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And he wasn’tof sand

With a curse, Mia jumped up from her spot beside me and hopped the short fence to run to him

But I couldn’theartbeat in

Absurd That word once again invaded hed--to stave off the cold panic

I tried to get up and follow after Mia, because soe, outside-of-s wouldn’t obey and my arms were like dead wood The sounds of everyone around me echoed as if frohthed more by a factor of at least a hundred, or maybe even a thousand

Mia and Adam crouched over William’s unconscious for it all, discussing ast themselves what had just happened Mia cupped a hand around Willia his vital signs Adam pulled out his cell phone, presumably to call 911

And all I could do was sit here and stare, as if I atching a news report on TV

"Holy crap, what the hell just happened?" Alex said atSeveral people from the clan council quickly crowded around him just outside the arena

Someone ran up to Mia hat looked like a first aid kit, which she quickly sifted through before pulling out a package of gauze As I watched her tend to Williae, ers cramped

I closed my eyes as a massive shudder wracked my body My throat constricted at the recollection of that horrible night when Helena wokeme there’d been an accident That Brock had been killed

I wanted to cry, but no tears ca within ain? Could Fate really be this cruel?

When I was six, Aunt Beti sat my sister and I down next to each other on the couch of the tiny apartment we lived in e first came to the US Maine why Beti had tears in her eyes I recalled her gripping her hands so tightly that the skin turned white, and I’d focused on the He’d been hit by a sniper’s bullet on his way back fro the big tanks in a wagon behind hie There hadn’t been running water or electricity in Sarajevo for months--years

But I was six and I didn’t understand any of that What I did understand was that I was never going to seehim around his neck and feel his whiskers tickle me when he kissed me I’d never listen to him tell me another one of those wild and outlandish bedtime stories I’d never sneak another piece of halvi froet to look in his eyes