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1 CAGED

Iron bars were the only things separating us

He sat on the cell floor, leaning against the wall, in nothing but a pair of jeans I glanced at the chain binding his wrists With his head bowed, he looked exactly the same

But he’s not

I let ers curl around the wet bars Several times a day, holy water rained down froe to unlock the door and let him out

“Thanks for co” He hadn’t moved, but I knew he didn’t need to see me to sense my presence “No one else will”

“Everyone’s trying to figure this out They don’t knohat to do about—” The words caught in my throat

“About me” He rose fro us

As he drew closer, I counted the links in the chain hanging between his wrists Anything to keep froripped the bars tighter He reached out and wrapped his hands around the

“Don’t!” I shouted

Steam rose from the cold-iron bars as the holy water seared his scarred skin He held on too long, intentionally letting his palms burn

“You shouldn’t be here,” he whispered “It’s not safe”

Hot tears ran down my cheeks Every decision we’d : the chains coiled around his wrists, the cell doused in holy water, the bars keeping hied like an animal

“I know you’d never hurt me”

The words had barely left rabbed atmy skin as I slipped out of reach

“You’re wrong about that, little dove” His voice was different, cruel and soulless

Laughter echoed off the walls chills rippled through

The boy I kneas gone

The one caged before me was a monster

And I was the one who had to kill him

NINE DAYS EARLIER

&nbs

p; 2 BLACK SKY

I’ Ash-covered bed sheets hang from the shattered s, outside the rooms where people are still trapped Inside, screa flames, and my skin crawls

I want to run through the wall of black smoke and save the hand, and I realize why

I’ the match

I bolted upright in bed,

Another nightmare

They started the night the walls of the penitentiary had cru the to silence the sound of the screams

It was just a dream

And what I had done in real life orse than setting fire to a house full of innocent people

I had freed a demon

Andras, the Author of Discords A demon that had been imprisoned for more than a century

Three ionfrom the newspaper articles I obsessively collected, he’d probably killed even ht about it less than others

This wasn’t one of those days

I spent the day in the library reading articles, and printing weather charts and maps

By dinnertied across the h the tall, black leather boots ht she died Between and the rain and the Pennsylvania winter te a real possibility But it orth the risk to wear soiven me

Other girls rushed by in their unifor puddles like land h every one It hadn’t stopped raining since the night I assembled the Shift—the paranore—and the sky looked as broken as I felt

How could I have everAndras?

The details of that night were branded inon the prison floor, with the Shift’s cylindrical casing in my hand and the disks scattered in my lap Jared, Lukas, Alara, and Priest on the other side of the cell door, urgingfear, when I slid the last piece of the device in place

That was nineteen days ago