I couldn't sleep for weeks. October crept in like an old ginger cat, but its brilliance was lost on me.
I stopped going out and threw myself into my studies. Life was crunching numbers for chemistry and memorizing the citric acid cycle for biology exams. Every time I paused from work, my mind slipped back to Jeqon. I couldn't paint. I couldn't focus on protein synthesis. All I could do was think about how I had almost been raped.
Divya and Rosanna watched me clam up at meals, and our plans to defend ourselves against the supernatural fell flat. I had lost all enthusiasm for life.
Samael kept texting me, begging me to meet him, but I ignored his messages. I just wanted to be alone. After he dropped me off at home, barely able to speak through his rage, I had realized how truly terrifying Samael was. Jeqon was a nightmare, but the way Samael had disposed of him had been like a butcher. A butcher of men.
