Page 5 of Taken to the Deadlands

Panic rose in me.

“It’s not you. It’s just this whole situation?—“

“It’s okay, I was freaked out about it too,” Eve said. “I don’t like people seeing into me like that. Which brings me to you. What can you do? Read minds? Fly? Teleport?”

I gave her a look.

“What do you mean?”

She rolled her eyes.

“It took a lot of talking, but we figured it out between us and the few that came before you,” she offered. “We all have something. Iris is auras. I can tell when someone lies. And you?”

I stilled. The two girls in front of me looked normal. Like any other humans walking the earth.

What do they mean they have special powers? And why do they think I have?—

No.

Realization, closely followed by horror, hit me like a truck.

Seeing ghosts was a lie!

The townspeople believed it, but… That demon? Was thatthe reason she kidnapped me in the first place?

I’m going to throw up.

“She’s having a breakdown.”

“No.” My voice came out harder than I meant it. “It’s just… She called me a spirit seer.”

I looked up sheepishly. Both of them looked at me with varying degrees of hesitancy. I prayed to whatever power was out there that Eve wouldn’t catch me in my lie.

Because it wasn’ttechnicallya lie. The demon didcall me that… But whether that was true or not was a whole different story.

I’m obviously much worse of an actor than I thought.

Eve relaxed a bit. “Well, then maybe you can spot the one that comes into our room to deliver food.“

Iris didn’t say anything, but she wouldn’t look me in the eyes either.

Can she tell? Even worse…Will she tell Eve?

“Food?” I asked. “How long have you been here?”

“Almost a week,” Eve said. “Iris is on day three.”

Without warning, the door burst open. I jerked back and pushed myself to my knees, eyes trained on the door.

“Oh, it’s the food,” Eve commented. “Don’t try to run. That’s how the last one disappeared.”

I had been lying the entire time. I had not once seen a ghost. But the thing that walked through that door?

It was the most twisted, grotesque thing I had ever seen in my life.

Whatever it was, it wasn’t a ghost. I had nothing to compare it to, but my gut feeling told me that thing was far worse than any spirit.

Its body was skeletal-like, with skin that looked more like leather than anything human. Chains were wrapped around its body, and low moaning sounds came from its disfigured mouth.

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