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My heart beats at a furious rate. What is happening to me?

“Are you okay?” he asks again, and his voice is no longer distorted. I blink a few times, and my world goes back to normal. I try to compose myself, although every minute that goes by, I’m losing my sanity.

“I think…I think I’m hallucinating.”

His eyes blaze in the flickering firelight, and he chuckles. “That’s because you are hallucinating. Pretty sure everyone here is about to go on a ride.”

I glance around. Everyone is a monster, each with a blurred, shadowed face.

Shadowface.

“I…I don’t understand.”

The monster in front of me grabs my shoulder and leans in. His voice is garbled, like the ghost from the horror movie I watched with Tommy. “It’s easier to become him than hide from him. Succumb to me, Diana.”

My eyes widen. “What did you just say?”

He turns me in a circle, then releases me. “I said…it’s easier to succumb to it than fight it.”

I can’t decipher anything, and I’m not sure if it’s me screaming or if it’s someone else. I drop to my knees, squat down, burying my head into the ground. I’m no longer in control of my mind or body.

I might be dying.

I’m not sure how much time goes by, but the guy walks away, leaving me in my hallucination, and I can’t move. I lay curled up in a ball on the cold ground. A few seconds go by then⁠—

“Firefly.”

Tommy pulls me up and gathers me into his muscular arms, and I peer up at him. He looks mad, and really sexy. Even if I’m out of my mind, he may be the nicest-looking guy I’ve ever seen. “How much did you take?”

The world turns vivid again, the waves of acid hitting me. He carries me through the party and inside the house of death, and down to his room, gently placing me on the bed. My attention focuses on the lava lamp on the corner of the desk, and it looks like it’s waving at me, so naturally, I wave back. The lava inside is dripping out and oozing all over the floor.

I fall deeper into his bed.

Deep.

Deep.

Deep.

As if there is no bottom.

Tommy sits beside me, his arm finding its way around me. I can’t seem to focus enough to look at him, my attention fixed solely on that lamp.

“Didi,” he whispers as he plants his body next to mine.

I turn toward him, though I avoid meeting his eyes. “I need to leave.” I choke out.

He squeezes my hand, sending a familiar quiver through my stomach, just like always. “You’re not in any shape to go anywhere, firefly. Plus, Talia won’t let you leave.”

I try to roll off his bed, but I can’t move and my head lands right in Tommy’s lap.

Stupid little girl. You don’t want to listen to me. I’ll make you stay. I’ll force you to stay.

Mama’s voice makes me shake. She’s in my head, controlling me, tormenting me from the inside. She’s everywhere in my mind as guilt and fury consume me. I sense her everywhere.

I melt against him, my body becoming boneless. His rough hands knead circles on my back. “Take it easy, firefly. Talia gave you a bit of acid—I’m tripping, too.”

His face contorts like dark poison, his face blurred and distorted, like the vision of who I see when I shut my eyes.