Insidious(60)

The spaniel cowered down at my feet. I was dressed in a familiar black dress. Vanessa’s. It was the one I borrowed for Blaine’s funeral. The feed seemed to be coming from the bushes lining the side of the house. Just as before, the crumpled, feathery body in my hand contorted, setting its snapped bones back into place, springing to life.

“Kat? You okay?” asked Kelsey.

I immediately threw my phone back into my purse, seeing more students file into the room around our desks. “Yeah.”

“What was that?”

Based on the angle I’d been holding up the phone, she couldn’t have seen the video, so I shrugged as nonchalantly as I could. “Just some ass-hat trying to harass me.”

Whoever this was was definitely an ass-hat, but that’s not what scared me. The fact that this person was apparently stalking me, filming me, taking pictures…I couldn’t begin to fathom who would do something so sick. I needed answers.

Thankfully, my anxiety was tranquilized after class began. Half the students wound up fast asleep halfway through Mr. Hopkins’s mind-numbing lecture about the Neolithic Revolution, and the rest of us barely managed to keep our eyes open, that is, until Chelsea Parker suddenly screamed.

“No more marshmallows!” grumbled Duncan Hall, dazedly waking up from his nap. A loose sheet of notebook paper still clung to the side of his face from where his head had been resting on his desk. The room filled with a chorus of chuckles.

“Ms. Parker,” annunciated Mr. Hopkins, still shooting an irritated glare over at Duncan, “care to share something?”

Chelsea’s friend, Molly, appeared just as ill, looking at her own phone. And just like that, every other cell in the room started lighting up…except mine. Despite Mr. Hopkins’s obvious objection, even Kelsey caved into curiosity with everyone else and checked out the new notification flashing on her screen. Her free hand flew to her mouth, masking a gasp. Before I could ask, everyone’s eyes slowly settled on me in horror.

Had my mystery stalker sent that video to everyone? What if this person had more damning evidence, like Reese killing that Hellhound? I contemplated bolting for the door, but instead grabbed Kelsey’s phone right from her fingers.

“Kat, don’t-”

It was another picture of me—from the accident. But unlike the previous photo I’d been sent, I wasn’t laying on the pavement. Here, I was still strapped in the passenger seat of Blaine’s Mustang, my lifeless, blood-spattered body slumped against the door. The room was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. I numbly set the phone back down on Kelsey’s desk, fearing my shaking legs would give out beneath me as I stood up. I could feel my own cell vibrate from inside my bag, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at it. Before Mr. Hopkins could object, I grabbed my things and ran.





Chapter 15

Alive





Taking refuge in the bathroom, I tried collecting myself amid my phone blowing up with texts from everyone. I had apparently gone viral. Just as I was about to mass delete all the messages, a particular one caught my eye. Again, the sender was listed as Unknown.

The attached image was all too familiar. Blood, shattered glass, crushed interior. The car crash. Only this time, it wasn’t a picture of me. It was Blaine. His limp frame sat slumped in the driver’s seat, his blood spattered face resting against the deflated airbag of the steering wheel. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.”

My blood ran cold, and another weird tingling feeling prickled at my arm. I hiked up my sleeve to see a tiny P-shaped symbol glowing. The sight of it only made my heart beat faster. What the hell were these things? What did they do? I pinched my eyes shut, slamming my foot against the stall door.

I only did it to blow off some steam, but it really only made things worse. The moment my heel connected with the door, it went flying. The door didn’t just kick open. It flew clear off its hinges, collapsing onto the damp tiled floor in front of the sink.

Not only that, but the metal was dented in…from where my foot had hit it.

What was happening to me?

My heart rate kicked up to a tortuous thunder. My inner core now felt oddly cold. My palms were sweating. My chest was tightening. And my entire body was shaking. I couldn’t breathe.

I needed to get out of here.

Throwing inhibition to the wind, I took off running. Classrooms whizzed by me in a blur as I made my way to the ground level. Rounding the end of the hall, it felt like hitting a brick wall as I ran smack dab into someone.

“Hello to you, too,” sighed Reese, catching hold of me before I wound up on my ass from the impact. His grip on me tightened as he pulled me back upright, and I had to blink several times to rid the blurriness from my eyes.