Experiment in Terror 06 Into the Hollow Read Online Free

me going up slowly, brick by pasted brick.
    Finally, I looked away and studied the dashboard as if it were suddenly fascinating.
    “I’m surprised the car is still holding up,” I remarked, remembering how it had crashed into a tree only days before, bashing the front side and the headlight. It almost hurt to remember when I was wrapped in duct tape, with a terrible darkness inside me trying to get out.
    “I’ll get it fixed when I go back home.”
    “When are you going?” I asked, keeping my voice light, still avoiding his eyes.
    I felt him pause, growing tense for a second, and I quickly added, “Not that I’m trying to get you to leave.”
    His smile was tight. “Tomorrow, probably. I just…wanted to see how you were doing. You look better.”
    “Do I?” I looked down. “I thought I looked slimmer in the duct tape.”
    Again, that pained smile. “How are you feeling?”
    I shrugged. “I’m tired. Sore, still.”
    He nodded absently, his thoughts elsewhere. I wanted to tell him what Ada and I had discovered but for some reason I couldn’t find the words. It was ludicrous but Dex was always the one to believe me when no one else would.
    I opened my mouth to give it a shot, but he beat me to it and said, “Listen…”
    He looked down at his hands and cleared his throat. The atmosphere in the car changed dramatically from the strange awkwardness to full-on jangled nerves. I watched him closely. He did in fact look really nervous, biting his lip, blinking fast and at nothing.
    “What?” I asked.
    I could hear his breathing intensify.
    “You need to get out of that house.”
    I shouldn’t have been surprised to find out we were on the same page, but I was. I tried to hide it by eyeing him uncertainly.
    “What do you mean?”
    He lowered his eyes and voice. “You know what I mean. Perry, you can’t stay there anymore. After everything that’s happened…it’s not safe.”
    “The demon is gone.”
    “Your parents aren’t. And frankly, my dear, I wouldn’t be surprised if some other supernatural hitchhiker came and found a ride through you. You’re too weak-”
    I glared at him. “I am not weak.”
    He looked at me steadily. “You’re the strongest woman I have ever known. Ever. But it, they , found a way in. I can’t risk that happening again. And like hell I’m going to let you stay in a house where your parents are jonesing to put you away like some animal.”
    “I wasn’t aware you had control over my life.”
    He sighed and leaned in closer. “I know you’re still angry-”
    “Huh!” I exclaimed, folding my arms. But he quickly went on.
    “But putting that aside for a moment,” he continued, “you know you can’t stay there. I know you know it. I know your sister knows it. Your grandmother sure knows it. We all do.”
    “Well what do you suggest I do then?” I asked carefully.
    He bit his lip, a gesture I used to find adorable. Now, it didn’t do anything for me. Not much, anyway. He let his eyes roam out along the empty street. Either he was deep in thought or biding his time.
    Finally, he asked, “Did you like Seattle?”
    I sucked in my breath. He wasn’t asking me what I thought he was asking me…was he?
    His eyes were guarded in the dark but I could read sincerity on his expressive forehead, like part of him was taking a chance that the other part didn’t dare take.
    “What?”
    There he went, biting his lip again. He ran a hand through his thick hair, giving the ends a bit of a tug. I remembered tugging at that hair, vividly.
    “I mean,” he ventured, looking at me with a hint of anxiety, “I think you should come live with me. In my apartment. In Seattle.”
    Now, I know it was just what Ada and I had been discussing but I was not prepared to hear the offer come from his own mouth. Dex was asking me to move in with him? What the hell kind of sorcery was this?
    He quickly continued, “I don’t mean like you have to be my permanent roommate or anything. Just