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Chapter 88-Stay

Author: J L FLETCHER
last update Last Updated: 2025-10-21 18:12:29
Jax stared at the casket, frozen. Something inside was alive. Moving. Breathing.

The sound came again — faint but sure — a scrape of nails on wood.

Mama Delphine threw her head back and laughed, that wild, musical cackle that made the swamp itself shiver. “Well, somebody betta let her out, cher,” she said, grinning wide. “Can’t keep a lady locked up all day. She get mighty cranky when she wake hungry!”

She clapped her hands together. “Ma sweet sister. Lawd, I done missed dat girl.”

Jax swallowed hard. His stomach rolled like he’d swallowed swamp water. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t anything he’d seen before.

Lucian’s cold voice broke the moment. “Open it.”

The recruits didn’t move. Not one. The air was so thick with fear it had shape. One of the younger ones whimpered. Jax saw the dark stain spreading down the boy’s leg and, honestly, didn’t blame him — his own bladder was considering surrender.

The swamp wind sighed through the trees, rattling the bone charms overhead. The wor
J L FLETCHER

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