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“What about Lathan?” Ingrid asksoff “Where’s he?”

Just as I see ain look at my friends

“My brother is absent As always He’s been an ass since Father made it official that I was the next in line for the Faht”

“He’s known that his entire life,” Ezekiel states dismissively “Your father didn’t want the Fas to be a leader”

“I’ it s than usual More girls than usual More everything and less attendance I haven’t seen him in weeks”

“So he’s icing everyone out,” Carlisle surmises

“Not Father He spoke to hi he had to attend, and Lathan apparently hung up on hio to rehab, and asked hio well”

Ingrid blows out a breath, about to say so we’re in shakes hard The floor rattles beneath us, as noise—just a steady, ear-splitting, undefinable noise—tries to deafen us

Windows shatter, and Ezekiel tossesdown on top ofsense

Screae to peer up as the building stops o to the mostly shattered s, and my heart leaps out of my chest

I don’t knohen I get up

I don’t knohen I start screa

I don’t knohen I start fighting against Ezekiel’s hold, or when he even starts holdingto my death in a quest to save my parents

It’s like it all went black for a second, and suddenly I was at the broken s, staring in disbelief at a room my parents couldn’t have escaped

Ezekiel is still holdingacross the street as the fire rushes fro the outside air

A second explosion triggers, and I’ainst s

I blink, wondering when I got back on the ground, wobbling as I stand back up Ezekiel is unconscious besideherself off the floor, a cut on her head

A ringing is constant in round noise I see Carlisle’s lipsmy shoulders, but all I can do is stare past him and across the street at the destroyed top half of the building