章 41: Chapter 41

As if thinking of him called him into being, hisvoice fills my world like an archangel’s song. “I told you he’s not yours anymore.”

Coby, his voice, his words, coming from everywhere at once, coming from inside me. I can’t breathe. I’m dying and this isn’t happening, Coby’s not really here…

But McBane’s grip loosens and I gulp in a hungry breath, stagger back. As my vision clears I see someone outside, leaning in through the broken window, a hand fisted in McBane’s bloody hair and pulling him back. It’s Coby, I see his eyes flash like quicksilver when he looks at me, and his lips are a wide grimace when he yanks McBane away.

“Not yours,” he says, ramming McBane’s head into the wall below the window, into the jagged glass still set in the frame, to emphasize his words. He yanks again, harder, as McBane tries to reach behind him, tries to get a grip on him and can’t. “Not yours, you get that? So keep your goddamn hands off my boy, you fucking get that?”