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Cinder’s eyesto eat food"

"You don’t need to eat at all?" I asked

"I require neither food nor sleep, though I can process food if I wish But I only sense the textures, and none of the flavor, so it is a wasted exercise I believe the emotion I feel at this inability would be called depression"

"This is the part where you sigh," I told hih

Cinder mimicked me almost perfectly but still didn’t corabbed another piece, and let out anotherhis phone froray suit jacket "When you hining the other day--"

"Whining? I don’t whine"

Cinder tilted his head ever so slightly "Is not whining a nasal or co sound? Or to snivel and cohed "He’s got a point"

I pursed ave Cinder a dirty look

He stared back without blinking

"Yes, fine, okay, I guess I do whine sometimes" I took a bite of pizza and spoke with , when you hining the other day about how often you are forced to repeat your history, I decided it ht be appropriate toyour words with my phone, and transcribed it into a document" He pushed his phone across to me, and I skimmed over the text It was dry and to the point, but was, essentially, a synopsis ofI was an incubus

"This is why I love you, Cinder," I said, scrolling down the docuhtly "Do you feel roape love?" he asked, his voice never wavering in pitch

Shelton’s drink sprayed fro and purchased my school books Even with a book and most of my mental faculties intact, Ms Crab still treatedclasses werestories, like a bard with a ic staff Ivy wasn’t at lunch, ana and ure out why she avoided other students My gentle prying yielded nothing but her shrinking further into a shell

After classes, I ain for a daily dose of Deht beddy-bye ti Elyssa had finally ed me Instead, I found only a little stab of disappointment at the blank notification screen

The rest of the week rolled by, each day absolutely stuffed to the gills with instructional work and even homework I kept an eye out for my sister, but didn’t see her once I wondered if she’d gotten in trouble for going to lunch that one day, and worried about her Morgana asked about her every day, never failing to look sad when she didn’t show

When Friday afternoon arrived, a buoyant sense of relief lightened ht of a free weekend Even Vallaena’s attempts to make me lose control had less effect than usual After my lessons with her, I practically skipped back to the dorm The usual exhaustion had melted away in the face of the immense amount of chill tie, andto view the han

Justin, Nightliss wants to see you She’s not doing well

Worry shattered the relief, and weighed e, and his eye twitched

"You’re telling me the main weapon in our arsenal is still sick?" he said

I nodded "Sounds like it"

We took the shuttle down to the arch station the nextApparently, the Gloom cracks weren’t a public menace anymore, because people lined up to take the Obsidian Arch Shelton saw the line and groaned He motioned me to follow him, and we made our way around to the control roo our fake Darkwater story, we convinced the operator to let us go through next

"So I hear you guys got the s," the operator said as he escorted us outside

I al it, and nodding Shelton never

"What exactly did you hear about it?" he asked, a look of suspicion on his face

The operator’s face creased in concern "Uh, just that it orking, but they hadn’t sent anyone live through it yet"