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Moh, and Jack read it aloud "It says, ‘Let’s see what the Hulk has to say about that’ I can only assu to me"
"It’s not his choice whether I live or die," I said loudly toward the ceiling Then I turned toward Jack and whispered, "It’s not your choice"
"I know," Jack whispered back "I know, Becks"
I putvoice to the one wedge between ree on I would rather die than rule the Everneath Jack would rather I live, no ave Cole too much information When it ca any and all weaknesses he could find
And noas listening to every ere saying Max and Gavin probably started their guitar-and-drum duet when Cole discovered ere in his place
Jack o
I nodded I didn’t want to let Cole overhear anything else Jack took h it to the balcony He shoved the door closed despite the shattered lock, and we had just started down the balcony when I noticed a dark figure blocking the staircase Jack saw him too and jerked to a stop
I couldn’t see his face, because he was backlit froht on the stairs, but his silhouette showed he earing a hat with a wide bri coat, like a trench coat
Whoever it was, he just stood there I couldn’t actually see if he was looking at us or not, but for some reason I felt his eyes on me
"Try to act normal," Jack said It was a little late for "nor out of the condo, shoved the broken door shut, and then frozen at the sight of thetoward him
He ht and shone it uy’s face, and at first I didn’t notice anything strange until I got a look at his eyes They were pitch-black A chill went downts of black teeth
We stopped again
"U
"What back way?" Jack whispered
I pulled on his arot to be a back way If not, we’ll ood idea"
We ran in the opposite direction, following the balcony past several other condos, untilan eh the doorway, and we ran to the car
When we got there, I lunged toward the passenger’s side I was about to rip the door open when ht the side of the door just before I fell to the ground
"Becks? You okay?"
"Yes," I called out, trying to mask how out of breath I was I still didn’t knohat this neeakness meant, and until I did, I didn’t want Jack to worry
Part of o away before anybody else noticed Part ofheart
But another part ofto do with it
THREE
NOW
The Surface In theway too fast down the uy?"
I shrugged "I don’t know I’ve never seen anything like it Maybe we didn’t get a good enough look at hilimpse Maybe he was dressed up for soht Costulanced in the side-view h I couldn’t think of a reason theus
When I was sure ere in the clear, I said, "The bigger problehed and flipped on the signal to turn into my subdivision "So what do we do now?"
"Move to Tahiti," I said I stared out theas Jack pulled up in front of my house
"That would look suspiciously like running away froht it to his lips "Meet you in five?" he said
I nodded "I’ll leave theunlocked"
I ran inside, straight past my dad’s study As I walked by, he looked up from his laptop
"It’s a little late Hoas your date?" he asked
"Fine" We broke into an i to steal my heart, which is now a co stuff Good night," I called out over ht," ot ready for bed, I could no longer keep my disappointment at bay We didn’t haveht showed that Cole had anticipated ould search his apartment He wasn’t just one step ahead of us; he was several
He’d predicted we’d go for the safe
I shook my head as I put toothpaste on my toothbrush Cole had always known o to the Feed with him in the first place It was how he’d been able to trickon him three times in the Everneath
I washed my face and then looked at myself in the mirror and yawned There were dark circles under my eyes, the kind that had only ever appeared when I’d been out all night, and my face was paler than usual
Maybe I wasn’t sleeping very well
I went to my room and opened thefor Jack
"Are you okay?" he asked
My hand flew up to ht "Yes I just suddenly felt really exhausted"
Jack frowned "Are you sick?"
I shookand entering Nothing ether as if he were reluctant to give up on the subject, but I pulled him toward my bed and wrappedto find my heart if Cole doesn’t want us to," I said,"Now that he’s back in town, I say that tomorroe confront him"