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“Does the stone exist in this realo”

Of course it did Because nothing could ever go easy for her It never had As her father so often said, there were those ere born to be great and those ere deterreat And those ere detered the hardest

Rise to the occasion, e or conviction to see your tasks done The only opinion that really matters is your own, and you are a creature of absolute beauty and strength, through and through

Never, ever forget that

So in the ainst it, lift up youryou have If they want to fight, bring it You have ence and skill to battle the you for mercy

Gods, how she missed her father The fire and spirit in his eyes that nothing could daunt It was infectious

Just like Ari’s …

Knowing better than to let her thoughts linger on her family, especially when she stood this close to her father’s identical twin, Kody cleared her throat “Shall we rejoin the others?”

Before she could answer, soainst the walls It re ram She covered her ears to shield them from the noise “What is that?”

Acheron’s face paled “In short … our deaths”

CHAPTER 14

While all calamity broke loose on New Orleans, Nick strapped on a Kevlar vest Across the room from hi knives And other things Nick was sure he didn’t want to know about In the event he was arrested for being with them, he wanted plausible deniability

His mom watched him in awe “You look like you’ve done this a few times”

Nick smiled as he finished up “Just a few At hoet eaten and he’ll have to face my mother’s wrath over it”

She wrinkled her nose at hiht it over “Not really You just dress in more expensive clothes here than the ht here”

“Hey, Mike? You there?”

Scowling, Nick turned toward Mark and Bubba, who both groaned at the thick Tennessee drawl over their radio “Who’s that?” he asked his rowled low in the back of her throat “Soets eaten by the demons” She winked playfully at Nick

With a painful sound of resignation, Bubba picked up the radio and answered the call “Yeah, Toph, what can I do you for?”

“You and Mark anywhere near a TV?”

Mark went to turn it on

“What channel?” Bubba asked into the radio

“Don’t think it’s going to matter much Sure it’s on all stations by now” No sooner had the unknown Toph spoken than the TV screen showed a horrific scene in the city

Nick’s jaw dropped as he stepped closer to the screen It looked just like sohtmares or from the Great New Orleans Fire of 1788 that had destroyed als were ablaze all over the Quarter while winged demons and Daimons openly preyed on the hapless hu shelter National Guard soldiers and police had been mobilized, but it made little difference

The innocent huets for the nonhuman predators

Savitar entered the room and cursed as he saw it, too He cut his eyes toward Nick “Looks like Thorn is seething that you got away, kid”

Nick was evenall that’s because of me?”

Savitar nodded

Sick to his stomach, Nick turned away fro to do?” Savitar asked sarcastically “Spill your guts on their shoes? Hate to break it to you, kid, but that really is all you can do without your powers to fight theo out there and there won’t be anything left of you but a stain in the cracks of the paverowl a denial at them both, but he kneas the truth In this incarnation, he was as useful as tears to a warthog

I’ve never been aze went to the photos that his mom had placed all over the bookshelves in front of him They showed a boy Nick didn’t know and it wasn’t just because the two of them didn’t favor physically The boy in those photos had never been forced to s air in an atte to eat That boy had never walked his ht, trying to keep her safe from predators—human and otherwise He’d never been forced to use Bubba’s duct tape to hold his shoes together because he couldn’t afford another pair

And he’d never had to fight for his life against those anted to end it

A part of Nick envied that boy that norrowing up in a world with a pantry stocked full of food and snacks Having parents to check his hoood dinner at a reasonable hour

But all that being said, he strangely missed his real life And he definitely ne

Savitar waved his hand in front of Nick’s face “Are you in a co”

“You think any harder and your head nored it Zarelda had told him that he still had his Malachai powers That no one could take the part hadn’t been real conducive to getting the to know that he’d had those powers at one time and now …

He flinched at the live feed of a patrol car being blasted so hard by a demon that it caused the car to launch into the air, roll, and then land upside down in the ht in front of Jax Brewery

A red fortified pickup with black roll bars and hunting lights went streaking by the overturned patrol car as someone from inside it launched Molotov cocktails into the air, at the denorant hide I’ at on TV?”