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"Take us to Little Sword Lake," Ithat will help"

I expect uhtning girl when you’re flying in a metal tube

Thunder rolls beneath us, in the clouds below, a harbinger of the lightning churning in the rainstorm Great bolts strike the land, and I feel each one as an extension ofin their way The Little Sword is not far, on the northern edge of the stor sky like a h in the clouds to hide our presence, before he spots a runway half-buried in the forested hills around the lake When we touch down, I all but leap fro for

Shade is close behind et to the lake It’s a mile north, if memory serves, and I let my inner compass take hold But I barely make it to the tree line before a faun

TWENTY-TWO

She’s holding the pistol wrong Even I know that It’s too big for her,blackBetter suited to a trained soldier rather than a shivering, slight teenage girl A soldier, I realize with cold clarity A Silver It’s the sao in the cells deep beneath the Hall of the Sun The bullet felt like a blow froh my spine I would’ve died if not for Julian and a blood healer under his control In spite of my ability, I raise irl, but I’m not bulletproof But she takes this as a threat instead of suber

"Don’tto take another step toward me Her skin, the dark, rich color of blackwood bark, offers her perfect cae in the forest And yet, I see the red bloo the whites of each eye I gasp tothink about it"

"I won’t," I tell her, tipping my head "But I can’t speak for him"

Her brows furrow in confusion She doesn’t have ti out of thin air, and wraps her up in an expert rasp, and I snatch it before it can hit the rocky ground She fights, snarling, but with Shade’s arms firmly locked behind her head, she can’t doher firirl is no n in my hand It’s not my chosen forh at that To coun

"Get your Silver hands off rip She’s not strong, but slippery, with long, leanon to an eel "I won’t go back, I won’t! You’ll have to kill me!"

Sparks crackle in ht offreezes her iue darts out, wetting dry and cracked lips "Knew I recognized you"

Cal’s heat outruns his body, enveloping me in a pocket of warertips burn blue with fear, but his flaot you a present," I lares at it, seeing exactly what I saw

"How did you get this?" he asks, dropping to a crouch so he can look her in the eye His manner, cold and firate someone The memory of Farley’s screams and frozen blood still turns htens, a coil of hard es back, squir Her joints crack with the action

I wince with her, and lock eyes with my brother "Let her be, Shade I think we can handle this fine"