Thick liquid splashed against Rhys's leg. He recoiled with a start. Around him, the sounds were muddled: gasps, a light crack, and the wet slithering of something sliding across the floor and walls. He didn't need to see it to know the creature was spreading again, not to attack, but to digest them alive.
Rhys took a step back, his heart hammering.
"Stop it!" he shouted.
"I can't!" Nolan raised his voice. "It won't listen to me anymore!"
"Then break the bond," Rhys said. "That thing exists because of you."
"You don't understand... it's part of me."
Rhys clenched his fists at those words. For a moment, he thought he'd feel sympathy. That Nolan's pain, the truth about his parents, would justify at least some of what was happening. But no. All he felt was rage.
"Part of you?" Rhys muttered, frowning. "What the hell did you do to make that thing become part of you? Did you feed it your hatred until it chose to stay?"
