Page 15 of Guardian

A sneer slashed throughherlips.

Oh, Katerina, it’s rude to ignore someone who’s a part of you.

“You’re nothing,” I said through gritted teeth, “but a figment of my imagination.”

Shetilted her head.Herlips were unmoving as the heat ofherwords hovered on my skin.

You’re losing control.

“What?”

A memory flickered against my mind, the moment transforming the declining living room into the foyer with the three Sephtis brothers. I witnessed how I gripped one of them by the neck and lifted them with no mercy in my eyes, the words that escaped my lips stern and cold.

“Don’t you ever call me that.”

Shewas fucking mocking me.

The memory quickly dispersed and pieced the living room back together,herbody carving against the shift of scenery.

A simple name, yet such a powerful trigger—

The rage coursed faster as I continued to respond through gritted teeth, “Don’t you dare.”

—Kat.

I pounced across the room before I could think. My hands wrapped aroundherneck, my grip tightening untilshe’dvanished. But it wasn’t real. I held nothing; I had no control.Shemanipulated everything.

“I can erase you with a single pill. You can’t use anything, not even that name, against me.”

Hersneer stretched further.

Right, because I’m Kat, aren’t I?

“That name is nothing. You. Are. Nothing.”

The anger violently weighed against my stomach. It squeezed and twisted my guts, my throat tightening as my mouth grew dry.

Sweet Katerina, you’re not as strong as you used to be.

I stumbled backward, the furniture and walls slowly vanishing into the sky.

Soon, you’ll accept me.

Herwords echoed around me, with no trace ofherbody or the house in sight as a force plunged me through the floor.

Because we’ve grown hungry.

My body grew dense along the air pressure, sharp waters swallowing me as I crashed through.

And we’ll be satisfied once we’ve killed them all.

A prickling itch scraped my skin. My throat swelled as my lungs clung for air, a sudden force pulling me away from the dark room through a door.

I slammed against the ceramic toilet, a rapid-fire clawing through my throat and out of my lips. Nothing escaped me, my stomach constricting and yanking me deeper into the ground. The minor light that snuck through a small window reflected the pale-yellow liquid floating on the bowl’s surface. It was a bathroom I didn’t recognize.

I don’t know how long I stayed there like that. When I had enough energy to stand, I dragged myself toward the book bag Lace had given me.

I threw the papers onto the floor and grabbed the orange jars. One by one, I downed the range of antidepressants, antipsychotics, a few new experimental drugs, and nausea medication for the one side effect I could barely medicate. The rest —like my sleeping paralysis, appetite loss, sweating, insomnia, and more— not so much.

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