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"What about Mel and Roland?" Weylin hopped onto a metal box that covered the air conditioner for the store

"She didn’t say Just that he wanted to leave" Ree looked over the edge of the roof and watched as some pedestrians made their drunken way froested "They’re gone" He nodded toward the ground before using one arm to push off and over the concrete wall He landed s Ree stepped off the wall and landed next to hih the streets, aware the sun wasn’t far fro for the to avoid being here during the day" Ree juet to the other side of town They stood back in the shadows as they scanned the restaurant

"Any Dark Ones?" Paden’s eyes swept the area intently

"No They’re probably holed up sout kept telling her souess we should go then" Paden grabbed Ree’s hand and they crossed the road quickly They stayed close to the building to try and not to attract any attention fro odd too, because he had the pommel of his sword in his hand Juliette and Bryce appeared seconds behind the the chest of her shirt and she earing Bryce’s jacket

"Are you okay?" Ree asked Her stoht of what could have happened

"Meh I’ht my shirt" Juliette looked down at the tattered ends of her shirt "Jerk"

Bryce frowned but didn’t say anything Ree knew it had probably scared him to death

"Have you seen Roland or Melanie?" Weylin asked Bryce, his eyes sweeping the e lot

"Not yet" Bryce looked at everyone "We should go to the boat"

"I’ll text thee Hopefully they were just avoiding people and would be back soon Almost immediately a text came back "Start boat Got company"

"Start the boat!" Ree ran for the whaler and hopped over the edge Bryce grabbed the helm and the boat roared to life Paden and Weylin untied the boat fro the ropes

"Pay! Turn the boat so we’re facing out!" Bryce looked over his shoulder at his friend Paden and Weylin pulled on the ropes until they had the boat facing the direction they wanted

"Dark Ones or cops?" Juliette asked

"No idea" Ree shook her head, but didn’t take her eyes off of the parking lot The sound of sirens reached her ears, and her gut clenched

"Shit It’s the po-po" Weylin looked over his shoulder just as Roland and Melanie tore across the parking lot

"Get in!" Bryce revved the engine Paden and Weylin jumped in with the ropes The boat took off, but Roland and Melanie ju in heaps on the floor of the boat Roland rolled over to his back and looked up at the sky, while Melanie laughed

Ree felt her eyebrows raise in surprise, but was relieved to see they were both okay She reached down and grabbed Melanie’s hand to help her stand Roland stayed where he was for ato take the controls from Bryce

"What happened?" Paden asked

"A cop saalking froht on us and then did a double take He obviously recognized us, because he turned the car around and hit the lights" Melanie pushed her hair out of her eyes and looked at her friends Ree noticed there was a happy glint to her expression, and she wondered what had happened while they were out searching

"That area is patrolled heavily, so ere constantly ducking cops Thankfully, we’re a little faster than their cars" Roland threw a smile over his shoulder at Melanie For a split second, Ree’s stoht as well have not happened

"Did you find any Dark Ones?" Bryce asked

"Two of the houses are used as safe houses, but they all disappeared Roland thinks there was a portal or so" Melanie sat down on a bench next to Juliette

Paden looked at Ree, obviously thinking along the same lines Now they knehere their mystery Dark Ones had co to do?" Ree frowned at Melanie

"Yeah Why?" Melanie redid her ponytail while watching Ree’s face

"I think I knohere they ended up" Ree sat down on the opposite side of the boat

"Ah, that’s where they came from!" Weylin moved to stand on the other side of the console frood can open a portal between places" Roland glanced at Ree "You mean to tell me all of those Dark Ones showed up where you were? What happened?"

"The Dark One started a fire, but I don’t knohat he actually did with it" Ree shook her head At this point, she didn’t really care hoorked

"A su them and asked for help" Roland narrowed his eyes at Ree "What did you do when they showed up?"

She shrugged and looked out over the water "We took care of it"

"Daht! Ree lit up the whole street like Christmas! That house is coh-five She returned it weakly, but didn’t meet anyone else’s eyes

"That was that flash? You destroyed the house?" Melanie looked at her with big eyes "But, that would have taken a lot of power, right?" She looked at Paden and Weylin as if checking for wounds