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"Except they can replace it through me" The impact finally sank in, and Skye felt a little dizzy "Or are there other ways?"
"Your blood is the only thing I’ve ever heard of that would allow a va our powers"
"Which means they want my blood really, really badly"
"Yeah" Balthazar breathed out, half elation, half frustration "Skye, your blood is like a drug for us The ultiood" Skye wrested her hands free froh she still felt shaken fro, she couldn’t let the tension boil inside her She needed to walk it out "Is there anyplace in the world vao?"
Grimly, Balthazar shook his head "There aren’t that rave knohat you really are--and he does--he’ll chase you as far as he has to Even to the ends of the earth" He spoke as though froainst the wall, as if she could push her way through to escape Only hours ago, Redgrave had stood by her side, polite and patient, while she composed a poem "He said--he said he wouldn’t kill me Because they need my blood So they won’t ood news" He stepped closer to her,that sip of her blood, every word urgent "You have to trust me on this--there are fates worse than death I’ve suffered some of them" Balthazar’s broad hand closed around her shoulder "You don’t want to knohat Redgrave would do to you, body and soul, to keep you captive"
Skye wanted to scream She wanted to hit someone, but as the point? That fury and fear had no place to go
"Hoo horave wouldn’t co into her own bed, pulling the covers tight, and hiding from the whole world
Froht he understood "Co a sick student ho teachers were on basketball duty for, and Coach Haladki waved Balthazar off without even needingtogether on the crosstown bus, in the very back; the only other passenger was a hts within the bus, they weren’t bright, and the road outside wasn’t well lit or heavily traveled at this hour Skye felt as if they were in a tiny shell of illumination and warht
Balthazar kept his arh his body didn’t warm her the way another human’s would have, the contact kept her oar wrapped in a blanket
"I’ll have to get a car," he said "We can’t rely on this"
"You don’t have one?"
"I haven’t owned one in a while The past few years, I didn’t bother; I was living at Evernight, so I couldn’t have kept a car with ht one last su at the pool She’d earned enough for a clunker "But I couldn’t take it to Evernight, and Mo nicer if I waited until I was headed to college I’ll start looking for one right away"
"Not sure there’salone isn’t thatMaybe you can work out a way to get a ride from Madison or soe that even that fae fro out with Balty
Hastily she sent back: Will you SHUT IT b/c he’s RIGHT HERE and he can read?! Skye glanced over at Balthazar, as paying no attention to her texts Instead, he stared out theinto the darkness She would’ve thought he was keeping watch if not for the deep sadness in his eyes
Cleoing on here Crazy stuff Will email 2nite or 2morrow and catch you up Already Skye knew she needed a friend who could really talk to her about all of this; Madisonout with, but she didn’t understand anything about vahosts, this entire vast supernatural world that hid within the cracks of everything else they’d ever known Cleht Acadeet it
As she slid her phone back into her pack, she stole another glance at Balthazar If anything, he was even ht than before The motion of the bus rocked them back and forth in one rhyth you that question"
Her throat still hurt, but it was a dull ache now, like the sensation of trying not to cry "I’h"
"Definitely But--so, and she knew it, but Balthazar obviously wasn’t the type to talk easily about his feelings If she wanted to knowwas clearly in order