Haunt (Regenerate #5)

Chapter 18

When I come to, I'm in the same room, but Nightmare and the knife guy are gone. I shake my head, trying to clear it, but everything still feels foggy. What did Nightmare do to me?

Still disoriented, I glance around the room.

Mark.

He was bleeding.

Frantically, I look around the room. My eyes settle on him in the same corner he was before Nightmare touched me. He's slumped over, not moving.

I rush over to his side and rip the mask from his face, not caring that somebody could see him. I check for a pulse. Nothing.

Panic sets in, thick and suffocating. I try to think through everything I know about first aid, which isn't much. Are you supposed to do CPR in a situation like this? How does one even do CPR?

I can't think, can't even breathe as sobs take over my body.

Suddenly a voice interrupts.

"Interesting."

I glance up to see Nightmare. If I weren't cradling Mark's head in my lap, I would lunge toward him. I would scratch his eyes out.

"Get out." I try to hiss, but it comes out more choked.

"Can't," he says. "We're in your head now."

I blink. In the back of my mind I have half a memory of something Jess said about his father's powers. He traps people in their own mind.

If I'm in my head, then there's at least a chance that Mark isn't dead. Isn't there.

I stand slowly, gently setting Mark's head down.

"You're messing with my mind," I say.

"And you've been messing with my operations," he says. "So now we're going to have to duke it out in here."

"And how exactly do we do that?"

He gestures to the room we're in. "We take a little trip through your deepest fears. It becomes an arena of sorts. One of us comes out victorious, the other gets stuck in a coma."

"Sounds peachy."

Nightmare stares at Mark. "Normally when we arrive here, people have visions of their own death. Not other people's deaths."

"I can't die," I say.

I'm not actually sure that's true. I make a mental note to ask Cole next time I see him if we can die. Just because nothing has killed me so far doesn't mean nothing ever could, I suppose.

"That won't do you a lot of good in here," Nightmare says.

"Look, I really just want to get out of here," I say. "So you can spare me the pep talk and tell me where I need to go."

"You are atypically confident," Nightmare says. "We'll see how long that lasts out there. I've never lost one of these before."

"I'm pretty sure my friend is bleeding out, so if we could just get on with this, that would be great."

"No need to be snippy," he says. "The door is right over there."

He points to the door to the room, and I stomp past him. Whatever little mind games he has going on, I will win. And I'm going to do it fast. Mark needs me.

And whatever awaits me beyond that door, it can't be as bad as watching him die.