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Night at the End of the Tunnel

Valek&039;s words weighed a ton Dangerous She knew there were probably so many other profanities he wanted to say, but only those three words ca A proered lion&039;s ru up to acknowledge Mr T&345;inozka and Edwin "Thank you for bringing her to me I wasn&039;t sure the trail the Witch left would work"

"Not at all, Valek" Mr T&345;inozka&039;s et her out of there I only followed the set me to come a callin&039;!"

"And ere happy to escape as ell," Edwin concluded

Sout when Valek said that-as though she were his property She gri within her

"What&039;s up?" Nikolai jumped off the Spider&039;s back and rather huround Valek, who had apparently not noticed hiain that Valek&039;s expression seeize I suppose I was a bit distracted to have noticed you there, uh-"

"The name&039;s Nikolai"

This tiry and territorial about his stance as he studied Valek&039;s features Charlotte&039;s gaze flicked back and forth between the two Ears cawed fro off the surrounding forest

Valek looked expectantly at Charlotte, who did the very saht have had er&039;softhe house" Charlotte&039;s cheeks scorched again with the memory "Quite literally We happened to bump into him, actually"

Valek took a curious step toward the boy "You are new to oursociety?"

"For the most part," Nikolai said blankly, his stance still wide

Valek&039;s eyes narrowed "And as your liege?"

"My what?"

"The one who created you? Who e," Nikolai said sarcastically "I don&039;t knoho made me this way I&039;ve always had so My parents had no idea And then ere all attacked" Nikolai&039;s voice dropped on the last word, as if it was supposed to hold soh above them Valek&039;s eyes widened Charlotte suspected it was upon seeing so of importance within Nikolai&039;s i end up in such a place as that?" Valek&039;s eyes slanted, al the vision before hi anyone I was hoping to see"

Nikolai crossed his ar to see?" His voice carried that heavily sarcastic tone again

"We think he killed who you were hoping to see," Mr T&345;inozka butted in

Valek fell utterly still as he continued to study the boy&039;s face "Do I know you?"

Nikolai shrugged and looked past Valek "I don&039;t think so I don&039;t see how you could, being that I thought I was hu whatever I aht into everyone&039;s et to learn a lot"

So he could read minds, Charlotte deduced

"What I do know is that I airlfriend, or whatever she is to you, I&039; if there&039;s any food inside that hut Any food I&039;m not picky"

Charlotte lifted her eyebrow at this As a matter of fact, so did Valek

Valek cleared his throat "Yes Yes, of course But I caution against using ic in these woods There are eyes and ears everywhere, and I is like us"

The falcon cawed eerily again and it made Charlotte&039;s stomach lurch The

"You&039;re coan weaving back through the dense alley of trees fro you out of ain"

She didn&039;t answer She nificent as in every single one of her night to the unnatural fairness of his skin, and the electric color of his eyes, so the effect they had She could see every crack of every scar froime They were nor he was handsoh of an accurate description God, or the devil-or whoever was truly responsible for Valek&039;s existence-had no idea what they&039;d created The world&039;s erous predator And he belonged to her

Valek gazed down at her, a sarded her, though his ht line

"How can you think of h the afternoon, the reaching tree branches casting wicked shadows, like veins, over his face "After everything I have done to you After everything I have put you through, you still adore me?" The expression on his face was distorted, almost sickened even "You should hate aze Of course she could never hate him No matter what happened, that would be ie the subject She didn&039;t need to cease her anger in order to adore him It was automatic Involuntary

"You should hate ument "Do you even comprehend what I&039;ve caused? I&039;ve broken every promise I&039;ve ever made to you"

"It&039;s not exactly your fault," she offered quietly, still not looking at hireed, she wanted to keep the peace for now "You assu"

"It is!" Charlotte could have sworn she saw him blink back a wash of red in his eyes "You&039;ll never realize it, Charlotte You&039;re far too forgiving You&039;re naive"

"Only when it comes to you"

"That&039;s the proble with!" His tone was beginning to build, get angrier

"What do you want me to say? That it&039;s because of what you did I will never be the saive you, and I never want to see your face again? Can we please change the subject? How did you knoas coo?"

"Baba Yaga toldI suspect Mr T&345;inozka&039;s knohere to take you was her doing as well She&039;s very powerful She saidher mad, so she sent me out I didn&039;t er"

Charlotte grih the sound was hollow "Soht for a minute "For the most part"

Charlotte wondered what thatfor us as well They are devising a plan"

"For what?"

"To find the Dark City Abelim I need to find Francis We believe he will know someone ill kno to fix you"

Charlotte clenched her teeth That never failed to make her blood boil "You don&039;t need to fix uessed he didn&039;t want to argue anyh at a huh the winding maze of trees, Charlotte saw that they had ended up on a steep hillside that plunged down into a narrow valley of large chunks of the blue-stoned mountain that surfaced fro branches, like cobwebs on the trunks of the impossibly tall, thin trees that stretched up to the afternoon sun The hut was just a few moments up ahead She wondered what ti down at her with a fleeting though devastating smile that made her pulse flutter

Her teeth chattered She wound her fingers aroundher nose in it Valek stopped walking

"Cold?" he asked, though he didn&039;t wait for her to answer

Swiftly, he set her down, her bare feet sinking into the deep, wet snow She hugged her arh she wasbeauty than her own condition

Quickly, he shrugged his coat off his shoulders and wrapped it around her before sweeping her back up in his arain "We&039;ll be at the Witch&039;s house in moments I&039;ll run"

"No!" she blurted out, and he looked at her expectantly "No, it&039;s okay I haven&039;t been outside in weeks, and I&039; it Thanks for your coat" Charlotte&039;s eyes instantly welled up with the thought of the past days, though she aggressively sed her tears down into the pit of her stoht now, she reed her tighter He kissed her forehead and kept walking forward at the sa Charlotte swore that lanced up at the forest canopy The dead, gray tree branches looked like streams of veins under the surface of the sky&039;s pale co snowfall Massive rock faces lined the forests to their left and right, towering several yards to the sky The only sound was the slight wind causing the reher branches It was so odd how linked the huht of poor Nikolai, behind theainst his will Mortal and ic Funny that she didn&039;t empathize much with him If anyone on the outside ever asked her if she was human, her initial response would be &039;no&039; It was a mere reflex, because for her entire life, she&039;d never felt that way