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She burst into haunting laughter that tore throughto come from the walls, the floor, the air She was everywhere

"You can do what you want to her," Roer and I in this battle I will get you out and send you back to where you came froh in his abilities, because it felt likein with Perry’s skin I felt like tiet worse

Suddenly the area around the bed erupted in fla us Ada and I stu, stunned by as happening

"Keep going!" Roman screamed at Bird over the roar of the flames

Bird snapped to it and continued, his hands slapping steadily on the druher until they provided a barricade between us and Perry I held Ada tight to my side as she trembled, both of us now a captive audience

In one swift, violentthe straps around her ar voice of a little boy, "Why did you have to be so rough? You hurt me You broke my bones"

"No!" Ro native words

"Yes, you did," the voice continued, teasingly, like a child on the playground "You broke me in a million pieces You told me you had to hurthisPerry like his eyes were glued to her, never breaking, never faltering

"And you," she said, turning her head to look at et what you did, Declan"

But it wasn’t her who spoke It was my mother’s voice

She was here

My arht right there

Perry--hed, so familiar, so terrible "Your little secret You don’t want anyone to know about what happened to your dear old mother I’m in here now In here with your little tramp And I will do to her what you did to me"

No

She would not expose my secret She would not take my Perry

Suddenly the rest of the straps broke in two and she went flying backward as if booted by an invisible force, her head s crack

Next thing I knew there I was screah the fire, to get to her, to save her froulfed oner but soround where I rolled Through all of this I could hear Perry’s head being thrown against the wall

"Dex!" Ro you, don’t listen to it It wants your fear, it feeds on it!"

Then it ed off ed, and Ada helped h Everyone’s was

Perry was now floating right above us, her back on the ceiling, staring down at us as the flahed and ere at her mercy

"I will do to her what you did to me," and this time, it was Abby’s voice that ca to take Perry somewhere far away Somewhere to feast on her soul Perry’s beautiful, precious soul And she’d kill her body in the process She’d leave behind no trace of the girl I knew and loved Oh god, I loved her

This wasn’t what I came here to do I came here to save her And if it wasn’t Roman who could do it, it had to beher soul in it

I looked Roman in the eyes and yelled at him, "Take me! Let it take me It needs a soul, it can have nored me and shook his head "I can win this battle"

"No, you can’t," the h Perry’s lips "You can’t win I’ll kill her before you even get a chance Then I’ll take him"

It smiled sweetly at me

And then she fell

CHAPTER NINE

The round, I was sure she was dead But she iround like she was having a seizure There was no deht but there was no Perry either

"What’s happening?" Ada cried as Bird and Ro her face and head as gently as he could I fell to my knees and tried to touch her, but she writhed away froers

"I don’t know," Roman said Not the words I wanted to hear But before I could do or say anything, Perry was suddenly ripped from their hands She zoomed to the center of the room where she floated, suspended in the air, lifeless except for an ultraviolet light that shone out frood awful sun

We watched her, frozen on the spot She just hung there in the air and when Roo touch her, he was y

He licked his lips nervously "She’s in another place"

My eyes widened "What other place?"

He shook his head and took a step forward "We can’t reach her in the physical anymore Bird, I need you to continue"

Bird snapped to life and brought the dru beside an, rhythmic and powerful Ro and sputtering, sounding less confident by theher eyes out I wanted to co to say I needed comfort too

"What other place?" I repeated

Roht and terrible light Sweat fell off hi the battle