Chapter Twenty-FourI slacken and feel the cadaver hands on my arms loosen. Beatrice probably needs them to help keep the almost-escaped Ariel in check.
I look down, but this time, there’s no blood spread over my shirt pocket.
Beatrice clearly didn’t catch the small movement that was covered by my leap.
This is what I did: I palmed my trusty deck of cards and hid it in my shirt pocket, just in case the future tried to be stubborn, which it did. The knife couldn’t get through the barrier I created—even Ariel isn’t strong enough to pierce more than half of the cards in a deck.
I’m not sure how different stabbing a deck is to stabbing a ribcage, but it looks like Beatrice isn’t experienced enough with stabbing to tell the difference—she must usually use the knife for carving fleshy parts.
