Page 67 of Kiss Slay Replay

“What do you mean again?” Tanya asks, turning around to look at me. Her pretty eyes are wide, her pupils dilated. Her tone sharp. The audacity.

“Nothing,” I snap.

“Can we keep the volume down?” Cass whispers. “Jesus Christ.”

“What happened?” I ask, lowering my voice.

Cass sighs. “The birds came in through the windows. They started attacking. Then this guy appeared. We got out through the back but…”

“I’m not entirely convinced we’re not on an acid trip,” Evan says. “Or collectively hallucinating.”

“This isn’t like any trip I’ve ever had,” Luke says.

“The police are on their way,” Cass says. “We just need to stay low and shut the fuck up. Can you manage that? Mm? Or do you want a raven to swoop down and peck out your eyes and then have that Victorian ghost man suck your life force out of your empty sockets? Because that’s what’s happening here, whether we want to believe it or not.”

Another moment of silence.

“When you put it that way,” Evan mutters.

“The cops are coming?” I whisper.

“Yeah,” Luke says. “Took a lot of convincing. Multiple calls. They thought I was messing with them. A prank.”

“Some of the other guests must have gotten through as well,” Wyatt says.

I should be relieved that some form of help is coming for us, but what are the cops going to do? Taser hundreds of demon birds, take a phantom into custody?

And even if they do somehow manage to thwart the soul-sucking ghoul and his legion of ravens, what then? If I don’t die tonight, or if I don’t fall sleep, will I make it through to tomorrow? A tomorrow without Steph and Jace? Without Danny? Maybe without Ravi?

A second raven lands on the van. A third. They step closer to the windshield, their talons scraping the hood.

Tanya suddenly folds into herself. She coughs, spewing black goo onto her lap, ruining her pretty pink dress.

“You okay?” Luke asks.

“I…I’m sick,” she says. “I don’t know what’s happening. What’s going to happen. The police can’t help us. You know that, don’t you? Not here. Not now. I should…I need to go.”

She reaches for the door handle.

“No!” Cassie yells, ignoring her own rule of quiet.

“You don’t understand.” Tanya turns her attention back to me. Her pupils leak into the whites of her eyes. “Something’s wrong here.”

“Astute,” Evan says.

“The ravens are poison,” I say. “The same thing happened to Danny.”

“I should’ve left,” Tanya says, shaking her head. She sounds sleepy, dazed. “I need to leave. I need to get out of here…I need…”

“Ravi asked me to look after you, Tanya,” Luke says. “And that’s what I’m gonna do.”

“What if it’s transmittable?” Cassie asks. “Sorry, Tanya. I have a son. Did anyone else get clipped by a bird?”

“No,” Evan says, at the exact moment Wyatt says, “Yes.”

Wyatt pulls up his pant leg, and there’s a gash across his shin.

“No! No. That’s not, no,” Evan says, leaning over and pulling Wyatt’s pant leg down, hiding the wound. “No. How did that happen? You can’t—”