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At last, aited so long I thought uards pointed to sousta motioned toward us "Girls, on either side of me"

I moved next to her, and this ti to do with the cold

I squinted at the tree line, and finally I saw theround, one with dark hair and the other with a knit cap Celia and Greyson

"Hello, Mother," called Celia She and Greyson stopped twenty feet away froloves At least Celia hadn’tat Celia’s hip "I see you brought both of theidly "And now you have a choice, et to pick the one you keep

Isn’t that exciting?"

Celia’s expression hardened "I want usta "But which one is she?"

I frowned The only differences between us were so minor that there was no possible way Celia could see them from a distance I couldn’t even see the into the salanced at Lila, hoping she would tell Celia the truth, but she was strangely silent

I opened my usta cutas it carried through the clearing "Because whichever one you leave behind will die"

Chapter 18

My confession that I wasn’t Lila died on usta announced one of us wouldn’t be leaving the clearing alive, I understood why Lila had chosen to run rather than risk death Noat the hands of this twisted fa now o dark

With Augusta between us, I couldn’t see Lila’s reaction, but I did feel Augusta’s hand wrap tightly around irls," she said "Else I proulfed infear, I could barely breathe, but that was nothing co open, and she looked between us wildly

"Grandmother, you can’t do this," called Greyson

"Celia will let o, and there’s no reason for anyone to die Think about what you’re doing She’s your daughter"

"Celia is no longer any daughter of"She tried to kill randson"

"Only because she thought you’d killed her entire family," shouted Greyson "If you do this, Grandrip tightened on my shoulder, and I winced If I survived this, I’d have a nasty bruise "You don’t understand now, but you will in time," she said "Now, Celia--you have ten seconds to uards drew their weapons When the one beside ainst my neck, all I could think of was Benjy and how he’d storoodbye Would he hate hiive himself? Would usta wouldn’t have to worry about hiusta "Four Three Two--"

"The one on the left," cried Celia

The crack of a gun echoed off the

My eyes flew open, and Augusta smiled cruelly down at me She set her hand on the back of es underneath my VII "Go, Lila," she said

"Go to your mother"

On the other side of her, crumpled in a heap, was Lila

My sto I had to put one foot in front of the other But as I walked away, I noticed a tiny blue plu out of her neck, and her chest rose and fell with shallow breaths

She was still alive Would that have been usta knohich of us hich?

As I crossed the clearing, Greyson knelt on the snowy ground and gathered up Celia, who had collapsed She’d kidnapped hi her

"Greyson," said Augusta sharply "Coave her could haveany time, she reached for me As she wrapped her arms around me, I looked at Greyson, and he touched the ht in the place where the silver necklace rested against ave him a sain, at least he was safe

Celia held htly that she nearly broke my ribs

"Lila?" she whispered

"I’m sorry," I said "But she’s still alive It was some kind of dart--"

Celia swore and pushed me away as if I’d burned her

She sturoup across the clearing, where Augusta ushered Greyson into the helicopter, but Lila was already gone

"Coet out of here"

I didn’t question her Just as the roar of the helicopter started again, another gunshot echoed off the side of the mountain, and a clump of dirt exploded in front of rowled

I kept my head down as Celia pulled me into the forest The earth around us took bullet after bullet, and I ran blindly, oing

Celia ledtrail, and we didn’t stop until we reached a vehicle parked on the edge of another clearing Without saying a word, Celia opened the door and pushedit shut behind me

She jumped into the driver’s seat and ran her thuine purred to life, and she stomped on the accelerator "You’re sure she’s still alive?" she said, steering the car expertly around curves I didn’t see co," I said as I wrestled with usta kneas who until after you chose"

Celia breathed a sigh of relief "Thank God"

Once I ether, I squeezedpath did nothing to help The heat was on full blast, and soon a trickle of sweat ran down my forehead My heart raced fro off my jacket wouldn’t cool me off much Besides, I’d have to put it back on later, and if we really were being chased, it would waste precious seconds

"Why did you kidnap Greyson?" I said as she sped down the side of theto happen"