Page 200

He gazed down at me and drew a breath.

“Hello, Beauchamp,” he said, his voice hoarse and strange.

Chapter XXII Possessed

Fear and understanding rippled like a wave over my body raising all my hair follicles.

“What did you just call me?” I whispered, choking back my shock.

“Beauchamp.”

“Tristan?” His name squeezed through my constricted throat in a whisper.

“Hey,” Dylan or Tristan replied. He glanced at the lamp on my bedside table and the bulb lit up with a ping.

I squinted in the light as my scalp prickled and my ears thrummed with the sound of blood rushing through my head.

“What’s going on?” I asked him. “What are you doing?”

Dylan/Tristan sat down and perched awkwardly on the bed beside me. “I had to escape.”

“Escape?”

“The Reapers. They won’t find me here.”

“In Dylan’s body? What?” I gasped.

“Yeah. I wear him well, don’t you think?” He cocked Dylan’s head to one side.

“Tristan! You can’t steal someone’s body!”

“I know. I know. And please not too loud, you might wake him.”

“Wake him?”

“Yeah. He’s asleep in here with me.”

“What?” I squeaked, not quite believing what I was hearing and seeing.

“Yes. He’s okay. He’s sleeping like a baby. He’s been having trouble sleeping, and it’s what he wants more than anything, a good night’s sleep.”

I frowned. Dylan had insomnia? That was probably my fault.

Dylan/Tristan shifted, and I scowled at him. “This is making me uncomfortable.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. I could go and put him back to bed.” He stared at me with Dylan’s icy blue eyes.

“Did the Reapers get that close?” I asked.

He shuddered. “Yes. Too close.”

“They were the shadows in the robes?”

“Yes.”

I shivered at the memory. They’d looked so sinister and lifeless. “They won’t come here, though… Will they?”

“I don’t think so. And not if I’m hidden in here.”