After his grand, slap-happy entrance, Blackie swaggered into the room on a pair of bowed legs and was met with the sight of Micah, Victor, and Rainie standing there, all of them looking helpless and shaken.
Their sudden arrival had already forced Rainie and Victor to retract their armor. Rainie was kneeling on the floor now, Ethan's head resting in her lap, one arm braced behind her to keep him steady.
Without warning, Ethan's body jerked violently.
His eyes flew open.
What stared back at them made their blood run cold.
The whites of his eyes were gone entirely, replaced by two orbs of solid, ink-black darkness. At the same time his body arched backward in a grotesque, spine-straining contortion, his back bowing so sharply that his head nearly touched his heels.
"Ethan!" Rainie cried.
Victor and Micah lunged forward at the same time, reaching for him.
