Chapter 18

INT. - SILVER CITY COLLEGE - MORNING

Kinsey dropped her laptop bag onto her desk and stared down at the Bible, lit by the early morning sun. The campus bustled this morning, despite the fact it was Saturday. She'd spent her entire Friday evening after leaving her grandmother focused on the tome. She'd shoved Margot's control, whether paranormal or just ordinary smothering, aside. Who was she kidding? There was nothing normal about what her grandmother did to her. Still, time and distance had a habit of making her doubt what she'd felt until she was so confused she half-convinced herself nothing happened and she imagined all of it.

Easier to read about the paranormal in a freakish Bible than admit her own flesh and blood had been manipulating her since she was a child.

Instead, she waffled between calling Gerri with her findings and stomping from one end of her apartment to the other while her phone rang, her friend's face mocking her as she tried to decide what to do.

By the time Kinsey woke, stiff and unhappy in the overstuffed chair tucked into the corner of her living room, she'd made a decision. Convinced there was nothing to the "discovery" after all. Simply conjecture. Any mention of six races? Just pagan myth someone inserted into this version of the Bible. All talk of transformation from man to creature, wearing skins? Superstitious hearsay. And mention of a master race of night shadows bent on dominating everything? Old world fears turned to bogeymen. What was she thinking, going all ape shit over some imaginary "proof" there were paranormals, all because she read it in one of the most fictional books ever written?

And yet, doubt lingered, as she drank a gallon of coffee after a long, hot shower, ignoring her stomach begging for toast and cereal to fill her stomach with something more substantial. She barely remembered driving to work, aside from the odd beep of an irritated horn behind her when she was so lost in thought she didn't notice the light turn. Kinsey felt like a coward as she crossed the quad with her bag over her shoulder, hand on her phone, deep in her jacket pocket. She should have answered Gerri's call.

Especially when she finally checked her messages. And found out there'd not only been a second murder, but the victim was Roxy. Gerri needed her and Kinsey chickened out, all because she thought she found something that had to be a misunderstanding.

And yet, as she sank to the top of her desk with the Bible in her hands, she couldn't shake her unease. She could pick out the passages, do a full study. See if she could cross reference-

What was she doing? Kinsey set the book aside as someone knocked on her door, pushing it out of the way and forcing a smile as Mitchell entered.

"Did you get a chance to read the proposal, Dr. Dan?" Kinsey stared at him, blank and with a small ball of panic in her chest. Proposal? When realization dawned, she smacked herself in the forehead.

"I didn't," she said, spinning to look on her desk. Where had she left the black folder? There it was, on top of her pile of "I really have to tackle this right now but don't want to". The moment her fingers brushed over it, it spun away from her, sliding from the top of the pile and landing on the floor. It had enough weight it tilted sideways, slipping under her desk.

"I'll get it." Mitchell was already on his knees, reaching for the folder. Emerged with it and a slip of paper in his grasp. "I think you dropped this, Dr. Dan," he said, handing it over.

Kinsey stared down at the familiar symbols on the paper and held her breath. Shaking ever so slightly, she took it from him, heart pounding again as she finally sucked in air.

"Thanks," she said, barely a whisper. "I have to go. Take care of the Saturday morning for me." She missed Mitchell's surprised expression as she gathered the Bible and her laptop, scooted out of her office and ran for her car.

No more holding back. This wasn't just about her ego or her need for proof any longer. What she'd thought a mere curiosity in a dead woman's apartment turned out to be far more than that.

With the discovery of the note, everything changed. Now she really needed to talk to Gerri.

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