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For a long ti hands Soh a ritual that ht kil him I was next, and by this time tomorrow, Archer would be dead It was too much to think about, est tiht flicker on the lio to the eon There's a chance Ito die in the next few hours And if you had one wish, it would be to catch a movie?"

He shook his head "That's not what I meant I eren't like this You know, deh school, and taken you on nor over athumans actual y do?"

"Not outside of 1950s TV shows,"I told hi up to touch his hair He wrapped an ar s up under me and restedaround forests hunting ghouls, you want to go to the o on the occasional ghoul hunt,"he al owed before pressing a kiss to "

I closed ers?"

"Het some kind of job so I could afford to take you on these coroceries soe of Archer in a blue apron, putting boxes of Nil a Wafers on a shelf at Wal with it "We could argue in front of our lockers al drah schools"

He squeezed ood time And then I could coht and play music real y loudly under youruntil you took me back"

I chuckled "You watch too many movies Ooh, we could be lab partners!"

"Isn't that kind of ere in Defense?"

"Yeah, but in nor each other in the face"

"Nice"

We spent the next fewal the sports in which Archer's L'Occhio di Dio skil s would co in school plays By the ti, and I realized that, for just a little while, I'dmess ere in

Which had probably been the point

Once our laughter died away, the dread started seeping back in Stil , I tried to joke when I said, "You know, if I do live through this, I'onna be covered in funky tattoos like the Vandy You sure you want to date the Il ustrated Woman, even if it's just for a little while?"

He caught my chin and raised iant tiger tattooed on your face, and I'd stil want to be with you"

"Okay, seriously, enough with the swoony talk,"I told hi in closer "I like snarky, rinned "In that case, shut up, Mercer"Then he pressed his lips to mine I was very aware of the fact that this was probably the last time we'd ever kiss, and I think he was, too The kiss was different than any of the others we'd shared, slower and tinged with desperation By the ti hard, our foreheads pressed together

"Sophie,"Archer murmured, but then the heavy iron door opened with a screech

Kristopher was standing there, his hair blue in the orb's light He barely see over his shoulder to so, "In here"

Two dark figures walked into the cel , carrying a bundle between them

Dad

He was dressed in a black robe, siht of my birthday party, and his head lol ed back as the two round At first, al I could see were thoseover his cheeks and forehead like poisonous vines In the gloouessed they were the same dark purple as the Vandy's

But I didn't care about any of that Al I cared about was the steady rise and fal of his chest and, when I grabbed his wrist, the thread pulse that beat there "Dad,"I said softly, but he didn't wake up I squeezed his hand harder So about him felt different, and it tookwere his lack of powers I'd been so used to tuning in to Dad's ic, like a low-frequency radio station that only I could hear