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Prologue

THE BURNING ARROW THUDDED INTO THE WALL

Fire The old, dry wood of the nited in an instant Dark, oily s me choke Aroundweapons, preparing to fight for their lives

This is because of me

Arrow after arrow sliced through the air, stoking the flaht Lucas’s eyes I kneould protecthappened to Lucas while he was trying to rescue ive myself

Coughing frorabbed Lucas’s hand and ran with him toward the door But they were ready for us

Silhouetted against the flaures stood just beyond the edge of the house None of them brandished weapons; they didn’t have to in order to make their threat clear They had co their rules They had come to kill

This is all happening because of me If Lucas dies, it will be my fault

There was nowhere to go, no place to run We couldn’t re, already so hot that it stungwould collapse and crush us all

Outside, the vampires waited

Chapter One

IT WAS THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL, WHICH MEANT it was my last chance to escape

I didn’t have a backpack full of survival gear, a wallet thick with cash that I could use to buyfor etaway car Basically, I didn’t have what most sane people would call “a plan”

But it didn’t ht Academy

The led into rabbed a warh in the hills, even Septe red hair into aboots It felt ih I didn’t have to worry aboutpeople, to say the least They’d sleep like the dead until the alarm clock woke them, and that wouldn’t be for another couple of hours