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The Pledge Ki 13880K 2023-09-01

"Charlie, wait!" Max called, his voice filled with frustration, but I could hear that he wasn’t coo! Can we please talk about this?"

But I kept running, er hear his words Especially the ones I wasn’t supposed to understand

VIII

It was hard to work that evening, to pretend to be polite and to smile thinly at the custo sht up in htened as well The i my secret were almost too much to even consider No one, aside from my parents, had ever understood what I was capable of

No one had ever been allowed to know

But Max had ruined all that, and I had no idea how he’d done it, what exactly I’d done to give n words, and I’d certainly never ad thee he was speaking when he slipped into his class tongue I shouldn’t even be able to differentiate one from another All I should be aware of was that it wasn’t ured it--and ued hi inwords, for es?

I ht at the club, my fear too apparent

But why did he care? Why had he co forrateful that he couldn’t possibly knohat those dreams had been "Charlaina? Did you hear what I said?"

"Sorry, what?" I shook away thoughts of Max I needed to stop thinking about him I couldn’t trust hiain

"There’s so himself; he balanced plates of food in both his hands "He’s waiting by the alley door You’d better hurry, though This isn’t a break"

My stomach clenched Max wouldn’t come here, would he?

But I couldn’t think of anyone else Neither Brooklynn nor Aron would coh to coh the front, and then act like they owned the place My mother would usually show them to a table and feed them while they waited

I tried to decide what to do, whether I should even go back there to find out, but , more like it--and I knew I had no choice If it was Max, I needed to get him out of here I needed to h the kitchen doors, feeling light-headed The fa to dispel my uneasiness

The back door was closed, and I realized that only h to actually shut the door on someone while they waited in the alley It was probably meant as a lesson for whoever dared interrupters around the doorknob I wasn’t sure I was ready for this