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A sudden snap of light blazed across the Keeperhis face ain But the flicker lasted just long enough for asped It was the htmares The one who always stepped out of the shadows of the forest right after the Death Walker captured me

"Did you hear that?" The man with the scar asked

Demetrius shook his head "Hear what?"

Scar man held up his hand, and his head turned inhand over my mouth and sank back behind the chair This wasn’t supposed to happen He wasn’t supposed to be able to see me

Heavy footsteps treaded tohere I hid My body shook with fear If he caught htmares

"I could have sworn…" his voice drifted over the back of the chair

I shut my eyes Please wake up Please wake up Please…

"Gemma, wake up"

Electricity sparkled across my skin, which meant…I cracked open my eyes I was back at Laylen’s, and yes, Alex was there, standing overat me like that?

"What the heck happened?" His voice cracked

I openedca withback to, I tried to will my cold limbs to move

They didn’t

"Stay still," Alex told me and turned to…Aislin--I hadn’t even notice she was there until now "Go see if you can find Laylen"

Her bright green eyes ide "What are you going to do?"

"I’ down at led to lift e, but then remembered I couldn’tdraped over her shoulder, and she let it fall to the floor "Alex, are you going to be able to stop it froo!" he yelled

She flinched, spun around, and dashed out the door

Alex immediately went into Save Gemma Mode He slipped off his jacket and knelt down on the floor beside me "Okay," he mumbled to himself as he assessed me over He wrapped his arms aroundas though it was going to snap like a twig Then he leaned ht away, the electricity started working itsthe cold away I could breathe again and even wiggleto be okay," he whispered

Well, this was a nice change Putnice to e as it was, I actually felt content All ofor small, seemed irrelevant at thehad returned to norn because that er paralyzed

He rubbed his hand up and down ain"

"Yeah, at least there’s that" I croaked

He laughed, his breath ticking atto feel better now, but I made no effort to try and move away from him I sat there and let hi to be okay because…Well, because it felt nice And no, I hadn’t forgotten about all the lies and unsolved mysteries that see around , and hey, I was only human…or at least partly humanI think

"Gemma" Alex ely euphoric

"Did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Stab that thing"

I raised aze to the Death Walker sprawled on the floor, a knife sticking out of its chest "Yeah, I did Laylen told me if I ran into one of them to stab it in the chest and run But it breathed this cloud thingy on me, and I couldn’t y is called the Chill of Death," he said then muttered, "I can’t believe you actually stabbed one of them"

Chill of Death Well, that sounded lovely "I think I took it off-guard or so"

"Still, it’s not--"

Aislin walked into the rooht of us, she hit a dead halt and pressed her hand over her heart "Oh ht--"

"Aislin," Alex warned

I knehat he was trying to do He was trying to stop her fro the bad news to ured that out the moment the Chill of Death had hit o of me and rose to his feet

I tried not to act too disappointed about his wobbled and the rooetting really good with being dizzy and workedon my butt