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Soht I heard Henry callsounded far away asto die Soods, and this time there wouldn’t be an afterlife Not for io Not yet Not ever
An eternity later, we f inally reached the doors, and I shoved Ava through Dizzy with terror and agony, I grabbed the handle to keepon the opposite end of the hall
Twelve ht it, with Henry and Ja the aisle froh, deep within my bones and every nerve in my body Whatever it was, it seemed to shake the very foundation of the Underworld
Blood dripped down Jaled to hold off the monster with his uninjured hand Henry stood beside him, an unmovable force, and I couldn’t tear myself away
"Brothers!" cried Henry "On , and the others ular for from each of them Dylan and the redheaded Irene took the lead, but they didn’t have a chance to attack
In the blink of an eye, Henry and his brothers f leard and out the , taking the fog with the in my ears, and I f inally letether near the thrones, but James and my mother hurried toward us
James reached me f irst, and he dropped to his knees several feet away, his ot you, didn’t it? Theo!" he yelled over his shoulder, and I winced
"Stop it," I said "You were hit, too"
"Yes, but the difference is, if I die, Henry won’t rip the world apart" His good hand hovered overto touchat one, however temporarily, every nerve in my body felt like it was on f ire I’d never been in this much pain before in my life, not even when Calliope had killed me and thrown my body in a river
My e, but she said nothing Instead she slipped behind ht was over, some color had returned to Ava’s cheeks, and when my mother tried to lead her away, Ava remained planted in front oflike she was barefoot in the snow "He would’ve killed ," I said "You would’ve done the same for ain, but this time Ava dropped down beside me, opposite James "You don’t understand," she said, her blue eyes wide and earnest "They’re the only things that can kill us, and you saved ony, I said tightly, "Why did it attack us? Why didn’t it go after Henry and Walter and Phillip instead?"
"Because Calliope sent hi He called over his shoulder, "Theo, she needs you now, not next week"
Theo shuff led down the aisle toward us, his curly hair falling in his eyes Ella round, and her forehead was furrowed deeply The only time I’d seen her look like that hen Theo had been attacked at Christ the ever-conf ident Ella look as if she didn’t know up froesturing toTheo knelt down beside me and set his hands above my knee I’d been healed by Henry before, and I expected the saht spread through the wound, pushing out the deep, agonizing pain Burning heat replaced it, and I gasped, positiveto turn to ash and fall off I didn’t dare open my eyes, and even when his hands pulled away, the pain remained
"Done," said Theo, and I heard hi I can do for the scar" Gathering as left of e, I cracked open an eye, relieved when I saw thatwas still attached, and by all accounts it looked perfectly norle ain
"If it’s healed, then why does it still hurt?" I said, panicked What if the pain never went away? Hoas I supposed to live with that? Had Henry experienced the saht that thing again if he had?
"Because there is no power in the world that can take away the pain until it is ready to leave," said Theo "It’s not an ordinary wound It won’t last longer than a few days, because he is still so weak, but there is nothing I can do for you until then"
"He?" I gingerly touched the thin silver line that ran acrossit a he" Theo nodded toward my mother "I will leave this in your capable hands to explain If you will excuse us" He slipped his arm around Ella’s waist and headed back toward the cluster of reain, their heads bent together as they spoke a themselves As Theo and Ella approached, Dylan, Ava’s ex froh School, rose to make room for them Even from across the massive hall, I could feel his eyes on us