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Her hesitance to step anywhere away from a circle she had practically drawn in the sand around herself within Inferni was slowly fading, but even going too far made her more jumpy than she had ever been. Within Inferni, Talitha knew she was safe from Andrezej. Hybrid hated the male, for whatever unknown reason, and her father was absolutely livid. She still hadn't entirely accepted what happened, and only knew that the screams continued to plague her through her sleepless nights. Death might as well already have wrapped his pallid arms tight around her and rocked her to sleep. Her eyes were drooping, but she was fighting the lullaby and pulling through with an astounding amount of courage. It was more than she could say for how she felt she was doing, which was very poorly. Her appetite was nonexistent and had been since the assault, but she had fed mostly for the sake of everyone else. Her body was still paining her from time to time, and when there wasn't physical pain there was freshly opened mental wounds to shove her deeper into her own mind.
She hardly realised she had left the Waste and walked into the Dampwoods. Walking in silence had become something she often did, but normally she paced in quiet circles. Her eyes widened on her imaginary scene and then she fell back, screeching at the top of her lungs at the trees as the incorporeal Andrezej lunged for her. His voice had been husky, throaty, as if it was all he'd ever wanted. He'd been hot and slick with grime, as if he never even bathed. She had pushed against him, but he was large and built and had easily pinned her beneath his heavy hips and his thick hands. She had done everything possible to prevent him from ripping her pants off, but he had literally shredded them away.
She shook her head violently as tears spilled unbidden down her cheeks, soaking her torn pink tank top. She had found some black cargos to take the place of her old tight fitting sweats, but they weren't half as comfortable. She didn't move from her position sitting on the floor in the sparse forest — chances were she could still be seen from across the Waste — but fell over herself, draped over the nearest log and sobbing uncontrollably. Her arms folded defiantly over her face as she huddled against that log, trembling powerfully as her own screams built up in her head and replayed to her. Muffled; she might have bit his hand, but it hadn't done anything to him as he'd rocked.
And the Devil rocked rough.