Chapter 56
FIFTY-SIX
FENRIR
PRESENT
It hits me—it isn’t fear I’ve been feeling in this house.
Well, that’s not strictly true. I’ve felt fear before: core-crunching, adrenaline-pumping, sweat-inducing fear.
But not my own. This house contains fear—it’s drenched in it—but it’s never been one that felt harmful. I’ve never felt in danger.
Until now.
We stare at the figure in the doorway, his large frame obscured by the darkness of the night sky behind him.
Hayami’s hand tenses in mine, and I squeeze it, letting her know I’m here and I won’t let him near her, because Barrett Devall is standing in the entrance like the goddamn devil himself.
Markus arrives on his left, gun trained, trying to push in front of his boss until his eyes land on the apparition.
Then he backs off. Junko enters on the right, her eyes wide in terror as she sees the floating spectre.
But Devall is frozen, feet in cement as he stares at the ghost of his dead wife.
The silence is thick and dangerous, Noa with her back to us.
“Noa?” Devall asks, barely a whisper, as if he can’t quite believe his own eyes.
Then it happens in what feels like slow motion. Noa turns, like a tornado shifting direction, and she flies over to us, her face a contorted rage. I don’t have time to act, no time to think, as Noa flings herself at Hayami.
Hayami stumbles back at the impact as Noa disappears.
She gasps, eyes wide, and she drops my hand.
“Hayami?” I call, but she doesn’t respond, because it’s not Hayami now standing next to me.
Her head twitches, her shoulders rolling as she stands up, takes one step forwards, and glares at Barrett Devall before raising the gun in her hand and pulling the trigger.