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Spots of color swa, he forced hier was slipping away His back ached, his head spun, a spell of dizziness enveloped hi his eyes, he stuh the forest tilted and swayed beneath his feet He , ran his hand along its rough bark as he rounded the trunk, straining to see anything in the forest beyond He caught a gli behind her as she dodged from tree to tree

Michael turned away--there was no chance of catching her She’d gotten too far already The pain in his back lit up, lancing down his legs Sturound Notup and down Just enough They’d never found out what happened if she died in the outskirts--she’d probably be fine, but he didn’t want her to leave him, not even for a minute

Michael collapsed to his knees He wanted to scream in frustration, but he pressed it down

That wo about her

He knew her Fro into the Code

Sarah caroaned soht next to her, his back against a tree He hadn’t knohat to do other than wait it out He figured she’d either die and disappear, and he’d follow her back to their Coffins, or she’d wake up eventually

Finally, she propped herself up next to Michael She rubbed her head and let out one last achy moan

"You okay?" Michael asked

"I’o back to the Wake, but I’ll be fine" She shifted to look at hi her sore spot "So … what happened? You’ve got it all figured out, right?"

He scoffed "Of course I do" Which reallyinto the forest I could barely walk, though, so I didn’t bother chasing her"

"I think you mean you didn’t want to leave e oak where the flash had gone off "So some lady follows us, spies on us, sets off fancy fireworks to cover herself as she runs ahy did she warn us? Doesn’t that seeuess it means she didn’t want to hurt us But …"

"What?"

The last piece of the puzzle had just clicked into place for Michael "I recognized her voice And then so about the way she ent Weber from the VNS But how in the world did she find us here?"

That was enough of a boested they cliet more comfortable in the tree house

"So you’re sure it was her?" Sarah asked once she was sitting on an ugly, beat-up beanbag Bryson had chosen the delightful seat ages ago during the coding phase