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Fletcher gave me a sly smile "For now"

I nodded, turned, and walked over to the front door For a moment, my hand hovered over the doorknob, and I wondered onceto do It would be easy to stay here with Fletcher-so easy But like the old man had said before, I was Gin Blanco, Genevieve Snow, and the Spider Easy wasn’t in my vocabulary It never had been

I twisted the knob, opened the door, and stepped out into the cold But I wasn’t ready to go-not yet I turned and stared back through the storefront s, looking at the old ray Our love and respect for each other glowing as bright as the neon pig sign above the door

Fletcher raised his hand to me in a silent wave, which I returned Then the snoirled between us once one

Chapter 30

I shuddered in a breath and found reen eyes-eyes that were pinched tight orry and fear

"Fletcher?" I mumbled, my voice hoarse and raspy and broken "Fletcher?"

I wheezed in another breath and wished that I hadn’t Pain floodedme out of whatever dreaony coursing through h ed heart But at the sah I were standing overmy limbs twitch and writhe with pain with a dispassionate eye I i to do with the fact that all of s, hell, all my skin, had been seared off by Mab’s eleotten her I thought that I smiled then I certainly wanted to, even as the blackness crept up on ain

"No, it’s Finn," my foster brother’s familiar voice said "Gin? Stay with me, Gin!"

Some indistinct murmurs sounded, and footsteps scuffled in the snow But I didn’t see anyone because ain

"She’s alive!" Finn screamed "Get Jo-Jo over here! Now!"

The world went black oncestabbed with a hundred thousand red-hot needles-all at once I cried out froht that I did I certainly wanted to Even Mab’s elemental Fire hadn’t felt as bad as all this, as painful, as agonizing, as brutal It was like every lastripped off and then stitched back on, one cell at a ti it Just pain, pain, and more pain

"Hold her steady," so around and tearing up what I’ve already healed"

It ht that the pressure on s increased that much more

"You’re exhausted," souely fa voice chiic, not like you do, but you can use my Ice power I’ll feed it to you however I can Maybe it’ll help I have to do-so to help her I can’t-I can’t stand to see her like this So broken and melted-"

The voice cut off in a choked sob After that, silence

"All right," the first voice said, sounding ht to be "Let’s just hope that ht Because I’ on empty at this point"

For a hed with relief But I’d barely drawn in a breath when they returned, even sharper and hotter than before More and ain in an unrelenting wave of agony

I threw my head back and screamed and screamed and screamed into the blackness

A soft, cool hand stroked lide over hed with relief and tried to lean into the touch, but so stopped me My whole body felt like it was ied, and strapped down like I was one of the poor souls languishing away in Ashland Asylum Maybe the powers that be had fitted me for my straitjacket already, as crazy and juth to fight against whatever eighing

"Rest, Gin," that high, lilting voiceher words as well "Just rest"

So I did

The next tiood I openedup at a cloud-covered fresco on the ceiling I sighed with relief, and more than a few tears slipped out of my eyes I was safe at Jo-Jo’s house once more Somehow, I’d done the impossible-killed Mab Monroe and lived to tell the tale Wow Soood way

Dark cloaked the roo way to dawn A soft snore rumbled close to my left ear, andchair next to the bed, a blanket covering hi overfor rooved into his face, purple circles ringed his closed eyes, and a thick growth of black stubble covered his face, as though he hadn’t shaved in a week I couldn’t see his clothes, but I iined that they’d be just as ru there, watching over me even when he was so obviously exhausted hi ti him up, I carefully turned over onto my side Blankets had been piled on top of me too, so I couldn’t see what kind of shape I was in Curious and a little afraid of what I auze covered s, ar in between I’d never considered ers trembled just a bit as I put le" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>