Chapter 4

I watched, frozen, as Jax' s body, or what was left of it, was dragged deeper into the house.

Then, movement from above.

I looked up, just in time to see something fall from a high window on the third floor.

It was Jax, partially stripped, his form a pale shape against the dark wood.

He hit the black bayou water with a sickening thud.

But he didn' t sink. Not immediately.

Where his body struck, the surface of the water shimmered, briefly, like a sheet of dark, polished glass.

Then, just as quickly, it rippled and returned to its normal, murky state.

Jax' s body sank slowly out of sight.

The air grew colder.

The Creole lullaby started again, drifting from the upper floors.

This time, it wasn' t just mournful.

It was menacing, a promise of more to come.

The lyrics about the "patchwork moon" and the "bayou's secrets" felt like a direct threat.

This game was already more twisted than the last.