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The Watchers are sos Therrabs a hellion

Beliel stands alone in a circle of the only friends he had in his life He jerks when I prick hiives the coh

The Watcher-ridden hellions leap at Beliel He stands frozen, as if electrified, while the hellions fly into hio so he can usher the Watchers who are sure to be disoriented when they arrive on the other side I aateway open until we’re all through

By the end, Beliel is on his knees, his eht and his teeth clenched There’s shock, but there’s anguish too, even though he volunteered They all volunteered

But I’ it out of the Pit and leaving him behind To suffer alone for ill seem like eternity to him

Alone and unwanted

Probably for the first tiain as I rideinto the Pit was like falling Getting out of the Pit is like being dragged through a vat of Vaseline It’s as if the air itself is trying to push htly as I can I don’t even want to think about what happens if I can’t hold on

I pop out into crah there’s nothing physically onwent as planned Raffe made it clear to the hellions that they would be free only if they brought us to our ohere and when, but you never know

Instead of juround, I end up sht to see that I’ainst the dashboard of a truck

The truck swerves, and I’ht as well be upside down in a fish bowl All I can see is the hellion I rode on bouncing in panic inside the truck cab Luckily, it’s a large truck cab, but there are still far too many people and creatures crah foron Beliel’s lap

It’s not the same Beliel we left behind He’s more weathered, beaten, and weary Not toHe breathes in a slow, painful rasp

I see s in a way that ht nohite hand pushes through the open rearIt grabs the flapping hellion and yanks it aardly through the

Behind us is an open truck bed full of confused and disoriented Watchers Several of them look queasy as we bounce and swerve around debris

Beyond the truck bed, a group of angels chases us through our plume of dust that spreads into the dawn sky And is thatbeside us?

Shrinking in the distance is the dark shadow of the new aerie and its outer buildings Before I can co, the s of one of the outer buildings explode in a burst of fire and shattered glass

The angels who had been chasing us stop, watching the fire Then they circle back to the aerie to defend their ho

The truck swerves left, then right, like the driver is drunk

Beside enuine joy My rin on her face as she glances over at me

She looks back at the road just barely in ti sixty miles per hour That’s suicidal on these roads