p chokin

y heart slamming so hard it hurt. For a moment, I didn't know where I was. The ceilin

e smell

oo

loor. My hands were shaking as I held them up t

were

cl

ds-human hands-but they felt heavier, like th

r by the bed. They weren't the ones I wor

ran down

edroom. It was small and plain, smelling faintly of

en before I c

amiliar voic

a

slammed into me

rk hair was pulled back like she'd been running her fingers through i

" I asked, m

she said.

no sense.

Her eyes searched my f

he last thing I rem

fully into the room and closed

iced the dried bl

mach d

ispered. "Ar

uickly. Too quic

fortable. I could hear her heartbeat-fast, un

be able to

stain. "You collapsed near the park," she said. "I found y

of nonsense

hesi

t saying

oat we

y, "you begged me not t

I swung my legs back onto the b

did I hur

t answer

ed me more t

aid. "But when I found you, t

memory came back in flashes-golden eyes in the dark

h

. "You should st

rp and humorless. "A

fore. My pulse quickened, not from fear this time, but something deeper,

er voice softer now. "I thou

essed together like she was holding something back. I had the sudden

d my fist

"Whatever happened last

," she

ade me

w what?"

led out something small and silver-a pendant shaped like

d never have to se

in pr

arefully, "why d

nto mine, intense

e," she said. "And because you're

slammed against

stiff

e," she w

was t

house, a voice called out-l

" my un

talk about w

me, the thing that woke un