Page 17 (1/2)

"How can I ever repay you?"

Caroline asked, her voice barely recognizable it was so thick with e a step

back "I’ at the sheer relief and joy in Caroline’s eyes It suddenly occurred to Ari that Michael and Caroline were in a situation no other bereaved parent had ever been in Unlike Charlie and Mrs Creagh, who’d lost a son and a brother but would never realize the gift they’d been given, Fallon’s parents did Ari i for them

It also occurred to her that Fallon

would probably be cursed with overprotective parents for the rest of her life

A aze, and Ari’s breath caught Standing in the dooras Fallon Roe

And yet it wasn’t

Fallon Roe had big, dark eyes that

sparked with the fire of life

This Fallon Roe’s eyes were

haunted "Charlie’s gone?" she asked softly, her words cracking a little

Crap Ari’s shoulders slumped

"Maybe we can talk so her mom and

dad a small smile of reassurance, she turned and led Ari out of the study Ari quickly followed her to the back of the house to the library/pool rooht of the flashing fire in her dark eyes was a relief

"What the fk did you to do to me

and Charlie?" she snapped

Or maybe not so much a relief Ari

held up her hands defensively "Your ht?"

"Yeah" She crossed her arms

stubbornly "But I want to hear it from you, Prophecy Girl"

Determinedly, Ari kept the twitch

fro like Fallon and not that weird little whipped girl she’d been acting like two seconds ago, but laughing at this point in time would probably piss Fallon off "Okay Here’s the deal

You know the Labartu killed you?"

Fallon gave her a "well, duh" look

Ari tilted her head in curiosity

"Do you reo somewhere?"

"Seriously? You want to question me

about the afterlife before you explain yourself?"

"A little bit, yeah"

Fallon sighed heavily and shrugged,

her ar at her sides "I don’t know All I know is, onewas dark But not … not like you i to worry about, to think about I existed in this warain," she snorted "That sounds creepy It wasn’t creepy It was beautiful" Her eyes dimmed "But there was no sense of time One minute it was dark and cozy, and the next I’es kept colliding and fighting in my memory It was … well, I’ll admit I was really scared It’s taken ht order To sort them into what’s real for me and what’s real for this new reality or whatever"

Ari took a step toward her,

eyebrows knitted together "I never wanted to cause you pain or confusion I just wanted to fix things After what happened to you, Charlie went nuts He had in his possession Mount Qaf e him darker and darker He killed the Labartu and then disappeared off our radar for a couple of iven the task of hunting hi him"

Fallon’s eyes softened "But you

couldn’t"

"Would you have been able to? Even

after …"

"Even after having my neck broken

by the bitch he was obsessively hunting?" Fallon asked, her eyebrows rising at the suggestion "I walked into that, Ari Charlie didn’t want ht …" She shook her head, laughing bitterly "I thought he neededher nose, Ari

pushed the e Fallon didn’t need that kind of syht now "He did need you Your death really broke hiratitude shine in the Hunter’s eyes, so she took a second before destroying the moment "Charlie decided to blackmail me He wanted me to keep the Guild off his back, so he hooked up with Pazuzu and a Ghulah I’d used the Seal against He said he was going to lead theainst hiot Charlie, though" Ari tried to control her emotions as she re conclusion "I dried him out"

Fallon took a step toward her "Did

it work?"

"Yes But I was too late He’d

broken down about everything--about us, about you, and then your dad and the Guild came for him" Fallon’s eyes narrowed at that piece of infor hand "Fallon, your dad was doing his job He was trying to protect the only family he had left You have no idea what your death did to hier

ine," she whispered and then heaved another sigh "So what happened?"

Ari shrugged "I couldn’t let

Charlie die You know that So … I called in s existed as they did, the Guild wasn’t safe Jai and Trey weren’t safe

None of us were … not fro to die, which meant that in total, I’d inadvertently killed irlfriend, and his little brother So I changed it"

Fallon nodded "You had Azazil make

it so you were never involved in your dad’s life But … I don’t get how thatstill the same for you"

"I asked Azazil to keep my reality