Chapter 49

Leigh was not pounding her head with all her will. Though cold and tired and the voices in her head sang a demonic chorus, she refused to give up.

She didn't know if the music was still playing. The noise inside her head drowned everything out. It would be so easy to bang her head, a little. Just enough to rattle the little bastards. She took a long slow breath and forced herself to think about something else.

Ryley.

Ryley sat watching her. His eyes looked dark and bruised. What voices spoke in his head? Did they make sense, or were they banging and screams? She would have asked him, but she couldn't remember any words. Maybe the voices were talking to her, but she'd forgotten language. How would she teach if she couldn't remember how to talk?

Ryley held his mug. He cradled it actually, caressed it. As if it were the only thing in the world that mattered.