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“Once more,” Toland said tiredly “From the top”

After going through the whole scene threedifferent details each time—half to do with Kai, the other half to do with the nonsense code Owen had been repeating—he finally allowed Cassandra to withdraw from my mind The process was much less painful than it had been the other day, and it didn’t feel likefaded away

“We believe you” Toland interlaced his fingers and rested his elbows on his desk, regarding ain “And we are clearing you as well Of all charges”

“Wait? There were charges?” I blinked

The headmaster shared a look with Vesper “There were But we feel you did everything you could to protect yourself, your friends, and this school The consequences—should be eable”

“Consequences? Which ones?”

Toland rubbed a hand over his face “We shall see We need to speak with Kai now Vesper will take you to the waiting room”

I followed her out This ti Kai, and I squeezed his hand in a show of affectionate support as he passed He met my eyes with a haunted look thathione after all of this was over

Like before, the enchanted waiting room convinced me that I was only in it for a couple of minutes before Vesper returned with Kai in tow His whole vibe had changed—for the worse, in htened to being icy and furious He wouldn’t look at me He pulled ahen I tried to touch his hand A wall had closed down over his emotions, and with a start of terror, I realized that I could barely feel him

When Vesper left us at the bottorabbed his arm He yanked it away in a sharp movement

“Kai—what happened?”

I tried to keep the desperation and growing fear out of my voice, but I was sure he could hear them anyway He would’ve been able to see the look at me

He shook his head “See you around, Piper”

“I—what?”

He took the stairs two at a tilanced back