No! A whimper escaped my throat, and with it, the last of my air.
I needed to cast a spell, needed to get this magic out of me . . . but I couldn’t remember any spells —not with my pulse careening and the room spinning. All I could think was that I had to stay awake, had to keep my eyelids up. . . .
Just as I toppled forward, I latched on to the only words I could conjure. Awake, awake, awake . . .
When I finally came to, I was facedown on my bed. My head was pounding, and the instant I peeled back my eyelids, I wished I hadn’t. It hurt. Everything hurt.
I pushed myself up. My vision sparkled with painful stars, and yet I felt so relaxed . . . aching, but somehow good.
It’s from the magic, I thought. Whether I meant to or not, I had found a way to cast the power from me.
I scooted off the bed. For a moment I swayed unsteadily, but I knew that if I did not move, I would collapse into sleep. I had failed, and now it was time to move on. I needed water, needed to find Laure, and needed to launch a full search for Jie.
I scuffed to the door, but just as I was leaning on the doorknob, a scream erupted from outside.
I wrenched open the door. An old woman barreled toward me, her eyes huge. “Rat!” she shrieked.
“Rat!”
My breath whooshed out. A rat—nothing dangerous.
But then another door burst open, with a fat man toppling out. “Les oiseaux sont enragés! ” He sprinted frantically toward me. “Aidez-moi! ”
I barely had time to sort through this when three more doors—no four, then five—tore open and panicked guests came screeching toward the stairs. Toward me.
As the first old woman scrambled desperately by, I finally caught sight of the rat.
But this was no rat. The giant, raw hole in its neck crawled with white maggots, and its eyes were milky white. This rat was Dead—a Hungry Dead.
And it wasn’t the only one.
I kicked into a run. I needed the Spirit-Hunters. If all the animal corpses in the area had come to life, I could not face them alone. I had wasted all my energy on the failed séance.
I bounded onto the stairs. A flight below was a black-uniformed steward. “Help!” I shrieked. “Get help!”
He didn’t react, just continued his quick descent. I clambered after. Someone needed to find
Joseph and Daniel. “Help!” I yelled again. “Á l’aide!”
He paused on the second floor, and I jumped the remaining steps between us.
But I stopped midstride.
The stairwell reeked of carrion, and this was not a steward—it was the butler from the lab.
No, no, no!
I lurched back around. So did the butler, his jaw gaping and bloody eye sockets close. Stiff arms flew up, grabbing for me.
Somehow I managed to sweep up my skirts and leap two, three steps at a time. “Run!” I screamed as guests came toward the stairs. “Les Morts! Run!” Thank God, they listened, and as I raced up floor after floor, the broken beat of footsteps stayed close behind.
It felt as if it took forever to climb those stairs. My legs burned and my chest was on fire. I couldn’t maintain this pace—and the hotel had to dead-end eventually . . . because I was almost to the top floor. I would have to face the Hungry here. Now.
I scrambled onto the top landing and surged into the hall.
But I instantly skittered to a stop, my mind erupting in panic. There were rats everywhere! And mice and sparrows and a mangled cat. They were all dead yet somehow brought back to life.
I couldn’t stop them all.
A door flew open behind me. “No!” I shrieked, lurching around. “Stay inside!”
A woman in violet stumbled into the hall—Laure! Oh God, where had she come from?
She screamed, and in a flash the Hungry tackled her to the ground.
I flung up my arms and threw out every ounce of power I could muster.
“Stay,” I chanted. “Stay, stay, stay!”
The Hungry slowed, its jaw chomping a staccato beat. Laure fought and clawed to wriggle free, shrieks flying from her throat, but the corpse was much heavier, much stronger.
And its teeth inched closer and closer to her neck.
“Don’t move!” I screeched. “Stay, stay, stay!”
But the corpse was stronger than me too, and its teeth were now clamping down on her neck.
Then pain burst through me, bright and sudden. My concentration broke. The decomposed cat was latched onto my arm.
I screamed and jerked back, but the animal’s fangs were deep. And now the other animals had reached me.
I lost sight of the butler as a mangled bat flew into my face, teeth bared. From every direction, I was ripped and scratched and bitten. Each slash stabbed through my mind, blinding and white.
I toppled back, tripping over my skirts, and hit the ground hard.
The corpses kept coming. Everywhere, everywhere. Rat teeth and jagged fangs knifed into me. I flung out my power. I kicked, I shoved, I screamed. . . . My fingers dug into jellied flesh and rotting fur. My feet crunched through bones . . . but there were still so many. So many!