I swayed backwards, my vision going black.
“Fallon!”
Rafe exploded through the door.
His hands came to my face and he knocked the spider off my lips. I was so dizzy I barely could feel him yanking the dress off me and stomping, stomping all around us, screaming like that would scare the little monsters back.
Then he was yanking me forwards, out of the damp, terrible little room and out into the light.
A host of men stood there just watching. They’d all been there while I’d screamed for my life. The horror of that was just barely numbed by the horror of the spiders, and they were still on me, still crawling up my legs.
I came back to life, screaming and wriggling in Rafe’s arms. “Get them off! Get them off me!”
“I’m trying! Stand still,” Rafe said.
But I couldn’t. Now that I was finally unfrozen, I couldn’t stop moving. Couldn’t stop twisting and smacking at my skin.
Rafe brushed his hands all over my body but I couldn’t stop. I was itchy everywhere. I felt their terrible little legs everywhere. Unending. They were all over me. They were in my hair. They were crawling in my most intimate places. I hit at my vagina, I screamed, I bent in two, I tore at my hair.
“Fallon! Fallon!” Rafe screamed, holding me to him. “It’s okay, you’re okay now. I got them all. You’re safe. They’re gone. I got them all.”
But I couldn’t believe him. I still felt them. They were everywhere. I was frozen and he wasn’t there in time and they were biting me, eating me alive, my worst nightmare. I was still locked in that room and he was still on the other side of the door. Why was I frozen? Why couldn’t I move? Why the fuck couldn’t I protect myself?
“Get them off! Get them off!”
“Somebody sedate her.”
I just kept screaming and scratching. Rafe held my arms at my side, shushing me. “It’s okay now, Fallon. They’re all gone. You’re safe now.”
But I couldn’t stop. I could still feel them.
And then one sunk its teeth in my neck and the world went dark.
“What the fuck did you just give her?” I heard Rafe shout as my body relaxed.
“She was hysterical. Now she’ll sleep. Congratulations, you passed the Trial.”
And then their words came true. Darkness swallowed me whole.
When I woke, I immediately jumped up in bed, my hands sweeping up and down my body.
No spiders. I breathed out, my head sinking back.
Dear God, it was over. I was safe now. I blinked, looking around, but I could barely see a thing. It was nighttime.
I checked the clock by the bedside: 3:30 am. What the hell? It had been early evening when we’d started the Trial.
But then I remembered, shuddering. I’d been hysterical at the end. And some fucker had injected me with something. It hadn’t been a spider biting me. Those fucking bastards. Instead of helping to talk me down or soothe me, they’d just knocked me out.
Movement on the bed beside me had me looking over.
Was Rafe awake, too?
But no, he was asleep. Asleep but not at rest if the way he was tossing and turning was any indication.
His brow was knotted, distress on his face. He started to shake his head. “No,” he moaned. “No, Tim, no!”
My heart squeezed.
So many nightmares in this place. But I wondered how long these nightmares had tormented Rafe.
I put my hand on his shoulder, but he shook it off. “Tim, don’t,” he mumbled. But then he shouted. “Don’t! I’m sorry!” and startled awake.
His eyes were wild and sweat poured down his forehead.
“Rafe,” I called his name. “Rafe, it’s okay.”
Only after I said the words did I realize I was echoing what he’d said over and over to me earlier.
But just like when I’d relived my nightmare with the spiders, my words had little to no effect on Rafe.
He whipped off the sheet and got out of bed, standing with his back to me. He was breathing so hard, his back heaved up and down.
“Rafe?” I called softly. I crawled over the bed to get to his side. “Rafe, are you okay?”
“I was too late,” his voice was rough.
I frowned. What did he mean? “Too late for what?”
“I couldn’t get to you in time.”
I shook my head. “But you saved me. You got me out.”
“Not in time!” he all but shouted, ripping his hands through his hair. “Never in time!”
I drew back, not understanding his vehemence.
“I couldn’t help you. They had to knock you out.”
I ground my teeth. “They definitely did not have to do that.”
He spun around. “Don’t you see? I should have gotten you out before it ever got to that point. But there were so many keys, and I couldn’t find the right one.”
“And that was your fault?” I was furious. “Seems like the fault of the twisted fucks who would put us in this situation or do that to another human.”