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I know the answer

A trap

My grip tightens on Cal’s ar to burst into flame Horror to match my own bleeds across Cal’s face as he looks, not at me, but into the shadowed alleyway Out of the corner of ht of a crown--the one a foolish boy insists on wearing everywhere he goes

And then, a clicking sound--like aits pincers, ready to devour a juicybrother He’ll save us; he’ll take us away froes

But he never reaches me

I watch in horror as a pair of swifts catch hiround His head cracks against stone and his eyes roll Dimly, I hear Farley screa They’re at thein their direction, forcing the white knives of heat But there’s nothing there but th It shouldn’t hurt at all

The clicking continues, echoing in nore it, try to fight, butin and out with every tick What is this sound? Whatever it is, it’s tearing h the haze, I see two fires explode around , the other dark, a snake of smoke and flame Somewhere, Cal roars in pain Run, I think he says I certainly try

I end up crawling over the cobblestones, unable to see more than a few inches in front of me Even that is difficult What is this, what is this, what is happening toI tithout seeing, reaching for where their neck should be My fingers claw at arot her," says a voice I recognize Ptolemus Samos I can barely see his face Black eyes, silver hair, skin the color of the th I can, and slice at hi my arm as fire fills my insides No, this isn’t fire I knohat it is to be burned This is so else

A kick catches me in the stomach and I let it roll arden,The cool scent is a ain But when I open o blind

Maven crouches in front of me, his head tipped to one side, an inquisitive puppy with a toy Behind hies A very uneven one With Shade incapacitated, and un now, but it’s little use with Ptole bullets at every turn At least Calaway knives and vines as fast as he can It can’t last, though They’re cornered

I almost scream We escape one noose only to find another

"Look ative hiaze I won’t look at hi sound, the one no one else seerabsme to face hi qualities Along with this," he adds, drawing a finger through the red blood ona firework of pain throughhurt more, hurt deeper Reluctantly, I meet familiar blue eyes and a pointed, pale face To , a haunted boy He is not the Maven of host of blood and shadows He is real again I recognize the determination in his eyes I saw it on the deck of his father’s boat, as we sailed downriver to Archeon, leaving the world in our wake He kissed my lips then and promised that no one would hurt me

"I said I would find you"

Click