“Oh my God. I don’t even know. Um, a monster broke into my house.” With a trembling voice that bubbled just under hysteria, she described the attack.
“What?” Vivienne’s voice was incredulous.
“Look.” Diana thrust out her arm. “This appeared.”
“Holy crap.” Vi ran tentative fingers over the black lines.
“Yeah. And it looks like the frontispiece illustration in this treatise. The one that I ordered.” Diana flipped open the book and showed Vivienne. Diana watched her inspect the two, waiting for Vi to speak, her breath caught uncomfortably in her throat.
“Well...huh…” the normally eloquent Vivienne said. Silence.
“I know.”
“This is crazy. I mean, I believe you. But it’s insane.”
“The worst part was...it knew my name, Vi. The monster said that they were waiting.”
“Who are they? More monster things? Are you sure it wasn’t some kind of freaky gang?”
“Lord, I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore. But it really wasn’t human. That body disappeared. I need answers.” Her wrist burned again, screaming at her. Was it a sign? She laughed bitterly. Of course it was. But of what?
“They know where you live. You have to get out of there. Stay with me.”
“No. I snuck through the backyards, so no one saw me come here. But I can’t be seen staying here. What if they send more after me? What if they find me here? Then you’re dead, too.”
“We’ll figure something out.” Vivienne frowned, no doubt trying to figure a way to smuggle Diana in and out of her townhouse. Their little backyards were great for privacy because of the fences. But there was no way to get out of them. The only other option was the front door. “You can’t just wait around there for the next monster to come through your door.”
“Or worse,” Diana said. “They could appear at the university and threaten everything I’ve worked for.” She’d sacrificed too much for her position to lose it like this. It was all she had.
“You need to get your priorities in order,” Vivienne said. “Come stay with me. It’ll be okay.”
“No, Vi, I can’t. Everything has just been getting worse. My dreams have been winding me up until I’m about to break. Before, they just happened at night. Now it’s night and day. All this shit is happening to me. I can’t just sit around and wait for it all to explode. I’ve got to do something, because no one else is going to do it for me.”
“Di, you never talk like this.”
“Nothing’s ever been this bad before.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to Edinburgh.” The idea came to her in an instant. “I have to get out of town, and the only thing I know about this whole miserable business is that my tattoo is of a landmark in Edinburgh.”
Edinburgh could have monsters, but there might also be answers. There were definitely monsters here, and likely no answers. So, leaving: one point. Staying: zero. And maybe she’d figure out what the damn dreams meant and find some peace.
“That’s a good idea,” Vi said. “You can’t exactly go to the police with mystery tattoos and stories about your dreams and say that you killed a monster. And if you stay on the move, then they can’t find you.”
Diana’s stomach clenched at the idea of staying on the move, not to mention flying so far from home. That’s what people did in thriller movies and adventure novels.
No, no, no.
There was no time to freak out. She had far bigger issues to deal with than a little transcontinental flight to Scotland. Like the disappearing dead monster. Or the mystery tattoo. Or the split personality. Something terrible was happening to her, and she had to figure out what it was.
“God, you’re right, Vi.” She felt sick even as she said it, knowing that she was about to make a decision that could possibly kill her. But staying here would definitely kill her. “Will you watch my classes for me? If I’m only gone a week, it shouldn’t be a problem with the department.”
“Of course. Just call me when you get there. Do you even know where you’ll stay?”
“No, I’ll figure it out on the way. The sooner I leave, the better.”
CHAPTER THREE