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And with that thought, Nick felt that fa in the air between them

It was definitely Acheron’s essence

But as soon as he felt it, it was gone and he was back in this “normal” realm

“Nick?” Ash put his hand on his shoulder to steady hiht?”

No His head swaht collapse Everything around hih water Pain radiated through his entire being and settled hard in the pit of his stoer appeared human at all His skin bubbled then turned translucent

Terrified of soht and hid it under his shirttail Great All I need is to turn into a huht in front of everyone

That would not be a fun explanation to have to make He’d rather back over hispersisted So with him, and he needed to find real help So on and which reality was his…

This world? Or the one he thought he knew?

What if everything in my life until now has been a drea his lips, Nick met Ash’s befuddled stare “I, um … feel sick I … I need to head out See that doctor you told me about” He handed his backpack to Caleb then started for the door

“You can’t leave campus!” Caleb hissed

Nick snorted at Caleb’s panic “Stop ht for the street Yeah, he ht now he didn’t care Forget this nor over to Royal, he went to Bubba’s store, the Triple B But instead of the coun store Bubba owned, it was now a beauty salon…

Everything in it was pink and white Girly Bubba would die to see this His precious sanctum had been defiled by rollers and hand lotions Hairpieces

Celebrity gossip rags, instead of zon of the store where Nick had spent the last few years learning about coovernment-sanctioned zombie attacks How to protect hie, but he really missed that Bubba and Mark Heck, he even missed the stench of Mark’s duck-urine zombie-deterrent deodorant

Grief-stricken and disoriented, Nick headed down the street to where Liza’s doll store had been in business since long before his birth Just like Bubba’s, it was gone Instead of glass shelves filled with hand weapons—it was another ubiquitous antique store

This isn’t right He wanted to cry at the absence of the people he knew and cared about Crazy and eccentric though they were, they were his faain

What had happened to Ms Liza?

His senses reeling, Nick rab a streetcar so that he could head over to Kyrian’s house in the Garden District Bubba had said Nick had a job

Maybe, just maybe, he still worked for Kyrian Maybe this part of his life hadn’t changed Please giveto that hope Soht?

Stepping off the streetcar, Nick wasn’t sure what to expect, especially after all he’d seen so far But if Kyrian was still here in this reality, he’d have to be a Dark-Hunter … wouldn’t he?

Just don’t be an attorney Or so equally banal Not like what had been done to Acheron Nick wasn’t sure he could handle that kind of shock again

He slowed as he walked past a faded blue antebellu a piano Even though he was Catholic, he knew the popular Southern Baptist hy the street randma would often hum whenever she shelled beans on her front porch when he was a kid

And when the unknown older woan the strains of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” a chill went straight down his spine

There’s a better ho …

In the sky, Lord, in the sky

Back in Nick’s world, the dens that the universe sent hiuides

Could this be one of them?

Did it mean that this was his new home and that he’d be stuck here forever?

Too scared to contemplate what it could mean for him, he crossed the street and made his way to Kyrian’s It wasn’t until he reached the driveway that he remembered he hadn’t had to take the streetcar, after all He could have just driven his Jeep over But then he’d done without a license all this time … it was hard to remember he didn’t have to walk anyn, too His life, and his body, were changing faster than he could keep track of

Nick paused halfway up the driveway as he realized another fact There was no locked gate to prevent so the property That didn’t bode well Kyrian wouldn’t be so lackadaisical Not with his safety, and definitely not with all the things that hunted him

Crap

Cold and fearful of what he’d find, Nick climbed the white stairs and approached the familiar door Please let Rosa answer … please

Tears misted in his eyes as every instinct told him to run To not discover as on the other side of that portal

But he had to know One way or another And Gautiers weren’t cowards in any sense of that word Whatever fate threw at theht spine, and full on

Prepared for the worst, Nick forced hiner juold Pomeranian, answered it “Yes?”

“U this was Ms Rosa’s alternate for was cool