The Serpent King: Chapters 32–42

“No. I don’t think you killed Travis. I think it was the two men who killed Travis who killed Travis. And I don’t think you should absolve them even a little bit by accepting any responsibility.”

Lydia felt actual physical revulsion at the banality of Dahlia’s problems in the great scope of things.

The anonymity and disconnectedness of the Internet allows me to present that persona to you.

“We are a fallen species, spitting on the gift of salvation. Humanity is irredeemable.”

Outside, Dill appeared even more wan and pale than usual under the blackening sky. Something about him seemed ethereal. As if he were disappearing right in front of her. Declining. Diminishing. Eroding.

Instead he sat and tried to visualize his life in a year. He tried to envision being happy or hopeful about anything. He tried to imagine feeling any color but muted gray. He did this for a while before he decided he might as well go to bed, where he at least stood a chance of not dreaming about anything.

You were oblivious while Travis's dad was knocking his front teeth out. You're not going to let Dill bleed to death or choke on his own vomit in there.

She looked into a spartan bedroom with a neatly made bed, a cross-stitch with a Bible verse above the bed, a Bible on the nightstand, and almost nothing else.

His voice was stony and lackluster.

Lydia stared down at him, pitching around for one last thing to say. Something that could fix everything. The perfect joke. The witty rejoinder. The insightful quip. And for once her mind was barren.

He had dreams of serpents. Visions of handling them, allowing them to twist around his arms and neck. Of wearing their skins and skulls and fangs; unkempt, bearded, and reeking of decay; a derelict hull.

All he could taste was the pervasive and consuming despair, like soot on his tongue.

He would go to work and perform his tasks in a somnolent haze.

He wondered if the turbid water gliding past could again carry away his burdens.

“Yes, but so is Marissa hitting on you in front of your girlfriend, so I’m declaring a moratorium on the rules. MTSU is a lawless, anarchic no-man’s-land.”