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Death just laughed When he turned to stride toward the light, Jack gave an agonized yell Selena’s last arrow struck Death square in the back of his ar into splinters

“Evie! EVIE!” Jack’s bellows grew fainter as the light brightened “I’m comin’ for you! You knoill!”

We exited therain Even the stormy day blinded me

Nausea churned as Death carrieduncontrollably even before I saw the Reaper’s fearsome scythe in a saddle holster

With me secured in his arms, he mounted Why not just kill me?

“Wh-what did you do to Lark?” I trailed off, blinking in disbelief

Lark, that bitch, was on a horse beside Death’s And she was all smiles

I cried, “H-how could you?”

“You’re too dairl adjusted her conductor’s hat “And now you’re looking at e of your failing?” Her falcon had returned to her; it perched on her shoulder, dining on one of the rats

Her same three wolves surrounded her Back froen, his body gigantic, over a dozen feet tall His e tattered pants were cinched at his waist

Like Death, his tableau—a goat- than his actual appearance

His uneven horns twisted up from his misshapen head What should have been the whites of his eyes were red and webbed with thick greenish-yellow veins, his black pupils slitted With a grotesque sainst theDeath’s aren would level the entire mine! “You swore you’d leave them alone! You swore”

Death reined his mount around “I’ll keep my vows to you as well as you did to me”

“Wh-what does that mean?” My voice sounded so distant Exhaustion was overwhelled to remain conscious

“Doesn’t this feel familiar, creature? You, injured in my arms, as I ride Our history repeats itself” When he relove, tears welled, then strea ers brushed along ainst ht touch; I braced for pain This was it, then

My eyes rolled back in my head

Death’s hand inches ever closer to my face Closer

Contact This is ly hot My lids slide shut Scarcely conscious, I awaitpain

Heartbeat, heartbeat, heartbeat

I crack open ony of his sword Brows drawn, he yanks off his other glove, laying both hands againsthis palhter; as if in response, one hoarse, he says, “None of the others survived my touch No one” He strokes my cheeks,person this long?

I sense so to seethe inside hiaze, he leans in to press his lips to my bloody ones I am too stunned to react His kiss is ardent but unsure, as if he’s never done it before

Once he draws back, he licks the blood froroans, “So sweet”

“I-I don’t understand” Am I immune to him?

“I arips the hilt of his sword, yanking it free from my body As I scream with pain, he catches me with his other arm “You will heal” Under his breath, he says, “Youme to his chest, he ive o”

“Never, creature” He gazes down at me The o”

“Where are you taking me?”

He frowns, as if the answer should be obvious “To my bed, Empress”

20

DAY 258 AF

SOMEWHERE IN THE SOUTHEAST

When I woke, I was still on a horse, still held by Death As in my dream/memory

But this time, I was astride the saddle, with ainst his ar rain

How long had I been out? My broken ared into my present reality He could touch

And he’d been attracted to me

Not this tiether even I couldn’t slice my way out At so me in jeans and a short-sleeved shirt To keep me cold and weak?

“She wakes,” Death intoned fro up in the saddle His voice brought other en had battered the side of the ed We’d been seconds fro down there before—how could Jack and Matthew have lived through another wave of quakes? If the mine had collapsed

Matthew, please answerMaybe they were trapped Or just asleep

Sweetheart, I need to know you’re okay! PLEASE TALK TO ME!

Silence answered And e presence I’d felt since before the Flash had been uprooted froone