Heather
"John!" Mom said. "Not yet. We don’t know anything for sure yet."
I cleared my throat. "Why is my life ruined exactly?" They ignored .
"I can help her," Mr. Langdon said. "It won’t be the end for her."
The end? Holy shit, this sounded bad.
Dad blocked Mr. Langdon’s way as he tried to look at my shoulder.
"Let look. I have to confirm it. It’ll only take a second. If it’s shallow or small, it won’t be enough to turn her."
Dad stepped in Mr. Langdon’s space. "I don’t give a shit about this job. Soone hurts my girl, they pay. Understood?"
"Perfectly. No matter what this is, we will make it right." Mr. Langdon didn’t back down, but he didn’t get mad either. He had so major cojones to stay calm while facing Dad’s anger.
"You’ve got exactly thirty seconds," Dad said.
Mr. Langdon walked toward . I tried to retreat, shaking. He stopped and held his hands up. "I won’t hurt you. I won’t even touch you. I promise. I’m only going to look."
He won’t touch ? How much did he know about ?
"It’s okay, honey." Mom tried to get free of my grasp.
For so reason I was afraid of Mr. Langdon, and he hadn’t done anything. As he walked toward , the overhead light hit his eyes, making them glow for a split second.
Mr. Langdon hung his head and scrunched his shoulders, and the motion made feel more comfortable. "Let’s get this over with." I sat up with Mom’s help, and he bent toward . I could have sworn I heard him sniff before he straightened and took a step back.
"We should talk outside," he said to my parents.
They followed him past the curtain and down the hall.
Free of his gaze, I could breathe again. But why did they leave the room? I was the one who was going to be affected by whatever he had to say. I wasn’t a child.
I could hear their voices faintly moving away from my room. Squeaky wheels turned beneath beds as they rolled down the hallway. I focused on them, but everything got too loud until I was drowning in sound. Footsteps on the floor. Beeps of the machines.
Frantic murmurs of the nurses. Weeping down the hall. Every little noise filled my head.
I plugged my ears and started to hum. I had to concentrate on my parents and Mr. Langdon. I could do this. I had years of experience blocking visions out.
When I pulled my fingers from my ears, the noise had gone down to a reasonable level. Now I had to find their voices in the din.
I visualized the hallway. The sounds grew, building onto each other until I could pick out Mr. Langdon’s calm, deep voice.
"—a danger to everyone in this hospital, including you," Mr. Langdon said. "It is essential that we—"
"Is there any cure?" Dad sounded seriously pissed off.
"We can ask my family," Mom said. "They have to know sothing—"
"Please, Gabby." Dad growled. "You know how your family is."
If they were talking about Mom’s family, this was going to be bad.
"I don’t want to start anything with the Texas coven," Mr. Langdon said. "The wolves that attend my school aren’t dangerous. If you go to your family, this could turn into a war."
There was silence. I wasn’t getting it and felt incredibly dense for missing whatever the rest of them knew.
"This is the first incident we’ve ever had, and there’s sothing going on here that we’re missing. If your family is what I think it is, you know what I an. And you also know that she has to co with ," Mr. Langdon said. "For both her safety and yours."
"I can’t believe you did this to us, John. And I can’t believe I let you talk into going along with it. That you exposed our children to their kind. You know who I am. Who our children are, and yet you still did this."
"Gabby, please—"
"You can’t take Heather," Mom said, cutting off Dad. Her words were clipped with anger. "You don’t understand who my daughter is. Once La Alquelarre finds out, there’s no telling what they’ll do."
What did Alquelarre an?
"She’s part of the Texas coven?"
"She’s supposed to take it over."
What was she talking about? What was I supposed to be doing? It didn’t matter what they were talking about. I didn’t want to go with anyone. I wanted to go ho.
My heartbeat pounded in my ears. They couldn’t make go with Mr. Langdon. I didn’t care what they said. Pain rippled along my hands. I looked down at them, and saw my nails growing longer, poking through the tips of my gloves. The seams ripped.
What the hell?
I grabbed the thin mattress. This was so not happening. It was a vision. A druggie must have been on this table before and had so weird hallucination. That had to be it. That was the only rational explanation.
Hands do not turn into claws. Especially not my hands.
Panic made it worse. My knuckles popped, and pain rolled up my arms.
"I know this has co as a shock. You have to understand that she is extrely dangerous—"
Dangerous? My panic turned to anger. Rage boiled my blood. It consud .
The pain grew. A growl escaped as I squird in my bed. My growing nails shredded my gloves. My knees popped, sending shooting pain through , and I scread.
Mr. Langdon appeared by my side. "Shit," he said under his breath. "We need a tranq in here. Now!"
I tried to sit up, but he dodged my swinging monster-arms and pinned in place. I growled again, struggling to get free as he brought his nose to mine. All I could see were his eyes as they turned from hazel to bright olive.
Mr. Langdon made a low rumbling noise that rippled through . The pain and heat lessened, clearing my head enough so that I could think about what had just happened.
This was a nightmare. My hands had transford into beast claws.
And that anger. I’d never felt anything like it before. Not in any of my visions. Not ever.
I shivered. Was Mr. Langdon right? Please, God, don’t let Mr. Langdon be right.
The nurse, stinking of fear, rushed in, and stabbed my arm with a needle.
I couldn’t stop the tears as they rolled down my cheeks. Mom’s soft whimpering caught my attention. They were standing outside the curtain, staring at my deford hands. Only a piece of the shredded white glove hung around my left wrist. Dad’s arms held Mom up as he stared openmouthed.
They looked how I felt.
If this is a dream, I want to wake up now.
"Oh my God. This is my fault." Dad turned to Mr. Langdon. "Please. Help my daughter," he whispered as the world faded from view.
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