When everything was positioned exactly where he wanted it, he removed the box’s carved lid. The wood came off with a delicate scrape, revealing the object inside, which looked exactly like a human heart. A live human heart. It contracted as Bex watched, the dark-red muscles pumping in the deep, regular motion of a heartbeat. It didn’t look bloody or wet. It was just a heart beating in Adrian’s hands as he removed it from the box and began to bury it in the ground.
