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He ran into the anteroom and pried the door from where it had been embedded in the wall He hoisted it over his head and carried it back Just then, several Shades entered the anteroorabbed the door and heaved it back into place behind us

"I’ll hold them off," he said "Go find Cole’s heart"

I nodded, and then Cole and I were off We ran in different directions All the while, I pictured ht of ht of his pick because I was desperate for him to find it

We ran up and down the aisles

Finally I turned a corner and saw a s toward me

It was a pick

"Cole! Your pick!" I grabbed it out of one I had no tiure out why it had come to me instead of to him

I turned a final corner and froze My blood turned cold at the scene in front ofAbove hiers, was the queen Adonia She’d found us

THIRTY-THREE

NOW

The Everneath In the vault of hearts

Cole!" I couldn’t help saying it He didn’t move

At the sound of my voice, the queen turned to irl who showed irl whoI wanted and then ain"

Cole stirred behind her And beyond him, down one of the corridors, Will crept forward Quietly, so the queen wouldn’t notice him

The queen held up the cos to you?" How did she have my compass, and why did Cole’s heart coht fast What had I been thinking about when Cole’s pick ca about Cole’s heart

"So tell irl who conjured a person out of thin airgirl ants ht now?"

Snap my heart in two What would that er be in this halfway li?

"I don’t want your throne," I said "I never did"

"Yet you destroyed my Shade army, and you broke into irl who doesn’t want the throne"

"Then breakme a favor"

She narrowed her eyes and let up on her death grip on my compass "If I break your heart, all you’ll need to do is feed on your Everliving again three tier to her cheek "Instead, I think I’ll keep your heart for myself Until I kill you"

She started towardposition I flashed hilimpse of his heart in my hand Jack showed up next to Will He looked as if he had been running Obviously his barricade at the door had given way

They see

I backed away from the queen

"Now!" I screa me all at once, and in a split second ere in the air, the queen’s angry face spinning away

We landed on the Surface, on asphalt in the parking lot near the Shop-n-Go And I kissed the ground

"See?" Cole said "All part of the plan"

It was a miracle no one hit him as we made our way to Jack’s car

I experienced only a moment of relief before I realized the queen held my Surface heart Which meant only she could feed et back to the Everneath before nightfall or one I was sure the others had realized it too, but they weren’t talking

"Say it," I said

They all looked at one another questioningly, as if they couldn’t i to

"Say it," I said again

"What?" Jack said

"Don’t pretend like you all haven’t reached this conclusion," I said

Jack took one hand off the steering wheel and put his arm around me "We don’t have to think about it now," he said

"Yes, we do The queen has my heart In order to destroy the Everneath, I have to kill the queen And I have to kill her tonight Because only she can feed me now that she holds my heart, and I don’t think she’ll want to feed me"

"Don’t think about that," Jack said "We’ll kill her before it corabbed et explosives ready and then do any research you can about the queen Nikki and I are going back to the Everneath"

"Why?" Jack and Will said siot to train Nikki how to conjure a fuse that will explode the bo--he was very secretive about the contents--he took me to the Shop-n-Go and ent under

We landed in a place that looked like a clearing in the middle of a forest "Where are we?" I asked

Cole shook his head "I’ remote, away fro of Earth No-athered up a bunch of objects: sticks, stones, branchesHe put the

"Go stand over there," he said, pointing to a spot on the other side

"What are you going to do?" I asked

He shrugged "I’ you Butdefend yourself"

He wound up and threw a rock at me My first instinct was to duck, so I did, and the rock went flying overhead

"Don’t duck," Cole said

"I can’t help it"

Cole took a step closer, cocked his arm back, and threw another rock atto conjure that would helpI’d seen on the Surface A fountain drink at the Shop-n-Go And the only thing that appeared out of that ie in my head was a straw

The faint outline of the straw appeared in front of ain, I dived out of the way

"Don’t move!" Cole commanded

"I can’t help it Soonna ht be the case"

He dropped the backpack that had been slung over his shoulder and unzipped the largest pocket He pulled out a bundled length of rope It wasn’t very thick, but it looked strong

"What are you doing with that?" I said