Red Ivy

llum Vex wok

xygen mask strapped to his face. The steady be

could taste ash and iron in his mouth

ooked too pale. Too smooth. Like sk

Detective," she whispered

pinned him like nails. His rib

ng?" he

und you under the grain mill r

Bella's stitched-together smile. Kess burning

on the table beside him, a

Not his. Not huma

rned

he wa

Gr

ly in the hospital bathroom. He p

ndrils branching from a wound below his ribs.

l and tried to cut on

shed out, thick and red-green. The tendri

ed into

t the mirror, someone

Ke

Be

eyes bloodshot, irises rin

g, slow fractures spreading

Mi

d out of his hospital bed

station

ays s

n, rooms

t log. Something co

ischarged. All within

he cameras.

rewound t

lack-and-white figur

f hair. She touched each sleeping patient's head. Where sh

the stairwell. The

before the si

ll

l al

ng that wo

Wa

ight. Found the latest reports sealed unde

the f

ned deaths in Black Vale

All exs

discovered in sinus cav

had a p

yground tunnel. Ivy pushing through

ed. He retched

in the file wa

g. It's awakening.

Root

locked his rusting sedan with shaking hands. His gun was und

hem, something moved be

hiss of

n, too

ed in blood-streaked vines, hands fused with bone blades. It

d point-blank into

ature c

the sack

s the

twine. Her chest cavity hol

, blinking inside the bouquet, as her cor

r grew

Choked. Ey

ere already

ew it