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We leap over the dead bodies So I look down Patrick’s hand is gripped around s

I could leave him I should leave him He tried to kill me But it’s not like I’randfather would never have had to kill her

I look up at Ulrika "Head to the paddocks! Just follow this path--it’ll take you there"

She leaves with Kieran, the glass jar tucked under her other arm, while I help Patrick up He briefly looks back at his parents’ lifeless bodies in the plaza, and then we’re hurrying through the streets as fast as we can with his injured leg, toward the gate beyond the paddock It’s hard to see as volcanic ash rains down on us, scorching , I notice the Boundary Wall looate is already open, and people stream out of the narrow entrance to the world beyond We run toward the gate, but halfway there Patrick yells out in pain as his injured leg buckles beneath hirit my teeth as I lift hiate and run down theasthe e pass the townsfolk whothem

"YouTheora’s heart in the jar

The four of us keep running, running, running I run from the landslide, I run from Amber Hills, I run fros burn and s are unable to take another breath I drop Patrick on the ground and collapse, panting, heaving, throwing up bile and ash He groans, but

Kieran collapses on the ground beside him "I think we’re safe"

I look down the road It’s hard to see through the sht The Boundary Wall h to keep it frolance at hiray froround Our faces Gray Everything is the salass jar It’s covered in soot I wipe away the black dirt, revealing Theora’s heart inside Grief spills over ether I’ll never get the chance to love her or have her fall in love with ain Icarus stole that from me I want Theora back, but not in this way

I thrust the jar into Ulkira’s hands She doesn’t say anything as she accepts it

"What do we do now?" Patrick says

I look down the road There’s no point in going back to Ao back to I turn my head The road on this side leads to Gray Wolf, then beyond thatfreedoo Be whoever I want to be My options are unli I as suffer for what they’ve taken from me I clutch the circle pendant around my neck as a plan starts to formulate in my mind The future stretches out before me, and I see it hoant it to be:

A world without sin

A world in her ie

A world united

So sayeth us all

22

ASH

"SO NOW YOU KNOW the truth about Purian Rose," Lucinda says tiredly

Everyone is silent I sink back inI’ve heard Purian Rose is related to me? No wonder my mom never spoke about her family Who wants to ad a war that killed htened too--being related to Purian Rose would’ve put our fa the war

"Ulrika and I lived with Edmund and Patrick for a while in Gray Wolf," Kieran says "But it didn’t work out They beca the Guild’s scriptures that were lost in the eruption and tweaking it to suit their own beliefs--"

"The Book of Creation?" Day interjects, referring to the holy text that the Purity faith is based on

Kieran nods "During that tiot worse He bla his head "He blew his top when he found out I was still in touch with Luci and Annora, so we parted ways Ulrika ca with Luci and Annora, attending civil rights rallies across the country, and Edmund and Patrick moved to Centrum to make a name for themselves in politics"

"When he came into power a few years later as Purian Rose, we knee had to stop hidoet involved in the group?"

"I met Luci and the others at a rally in Thrace," Yolanda answers "We were all staying with Esme at the Moon Star tavern"

Kieran suilty look at me Neither of us has had a chance to tell hiht tidoms reveal Edmund’s true identity?" Day asks

"Because we didn’t have any evidence, just our word," Lucinda says "And ould believe us, especially since Edmund looks human We tried to hunt down some of the forht of the eruption, and the rest were unwilling to talk"

"We approached a detective with this inforot close to so about an illegitimate child"--I shoot a look at Natalie, who has turned pale--"but he died in a house fire before he could pursue it any further The fire was set deliberately"

"Sounds like so the Sentry would do," Day says fiercely

The Sentry guards burnt down her house after the ballot a feeeks ago Her younger brother, MJ, was still inside at the tied to save him

"But you said Purian Rose doesn’t have a heartbeat?" Elijah says from the front seat "How coh "Oh, I’m sure Purian Rose has bribed or threatened his doctor to keep his mouth shut"

"Guys, we’re here," Acelot says from the driver’s seat