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I have to tell you soh I can’t remember what it was

"I’ht?" he asks, and his voice cracks

I want to coh it’s clear that I aht now I’ve never seen hioing to get away fro to save you," he says, s up what I realize was a paddle, then leans over the side of the orange thing we’re riding on and paddles for all his s slide into place My ties, our lifeboat What I want to say to hi so hard to nowhere that salt water is spraying

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

The sound of helicopters in onfly

All this--again?

Men descend froe hands grab me, fasten ht up too--they let him sit beside me They leave , and Asher’s buckled in I wake up e land with a bounce

Men undo the latches that hold the gurney in place and bring it into a roo--and I knoith unflinching certainty and sadness that they are taking me away from the sea

"Is there any other way?" Asher’s voice breaks through the fog inside , so that I can pretend that we’re still on the ocean If I concentrate hard enough, I can still feel the waves rockingthat’s kept her alive this far But even now the baby loses strength When it dies, so will she," says a voice that’s strange

"This is wrong" Asher’s again "I want it to be Anna"

"Anna’s the one that sent us" Stranger one again

"She’s on the other side of the country" And stranger two Both of theh that I can almost convince myself I am back at sea, in the water’s cold eives er one sounds exhausted "Anna told us not to force you But dawn is near"

"And she won’t live to see another night if you delay" Stranger two sounds ales tohim, I’ll kill it I clenchhand atop uine, and with the perenitor of the Arsov Throne, I bind Edith Spence eternally to me, Raven of the Catacombs"

"No--wait--" Asher says

But whatever he objects to, it’s too late So flows into my mouth It tastes like salt, but it’s not water

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

It felt like everything had changed when I woke up I felt … healthy Like a long fever had broken And nothing hurt

"Good , sunshine," a voice said I turned and found Anna standing right beside me Her blond hair was unkempt, like she’d just woken up

"Anna?" I leaned over to look past her, and then around at the rest of the strange room, in case I’d been pranked, and then returned ain "How come you’re here?"

"Because I told thehter every single one of them So they put my coffin over there" She pointed behind herself

I looked past her It didn’t look like a coffin It looked like a lightproof, bo container Where the hell was I? And what ti had I been out? I remembered the life raft--and Asher and my child I put my hand to ht?"

"He’ll be here shortly"

"What’s going on? Why are you here?"

Anna took ently in her cooler ones "What he did, he did it for you You both ht at the tiave , meer loo over me and the hot taste of blood "Oh--no"

"It was the only way to save you He never would have allowed it otherwise And I’uilty as him--they were here because I asked" She sed "I wanted you to have a choice I didn’t want you to die"

"A to say, but it was clear that I was not My skin still had color, and I could hearand all, but hers was not likeinside her

"Oh, no," I said again, more quietly