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Red hair blew across her vision and Ari gulped, tasting blood Anabeth’s fuzzy face appeared over her, worried and glazed… like she was hypnotized or so; that she could finally stumble into one of these situations and be in a position to use her power before she got hurt But life was never that easy

"It wasn’t supposed to be you," Anabeth whi the darkness creep ever faster She was losing time She still needed to save Jai "I c-co-" she choked on the blood "I command you to leave Jai unharic in the swords pinning hi and Jai eak That was no ordinary emerald in Anabeth’s hand That was Mount Qaf e on the ground frootten hi her now Through the pain Jai groeakly as he tried to et to her To protect her as Anabeth strode towards her with tre limbs

"It wasn’t supposed to be you," Anabeth whispered "No"

Ari was shuddering hard now and Jai bit back another yelp of pain as he tried to lift his left ar fit took over Jai felt panic grip his chest "I command you to leave Jai unhar ears and he froze as her whole body grew still

"No!" he yelled, fear killing him more than the physical pain "No! Ari!"

Anabeth stu at him with her own fear printed in her eyes "What do I do now?"

And before Jai could beg her to let hio so he could save Ari, Anabeth fled into the Peripatos As the last hiss of her fla silence and da his life before her own Fury and iic exploded into his telepathy

RED, GET HERE NOW! ARI IS DYING!

Theout of the Peripatos towards Ari, his red hair blowing behind hi in battle "What happened?" he roared, his face e as he dropped to his knees beside Ari’s body

Jai held back the tears that were threatening to spill as he tried to get a better look at her "One of The Guild," he ed as Red put his hand over Ari’s wound and then checked her pulse "She tricked us with the help of an Utukku The Utukku was sent here to lure me out Someone did this Someone fro’s eyes flashed at the news as he carefully picked Ari’s li the swords "You’re right This is powerful ht sword and it turned to ash, the weight of it easing from Jai In its place he felt warm blood soak his clothes from the now open wound Red did the sa position, his whole upper body sensitive with hurt In truth, Jai could be paralyzed right then and he wouldn’t care His eyes and heart ith Ari

"Will she be OK?" he whispered hoarsely, struggling to his feet and stuo of Ari His features were tight "I need to get you both to my healer I’ve called him to a safe house We cannot trust The Guild just yet"

The thought of using the Peripatos nearly buckled Jai’s knees Sweat and blood rolled down his body as he turned to look at Brett’s unconscious figure "The hunter He had nothing to do with this I think it," he stopped, taking a deep breath, "it was just Anabeth"

"I’ll co proer Every minute counts" And with that he disappeared into the fla Ari with hi or if he’d get there in his current weakened state His only thought was to follow the girl who had coirl who had saved his life

24 - There are no excuses, only choices

He could have set fire to Mount Qaf with his rage, blazing a trail from one end of the never to the next Instead Red let the fury turn cold within, the cal him to the one person who surely had the answer

Azazil stared back at hi on the arm of his black marble throne Today he wore no robes Black silk trousers billowed around his legs, his feet bare A gold torque inset with e arled from his ears Azazil was in the mood to play Sultan today "What exactly do you want ofof royal Jinn blood, his niece was strong Jai was recovering quickly from his oounds but if Jai had taken the hit uardian would have survived the attack Ari had saved the young ie’ whose own guilt at having been elsewhere during the fight fired her annoyance at Red, the Jinn King had left Ari to sleep off the rest of her injuries within the protection of The Roe Guild who had been cleared of any involvement They were devastated that one of their own could have done this The Hollis brothers were in shock that their sister had been approached by another Jinn behind their backs and enlisted to do such evil Anabeth was still et of her own Guild The hunter he’d saved after pro Jai, had been returned to thenicely fro had been patched up… except who had corrupted Anabeth in the first place