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She coughed again as she struggled to sit up, trying to figure out where she was

And then her thoughts cleared

Panic whipped through her and she gracelessly lurched to her feet, unsteady and light-headed

The sound was still there as if carried on the rays of light that broke through the cracks in the ceiling and walls Violet searched, knohat--who--she was searching for, even before she found him

Caine

And he was there, just inches from her She jumped back from his broken body, afraid that if she so ainst hi the sounds frorotesque sound

She looked at hi what it had been He’d landed on the pitchfork when he’d fallen

Her hand flew to cover her mouth Then she heard it

The sound

It was a irls wind up, the kind with a twirling ballerina inside

Violet turned in a circle, trying to figure out where the soundto pinpoint its location It was soft and slow, melodic and eerie

She stepped closer to Caine’s body, just needing one last look to convince herself he was actually dead He’d created his last echo, hurt his last girl She leaned close, her heart pounding as she gazed into his vacant eyes

Thejust beneath the surface of her skin, tingling electrically

And she knew The echo was his

She knew then that theto Caine’s lifeless for to her

She had an i that her legs felt like rubber In reality, it could have been mere minutes She knew she eak, that her staht of day, she’d found a s else, it had been overrun eeds and fresh spring grass and clover, but she could still see the tracks that had once been o

As she walked, she tried not to listen to the plinking sound ofaround her On her But it was impossible, and soon she’dalong to it