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“Hey,” I said “How bad is it if you get bitten?”

Greydusk and ChanceSince the roo noteworthy My expectations weren’t high by that point, but there was nothing lost by being thorough Pain lanced through ht be cutting off my circulation

Hang in there For Shannon How dangerous can those things be?

My eyesight sparkled Dark streaks, as if I were peering through a filthyWorried, I leaned up against the wall and left the ru to Chance and Greydusk They were fast but careful, leaving no inch of the room unexplored, as we’d done eleven times before I had little hope it would be different this time

Until Greydusk opened the closet door—and what I saw took nized it at once: a black backpack with colorful, feminine skulls Shannon had been here They’d held her in this roooddesses, with those spiders? Was she even alive any longer? The way I felt, she ht not be, if they’d bitten her Even worse,to those hideous things scuttle with the endless and permanent threat that someone could come—for no reason at all—and open the door

“It’s hers,” I said “Grab it”

I tried to take a step toward the pack, toward that link to Shannon, because I could read soet a clue Find her Save her

But the stupid words the Noit had babbled echoed in one, for a song, into the heart of where it’s dark, and nevermore, forevermore

My leg buckled I hit the dirty floor with it twisted beneath me, and I couldn’t see I heard Chance’s voice cast in worried tones, and Greydusk’s calh the water gate, and I beca spun in sointo nothing at all

I’m Not Quite Dead Yet

Pain

Darkness

So me

My throat was too tight and dry to scream, but I heard it in my head Echoes of voices chattered above me Noise, not words One of them was familiar I wanted to reach for hi into h, nibbling toward my hip, and my face felt parched and swollen My eyes wouldn’t open

“Will she be all right?”

“I don’t know”

More nothing

The pain lessened after the poking and jabbing I sighed in relief as cool hands stroked , I turned

“Does she know I’m here?”

“Hard to say I’d guess yes, though”

I know, I tried to say, through lips as solid as wax I know you, deer’s eyes

Slow fade

The next time I came back to my head, I could move it A few seconds later, I unsealed ht Chance was asleep beside me, and I had no idea where ere My dirty clothes were piled on the floor beside us, along with my wrecked boots The room was small but neat, serviceable rather than ostentatious Our bed had been built into the wall—or rather, it was a stone ledge with a ht, and cozy with Chance spooned up against me I touched his arm where it rested across my waist and his eyes snapped open instantly He’d always been a light sleeper

“Corine,” he rasped

I turned into his arms, and even that small motion made me dizzy “What happened?” It was all a blur, and then before he could answer, it ca back The former demon brothel, the spiders with dead baby faces, Shannon’s backpack “How long was I out?”

“After Greydusk administered the antidote, almost a full day”

“And how long did it take him to find it?”

“Eight hours”

So it had been over twenty-four hours, in demon time, since we found her pack Daht not have to spare Angry with led a curse

Gathering my resolve, I tried to sit up and failed Still too weak “How long will it take me to recover?”

“Do you not understand you alht with exhaustion and worry

“I get it,” I said “I also know that Shannon may not have much time left”

If she has any at all

“Corine,” he said “I know you love her But I don’t You’re the one I care about, and it kills hfor her”

“Yeah But I’d do it for you too” That shut him up, as I’d known it would “Where are we?”

“Greydusk’s place”

“Wow, he took us ho above and beyond the call of duty Suddenly, it didn’t feel right to think of the Imaron as “it” as if he wasn’t a person “Sybella must be furious”