Chapter 12
Micah
The ward breathes like a slow animal.
I sit at the edge of my bed, the cuffs on my wrist loose. Bruce stands by the door, his phone a small rectangle of light. The silence in my room is as sharp as glass. I watch the clock in the hallway like it’s a countdown.
Katana should be inside Vale’s office by now.
It’s time.
I wander down to the common area. Bruce follows, but is distracted by his phone.
Timmy sits by the nurses’ station, his hands twitching—always twitching. He’s the sort who breaks loudly when the right thing scratches him.
I watch him through the narrow window that gives me a perfect view of the action that’s about to unfold. He whispers to himself as he rocks on the chair.
I lean closer and whisper words that detonate him. “They’re here. They’ve found you.”
No one else hears me, but Timmy does. His reaction is immediate. His chair tips as he springs to his feet, his eyes wild, a frantic shriek turning into panicked screams. A nurse rushes toward him. He claws at her, his teeth bared like an animal, before he snaps.
The intercom screams for Ward B. Radios pop to life. Vale’s name comes through the speaker, clipped and urgent.
I don’t move. I let the chaos bloom exactly where I planted it.
Staff scatter. Bruce and the others run toward Timmy, their radios chattering. Vale bolts down the corridor, his long white coat flapping behind him.
I grin. I knew he wouldn’t resist this chaos. The man takes every opportunity to stroke his own ego.
I exit the common area, folding into the flow of bodies like a ghost. Sticking to the shadows, I head toward Vale’s office. The guard trailing Vale is distracted—following procedure keeps him busy.
No one notices me slip past them.
Katana is still sitting in the chair in Vale’s office, shaken and small.
I step from the shadows and hiss her name.
She flinches, spinning around in her chair to face me.
I crook my finger, beckoning her closer.
She stands on wobbly legs, approaching me like the good, obedient girl she is.
She stops in the doorway, so close I can smell her.
“Don’t tell him anything,” I say, my voice low and steady. “Vale is not to be trusted.”
Her lips part. “W-what?”
“When Vale returns… don’t tell him what you did to end up here. If you have to answer, tell him mundane things—stories from your childhood. Nothing about how you survived. Understood?”
She stares, like she’s weighing the truth.
Then she nods, a promise shining in her eyes.
I lift my hands, my chains rattling as my knuckles graze her cheek. Her skin is warm beneath my touch.
“Good girl,” I whisper, and the slight whimper she makes is both a reward and a punishment.
I step back into the corridor, melding with the rush. My palms close around the strand of her hair I slipped into my pocket earlier. The tang of cinnamon still clings to it, proof that she belongs to me.
Vale lost this round. He doesn’t know he played right into my hand.
I head back to my room, my face smooth and unreadable.
Inside the small, barren space, the storm tightens. I already have plans for Katana. And when the moment is right, I’ll claim her. Own her.
My little murderess.
The pretty little monster who’s just like me.