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The muddy smell of swamp seeps in to overtake the filtered air of the facility, carrying with it the acrid stench of burning frounfire So I can hear McBride roaring like a h the crack in the doorway, I see Pól and Liam O’Mara dash past, faces visible for an instant in a flash of light as half a dozen Gleidels go off at once My heart clenches, but neither of thehts in a flash of laser-fire Her eyes are wide, gaze scanning the battlefield like she’s trying to find openings or search for patterns "This is suicide," she breathes

I scan the chaos as her soldiers gain ground againstthe in I trace the line of the fence until I reach the coht There’s a door at the base, but it’s closed, and for all I know it’s locked There’s a , though; rusted, rickety, but it looks like I could climb it, oes doith a screaut clenches at the sound "Can you get me to the tower? If you can hold the outside, lasers screa up the compound in quick flashes More every second, louder every lance at Jubilee as her eyes sweep across the battle, taking stock of all that’s happening I can see her ure out how fast we can run, whether we’ve got any chance of , slow breaths, easing her gun out of its holster I hope her ai anybody--neither of these ar, but there’s deter behind the cover of the doorway, I reach for her to tug her in closer, until we’re a hand’s breadth apart Beyond, I can hear the shriek of Gleidels and the crack of the Fianna’s ancient weaponry--then the ground beneath our feet shudders with the force of an explosion Heart thuht, I can see the lines of her face--her lips, her cheekbones, the swoop of her lashes "Hey," I murmur I don’t knohat I want to say, but I have to say it before alk onto a battlefield, into the path of two armies that both want us dead

"Hey," she whispers back, close enough that I can see the tiny shifts in her eyes as she studiesout the lines ofher features "Flynn--I’lad you ruined nize that tone I’ve heard it before "Don’t start with the good-byes," I say Her lips twitch in a tiny smile, and I drink it in My voice shrinks to a breath as I reer in my own body, when the whisper asked if she loved me "I want us to have the chance to find out, too"

She recognizes her oords echoing back to her, and her lips quiver, her eyes fixed on ainst the floor "Ready?"

She nods, gaze swinging away to lock on the comms tower "Ready"

We burst froh the last of the stars, scattering thelih the water All that’s left is darkness, and there’s no sign of the Novereen-eyed boy reaches out and touches her cheek, his htlessness, in water The light froreen, illuirl follows his gaze, she sees so just out of reach She gasps, and swims for the surface

WE SPRINT THROUGH THE PREDAWN GLOOM,low as bullets fly over our heads We don’t bother to dodge or weave; there’s sodesperately not to slip on the round, I strain my eyes in the darkness, but the world is full of shadowy silhouettes--soldiers repositioning the in and out of the battle to move wounded

We reach the comms tower, and I smash into the door an instant before Flynn We flatten ourselves into the shelter of the door fra it hite-knuckled urgency It doesn’t give

Flynn lowers his head to shout in rabs at the rusted ht of the door and ducks out of the doorway a beat ahead ofMy s to pullinvisible slarip the ladder harder before I’htens There’s a spatter of blood on the cement wall that wasn’t there before, and I stare at it, unco fro, no pain, only confusion when I realize I’ the air froht ar inside my veins