Gracie Abrams is eking out a solitary existence, fighting day-in, day-out against the drain of working customer service and nursing two newborn kittens in her off time. Out on her own ever since her sister moved in with her boyfriend, the burden of...
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"Mother!" Sam shrieked.
There was a ringing in my ears, something similar to the dentist's motorized tooth polisher.
"Mom, please!"
No, wait. That was just the Chidori.
My back pressed more firmly to Hisoka's chest, so close I could barely turn my head without bumping into his chin. For his part, the hunter acted the role of a wall. I could neither slip away nor break through.
Puppet Kakashi's hand glimmered electric. He held it close to his chest, cradling it like a squiggly puppy and not a weapon of mass destruction. At least he'd let go of Kirishima's throat.
Hisoka's seatbelt arm around my middle locked in, lodging his stupid forearm under my ribs. Who needed to breathe, anyway?
"Why are you doing this?" I asked, expecting more purring.
I did not expect the disturbingly sober answer that followed.
"It's too pitiful," Hisoka said as puppet Kakashi took one step forward, "to leave you here by yourself. You know too much for me to walk away."
I really don't, I wanted to say, but we were past the point of him believing me.
"There are a lot of people who know about you," I said. I missed a blink, and rain washed across my vision, burning where it froze my eyes. "Entire websites are dedicated to answering every single question about you. Anything someone would want to know. Your height, your weaknesses—"
"I don't have weaknesses," Hisoka said, and I hated how right he was.
Or rather, hated how his presence in my mind made him out to be a legendary god. Someone untouchable. Invincible.
I couldn't imagine Hisoka having a single flaw. Didn't matter if he actually had any or that Gon had technically beaten him in their duel. Or that he couldn't defeat the leader of the Spiders.
Those hadn't been wins for the other parties. They hadn't been losses, either.
None of that mattered here, where it was life or death.
"There are millions—billions, even—all around the world," I said, gritting my teeth to fight through talking with his arm under my lungs. "And all of those people know allllll about you. What are you gonna do? Kill them all?"
Hisoka froze, yanking me along as he straightened up to his towering height. "Maybe I will," he murmured.
Shivers coursed down my arms. He meant that. And he was crazy enough that he might just do it.
These stupid witches, playing with things they couldn't control. Inviting monsters into our world just like stories of demon summoners. Couldn't they see they weren't in control? What had made Patty or Ginny think they were any different from the characters in any cautionary tale?
