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The figure was facedown, both arle It was a--it was a boy, all thin lirown into theht faded over hih forhis face, his hands, his broken back I was screa, because his eyes were open, his mouth was turned down into the pool of it, but his lips werethose last involuntary jerks--

Two hands cla me out of that hallway and into another No--oh God--he needed help, I needed to help hiht I was actually going to be sick I spun,under ether as I was shaken back into reality

"Easy--easy!" Southern--Liahts overhead were pure, unwavering white, with ht from small s at either end of the hall I focused on the pane of glass behind his head, where I could see a variety of weights, treadmills, and mats Gym Cole’s face was beaded with sweat, his skin was flushed, because he’d been in the gym But I hadn’t walked here I hadn’t come to find hi roo at full throttle, instantly cooling the patches of sweat on my back and under my arms He lowered me down onto one of the benches and disappeared for a second, returning with a small towel and a paper cup of water

I hadn’t realized I was shaking until I tried to drink Cole took ainst my palm I looked down, surprised to find streaks of fresh blood running down my wrist, into the crook of my elbow It was all over my jeans and shirt

I jue of Jude, the way the red light had turned his blood black But this was--this wasn’t his blood, was it? This wasn’t HQ This wasn’t Los Angeles

We had left Jude in Los Angeles

"Do you knohere you are?" Cole asked, crouching down in front of"I’m sorry to wake you up the way I did, I know you’re not supposed to, but I saw you pass by and then you started screa I didn’t realize you had those kinds of pipes, kid"

I barely heard hi?"

"Seems like it," he said, not unkindly "What did you cut your hand on?"

I shrugged,"What ti" The lines around Cole’s mouth were sofro--under his eyes, under his high cheekbones, the new beard growth along his jaw "You made off with about five hours of sleep"

"More than you," I pointed out

"Yeah, well, I decided to try running fro into the was still flashing, paused "Got tooaround y to burn"

I finally came back fully into the present whenfrom the TV bolted to the wall The room’s smell floodedout the stench of blood

Cole gavein me I didn’t necessarily knoas there myself Unlike Cate, unlike Liam, unlike Chubs--unlike Jude--he simply let what had happened drop at our feet There was no pressing about hoas feeling or what I’d seen, and that was exactly what I wanted To push it behind me and leave it there

He pulled the toay fro the cut

"Looks pretty shallow," he announced, rising to his feet "Already healing It’ll probably sting like a bitch for a while, though" Finished with iving me a flash of toned skin I hadn’t asked for

I looked away "Are you here every ?"

"All two days we’ve been here," he said, aet my ass back in shape It’s been a while since I trained Helps, too, to get the" He esture with his hand "To blow off stea I just feel like we knohere we’re going You andand spinning and spinning waiting to get there And daet over what a godda, we can’t even have that I used to be able to handle things I’m not" I lifted my hand "Obviously that’s not the case these days"

"Yeah, and what are you going to do about it?" Cole tucked his arnize the proble about the flash drive, the cause Don’t waste your energy on regret or self-pity If that road is closed to us, we’ll focus on figuring out the cure So, again, tellto do about it?"

"Train," I said "We’ll have to train all of the kids We’re going to need theht"