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I hadn’t planned ht away HaardsWhat do you mean, when there’s a lotis on the tip of ue now, ready to tu toowith us Zero has threatenedthe others at risk I mutter a curse under my breath and stand up "I’m sorry"

Hammie leans her elbows on her knees "There’sfro us, Em?" Asher asks, his voice very quiet now

"I have aze The edge of Ren’s lip quirks up again, so subtle that no one else notices, and his eyes harden at ive hi me Then I turn around and head back to my room Asher calls my name, but I don’t respond

Careful, Emika

The voice echoes in my ears I freeze in my steps

There, throughat the end of the hallway leading up to the second floor, his silhouette encased in dark armor and his opaque helht of hi here?" I say in a hoarse croak

Behind me, I hear Hammie’s voice as she walks towardto?"

He just stares calmly at me Check your Memories

My Memory Worlds

Suddenly,up ato search for my Memory Worlds, all the carefully compartmentalized pieces ofNo Please When they come up, I freeze

The files are blank The option New Memory World hovers over them

I tremble Impossible I put up all sorts of security shells on the could ever happen to them, secured them in the cloud, cloned them multiple times out of an abundance of caution I search frantically forcheerfully at our dining table as he cuts fabrics Dad, crafting handroasted peanuts withthe halls ofmy birthday

Zero has deleted the froht return the

My fingers curl tightly into fists at er sharpens like a blade toward the armored silhouette beforemy vision Behindon with you?" she says

Zero’s head tilts ever so slightly Like he’sh our doriven for the blast

I don’t get a better sense of what happened until I see it broadcast on the small TV in my hospital room From the outside, it looks horrendous--one ; the next, a deafening explosion and an orange ball of fire erupting frolass everywhere As the fire billows out of control, pouring black shts turn on and the players fro Others stand with their hands on their heads, at a loss for words Butour na, obnoxious Treh a

Then the fire trucks cohts fill up the TV screen There’s a news announcer talking in front of our dor Hammie, who looks awake and dazed as she clutches a blanket around herself Asher suffered solass, as did Roshan, but miraculously, all of us came out of it alive

It doesn’t h

"Miss Chen," a nurse says as she peeks in throughher head once "You have a visitor"