Page 58 of The Claiming

I check for her pulse, which appears normal and as I do, I catch sight of the blood and dirt that is definitely not normal.

“Have you asked if anyone saw anything?”

Kennedy nods. “I asked around some of the girls, but they were attending the royal party and it finished early by all accounts and they were in bed. I also got back earlier than planned.” She grimaces. “I mean for fuck’s sake, Frankie, Amos Sams?”

Despite the situation, I bite back a grin because this is too funny and I wish I had thought of it myself.

She curls her lip in disgust. “That guy needs a serious personality transplant, along with a physical one. He is so creepy it makes me sick just looking at him. You’re a fucking sadist, Frankie, and I willneverforgive you for this.”

She shakes her head and then as Abigail stirs, her eyes turn to me and she gasps, “She’s waking up.”

I stand back because if I am the first person Abigail sees when she opens her eyes, it would probably scare the shit out of her and Kennedy takes her hand and whispers with concern, “Abi, honey, it’s Kennedy.”

“Kennedy.” Abigail’s voice is weak and croaky and Kennedy nods to the table set below the window.

“Grab her a glass of water, Frankie. Her lips are dry and she sounds as if she could use a drink.”

I do as she says and as I reach the table, I stare at the red lipstick scrawled along the surface.

One Down

“Kennedy.”

She raises her eyes and I point to the table.

“Explain this to me.”

As she heads across the room, her eyes widen with fear when she sees the words and gasps, “What the hell is that?”

“Do you know what this means?”

“Of course not. Do you?”

“No.” I snap a photo of it and then we turn as Abigail cries out. “Please, no! Let me go!”

She is thrashing around on the bed and Kennedy cries out, “It’s me, Abigail. Kennedy.”

Her eyes open and as the tears fall, she whispers, “Thank God.”

Then she gasps, “Why does it hurt so much?”

“What hurts, honey?” Kennedy’s voice is soft and soothing, and Abigail winces.

“Inside. It hurts so much.”

Fuck. This isn’t good and then Abigail starts screaming and I don’t think she will ever stop.

TWENTY-EIGHT

CASSIE

It’s so good to be free of the school for a while and do something normal for once. We caught a cab to the town and are eating ice cream overlooking main street as we come to terms with what happened last night.

Siri sighs. “This gelato is seriously good.”

“Gelato?” I raise my eyes and she giggles.

“We go to Italy a lot and when you’ve sampled Italian gelato, you can’t call an ice cream anything else. It’s the best.”

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