Chapter 29

• As the metal silver tray clattered noisily onto the floor, the tinny sound rang across the room. Behind Nico stood the creature, whether it was a monster or a ghost. Its outline is strange and hazy—it's there but not quite. It was as if the creature was struggling to enter this plane of existence. I sat transfixed, watching it in a surreal kind of horror with each passing millisecond. What exactly was it? And why was its skin so tainted with dirt?
• Everything happened in slow motion. The next thing I knew, I was sitting on the bed with my towel against my chest, and Nico's unconscious body was slamming into me hard. I stumbled backwards into the bed, and Nico's body slammed into me again, his shoulder slamming into my face. My lips were pressed against my teeth, and the skin on my bottom lip split in two. In response to the shock and pain, I exclaimed aloud.
• Nico's dead weight landed on top of me, and I took a moment to catch my breath. Nico's massive shoulder was blocking my view of the room and pinning me against the mattress. I tried to rock his body off of mine, but my hands and legs were restricted by the bed sheet I had wrapped around my body. It was at this point that I felt the cold panic rising inside my chest. I was trapped beneath Nico in a room with an unusual and dangerous entity.