Chapter 4
I shielded River with one arm and grabbed Garrett’s sleeve with the other, dropping my voice to a desperate whisper.
“Uncle Garrett, please. He’s just a kid. It’s too dangerous out there. I’m begging you. Give us a chance to live.”
Garrett didn’t flinch. He hurled us both to the ground. Our faces twisted in agony, but neither of us dared cry out.
I knew I couldn’t overpower Uncle Garrett. I grabbed fistfuls of his pant leg and begged, “Uncle Garrett, I’ll leave right now. Just let my brother stay in the rice bin with you, please.”
But he snatched the cleaver off the cutting board, murder blazing in his eyes.
“That bin’s barely big enough for one person. I’m cramped in there as it is. Old hag’s coming out any second. Get lost, or I’ll kill you both.”
My bottom line was simple. I could go, but River had to stay. I’d even been prepared to dig in and threaten him with mutually assured destruction. But he was more ruthless and more inhuman than I’d imagined.
Just as despair closed in, the mysterious voice spoke again.
Stop wasting time with him. Find somewhere else to hide. The kitchen god’s shift ends at sundown in five minutes. This kitchen won’t be safe anymore. This is the one room that thing hasn’t searched yet. Once it does, it’ll tear this place apart.
River and I froze in shock. But Uncle Garrett still looked nothing but impatient, as though he couldn’t hear the voice at all.
Before he could react, I’d already grabbed River’s hand and bolted out of the kitchen.
The courtyard had four rooms: north, south, east, west. But we’d been sealed inside the rice bin the entire time. I had no idea which room Grandma had gone into. And if we stood in the open yard deliberating, we might run straight into her on her way out.
My heart hammered up into my throat. I gritted my teeth and pulled River into the nearest door, the south room, the one used for storage.
The door swung open to an empty room.
Relief hit me so hard my knees nearly buckled. I flipped a large bamboo basket upside down over the two of us and had barely settled into our hiding spot when footsteps echoed across the courtyard.
“The kitchen and the south room are good places for hide-and-seek. Time for a thorough look.”
I held River tight, silently begging that the mysterious voice had told the truth. If Grandma went to the kitchen first and found Uncle Garrett, River and I might still have a chance to slip out of the south room and find a new hiding place.
Mercifully, a bloodcurdling scream erupted from the kitchen next door.
“Mom, don’t. It’s me, I’m—”
After she found Uncle Garrett, the thing wearing Grandma’s skin let out a satisfied sigh like a beast settling after a full meal.
“Three left. Almost done. Almost.”
Uncle Garrett was gone. That left only me and River.
But she’d said three.
Why was there one extra?