Chapter 4

Hope pulled the knife free, her face streaming blood, and turned to look at me.

"Wendy, sweetie, be good and come home with Mom." She stretched out a bloody hand. "Mom promises, as long as you drink the water like a good girl, the baby in your belly will come into this world safe and sound…"

"Bullshit!" I screamed. "You want to steal a body! You want to turn my son into you!"

Her face went cold.

"Since you already know, there's no point pretending anymore."

She came at me step by step, and from outside the pen a shout tore through the air.

"Mom! That's enough!"

Arnold stood in the doorway, dead pale.

I thought help had come.

But what he said next dropped me into ice water.

"Mom, don't hurt Wendy. If she loses the baby, you'll have nowhere to go."

He walked in, steadied his mother, and looked at me, his eyes a tangle of feeling.

"Wendy, I'm sorry. Mom raised me for thirty years. I can't watch her die."

"Don't worry. Once Mom's reborn, she'll still be your mother-in-law. She'll still love you…"

I was shaking with rage.

"Arnold, you've lost your mind! That's our child! You let her be reborn, and our child is gone!"

"We can have another child," he said, lowering his head. "But there's only one Mom."

Hope laughed, pleased with herself, and patted Arnold's hand.

"Good boy. I didn't love you for nothing. Come, tie her up."

Arnold pulled a rope out of his bag and came toward me.

I backed into the corner and felt the phone in my pocket.

The anonymous account had sent a message five minutes ago:

"The sow's blood. Splash it on her. It'll seal her for a little while. Hurry!"

My eyes snapped to the sow on the ground, still twitching.

The blood had pooled thick beneath it.

I crouched down as if I were terrified, dipped my hand in the pig blood, and the instant Arnold lunged, I smeared it hard across Hope's face.

She let out a shrieking scream, white smoke rising off her skin.

She clutched her face, hit the ground, and thrashed like a mad thing.

"You little bitch! You dare ruin this for me!"

Arnold froze, then scrambled to help his mother.

I took the chance to bolt out of the pen and locked the door behind me.

Hope howled from inside. "Grab her! She has to drink the water in the cup before midnight! Otherwise I'll be forced into a pig's womb!"

Arnold came after me.

I ran for my life, the phone buzzing wildly.

The anonymous account sent a voice message, a woman's voice, cold and rushed:

"Listen to me. That sow isn't dead, and it's about to give birth!"

"The moment the piglets hit the ground, your mother-in-law will be reborn as a real pig!"

"Right now, you have to go back and make her think the womb she's entering is yours!"