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Green-eyed and anony Gabriel’s na for a biohazard suit I find a closet of them and quickly adjust one overslowly suffocated I take deep breaths that fog the face covering It’s like being in a night buried alive

"Gabriel!" My whispers are beco he will just crash intothe floor or organizing stor I won’t have to open a door, I won’t have to open a door, I won’t have to open a door, I hear his voice At least I think it’s his voice It’s so hard to hear in this thing, andis a touches my shoulder, and I start "Rhine?"

He spins me around, and there he is Gabriel In one piece Not etherized on a table Not bruised Not dead

Dead The word trills through my head like the fire and the hurricane alar else I throw my arms around him, and it’s aard, with the helmet in the way, but I don’t care I can feel his sturdy ar else

He eases the helmet off ofentera little The hel?"

"I thought you were dead," I say into his shirt "I thought you were dead, I thought you were dead"

It feels good to say the words To relieve myself of the out ofmy spine, and it crashes into my hair and holds the base of my skull Holds me steady And it’s like that for a while

When we draw apart, he pushes the hair out of my eyes and stares at me "What’s happened to you?" he says

"What? I’nized, in case I ran into so the situation "I haven’t seen you for days!"

He presses his finger to my lips to quiet ly dark rooms One of the places I ht He doesn’t turn on a light, and I can sainst a hard surface In the perfect darkness I hold both of his hands and try to decipher his outline

"Listen," he whispers "You can’t be down here The House He knows about the kiss He knows you tried to run away If he catches us together, I’m out of here"

"He’ll kick you out?"

"I don’t know But I have a feeling a body bag will be involved"

Of course How stupid of me Nobody leaves this place alive In fact, I’m not even convinced anyone leaves this place once they’re dead More bodies for Vaughn to dissect Is that what Jenna was trying to warn hn’s ainst a wave of nausea

There’s a good chance this is all one of Vaughn’s traps--the key card, putting Gabriel into the base around a corner, waiting to lock ht causes ainst my temples, but Gabriel’s presence overpowers my fear I would never have been able to live with myself if I hadn’t tried to find him

"How?" I say "How does he know?"

"I don’t know, but he can’t see us together Rhine, it isn’t safe"

"Run aith me," I say

"Rhine, listen, we can’t--"

"I’ve found a way out," I say, and I grab his hand and bring it to the key card hanging around ave me permission to use the elevator And I found a way out There’s a glitch in the trees that border the property Soram"

He’s quiet, and in the darkness it’s the sarab at his shirt "Still there?"

"I’ain, and I listen for his breathing I hear his lips part, and he utters a fraction of a syllable, and I know, just know, that he’s going to use logic against et out of this place at all before I die, so I kiss him

The door is already closed, and in this isolated darkness, it’s almost like we’re not in the basement at all