it hadn't even occurred to him. "Was it a nickname you were particularly fond of? I can start using it again if you'd prefer."

"No, I was just curious why you stopped." I kept the words light, surprised by the serious expression etched on his face.

"The joke just wasn't very funny anymore. That's all."

~

As campus came back into view, an odd longing crept into me. The warm glow of the sodium lights in the tall iron bars made the whole thing feel sacred, like how a beating heart must be ensconced inside a rib cage. I yearned for the safety the school presented. Or rather, I yearned for the safety to be genuine.

Circling to where the rope still hung, Rigel went up first, wrapping his legs around the bar and pulling himself over. When he landed on the other side, I passed my cane through the bars and followed suit.

Once I reached the top, he called, "Agnes, untie the rope."

I narrowed my eyes at him despite the low light.

"I have a few objections to that, actually."

"We can't just leave it here."

"And I'm meant to what? Splatter?"

"Just slide down."

"Why didn't you volunteer yourself to just slide down , then?"

"Both of my legs are still on."

With a bubble of rage in my chest, I yanked my foot free and chucked it at his head. He dodged the limb, and I grunted as the foot bounced painfully across the grass.

He crossed his arms and shook his head. "Now, what did that achieve?"

"Screw you, Rigel. I'm not doing it."

"Come on, Ags. Be a team player."

I ignored him, pulling myself inside the fence. But about halfway to the bottom, the rope shifted.

I looked down, ready to tell Rigel off, but he wasn't holding it. Then I tipped my head up, and in the shadow of the moon overhead, the knot was untying itself.

Before I had the opportunity to do or say anything, it slackened in my hands, and my legs burned as I lost control of my sliding speed. With a final tug, the rope came free, and I was trying to grab the railing and protect my face from the bundle plunging toward me. In the end, it didn't matter because, when the bristly cord hit me, I lost my grip entirely.

I fell at full speed, not sure how far I was from the ground but preparing for the impact. Instead, the sensation of hands grazed me as Rigel tried and failed to catch me.

"What the hell was that?" I wheezed, rolling onto my side to face him.

I could see his chest rising and falling quickly, but when the light hit his face, I recognized a familiar glint of mischief.

"I was doing what you said. I got the rope down myself."

I stared at him in confusion as my brain caught up to his words. Of course he already knew how to move things with his mind.

Before I even registered what I was doing, I leaped at him, straddling his waist and wrapping my hands around his throat.

"I'm going to kill you," I hissed.

He grinned. "Too late, I beat you to it."

I let go of his neck and brought my palm down hard on his sternum. "That's not funny."

"Don't you think you're being a little dramatic? You're fine. It was just a joke."

He didn't even bother to fight me off, which infuriated me more.

I looked around. "Where's my cane? I'm going to put it inside of you."

His eyebrows wiggled. "Is that a promise?"

"Ew!" I said, slapping his chest again. "Don't be fucking gross."

"Don't blame me. You know how long it's been since I've seen Lindy. A man can only take so much temptation."

I brought my hands up over my ears, palms muffling my words as I said, "Stop being disgusting."

That was when he decided to move for the first time, reaching up and pulling my hands away from my head. Both of his eyebrows shot up as he leveled his gaze into mine. "You're the one on top of me, Agnes."

"I, uh . . ."

My face burned, and I was aware of every point of our bodies touching. The reality of it hadn't even occurred to me. Touching him was as normal as pulling a sweater over my head.

But his eyes had changed, and suddenly, nothing about what I'd done proved innocuous.

I went to roll off him, but his hands stayed clasped around my wrists, holding me in place.

"Rigel."

His eyes flicked to my lips for the quickest second. "Agnes."

My heart skipped, and I wasn't sure how I felt. It wasn't outright disgust but an odd sort of regret, like I wanted to return to the moment before his face changed.

But I couldn't react, not that I knew how to anyway. Suddenly, voices wisped in from the stables along with the distinctive crunch of hay under leather shoes.

His body tightened with surprise under me, and I looked around desperately for my foot and my cane before another set of hands brushed me.

Rigel released me in surprise, and I only realized why when I looked down at the space where our hands had been and found only his.

I'd been turned invisible, and the person who'd done it was pulling me off Rigel.