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He loaded a third "This is a sedative"

I felt a third sting, and whatever the sedative was, it worked quickly Darkness fell overmore

My head pounded as I blinked open my eyes I lay onmy bed? No, the erly I sat up Dizziness struck ator"

Cole’s voice I breathed deep in an effort to clearbeauty of his face I hated to look away, but curiosity got towalls and planked floors

"You’re in a secluded home Ankh owns It’s twenty hway et here"

I’d been banished

My expression h I knew this was for the best, because he added, "You’re too dangerous to be around others right noeetheart"

Acid eroded my throat, and I choked "I know, and I probably should have been sent here weeks ago But, u as it takes"

To healor to die, whichever came first "Cole"

"You have to quit your job, I’ to call your boss And when school starts back up, she plans on speaking to the principal about allowing us to set up a computer so that you can remotely attend your classes If they won’t let you, you’ll have to quit the district for a hoain What did I want to say to hi and hanging in his eyes "I took your journal," he continued "I’ll go through every page, every passage E you is in there"

"When did you talk to her?"

"ThisShe came to see me, and I think I freaked outto air"

I smiled

Cole pushed out a breath "Better"

"What?"

He cupped ers around his wrists "I hate that you’ve been hurt by all of this, I needed to see you smile"

No wonder I was drawn to this boy "How can you still likeI’ve done?"

His thumb brushed away a tear that had seeped from the corner of my eye "It isn’t that I like you, Ali, it’s that I can’t stop liking you And I don’t want to stop Besides, you were trying to end a zombie That’s admirable"

"You saw her?"

"I did Her shield slipped for just a second when Gavin and I stepped in front of your grandht red When I aze I think it scared her, because she raced back into you"

"We haven’t seen the end of her" I could still feel her, a presence in the back of my mind A heartbeat I had failed to stop

"We’ll find a way to beat her," he said, and I nodded despite my fears

Emma had said the same

Nana had said the same

Heck, I had said the same

NowI wasn’t so sure

"You know," Cole said, "my mom once toldhi and I wouldn’t be able to get her out of irl would frustrate e me, but she would also make me do whatever was necessary to be a better man--the man she needed With you, I want to be better I want to be what you need Tell ht

Mackenzie had told irl he couldn’t live without In that irl And it was odd to me Sobetween us hadn’t changed

"Will you get on the bed withbut that I know us, and I knohat happens e kiss and if I get up there, we’re going to kiss And I’ood with that, crave it, but there’s no one here to stop us"

"You think Zoain?"

"Maybe she will, maybe she won’t, but it’s not that"