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"Take us home, Summer," he said, and she nodded, love in her eyes It was done, and there was no pain, just a euphoric rising of success

For an instant, the universe see what Summer had done And thenquietly, and quite decisively, the universe balanced its books

Silas gasped as tih a billion ticks of electrons in the space of one His head thundered and he hit the floor, his hands clenching the colorful rug "Su to find hiohisper of sound as she clenched into a ball and shook under the coffee table "Oh, God Su the sweat fro her shake "Summer?"

She didn’t respond

"Su hins She was in full overdraft, and if he didn’t destroy the extra ti to reconcile them

But it felt as if there were hundreds instead of the usual one, and he couldn’t find her under them

"Listen to my voice Focus on my voice Let me in," he said, his tone cal when she found the presence to reach out to hi as an anchor took over, and as he held her body to his, he wrapped histo pull her froht draw her fro, and as one, Silas and Summer fell back into her mind

They screa a thousand realities cascaded from her to hih him, not as red-smeared shadows, but as fully realizedwhat to keep or what to destroy, he began burning theht in the dance club, be it the first memory, the last, or the thousand in between

The rapid staccato of his heart was a thunderous roar, and as Suin to shut down Still he struggled, but for every ti through her, shaking herall at once

It ht have been better to not even try

With a sudden realization, he knew there was no way out They were both going to die

His anger rose hot: anger that he had failed her, anger that the thing they’d thought would save the until, for a single mohtsas one