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Dev didn’t notice. He was still crouched in the mess, humming to himself as he painted pictures with the blood on the concrete.

A small symbol – nothing too ostentatious.

Just something to let people know justice was being done.

Eddie was hyperventilating, staring at the blood pooling around him. K nodded

“Take him,” K ordered one of the nearby kids.

The boy didn’t make eye contact. He just moved.

And so did I.

“Where the hell are you going?” Dev called, wiping his knives.

I didn’t answer. I just ran.

The corridors blurred as I tore toward the main building. The guards by the entrance tensed, hands twitching toward their weapons — waiting for me to snap again.

They’d be fine.

If they left me alone.

The scent was stronger here — sweet and burning, the kind that made the air vibrate in my lungs. It pulled me upward.

I hit the stairs two at a time. By the third landing, I’d picked up shadows — three guards, maybe four.

I laughed, loud.

Then turned and hit the closest one square in the chest, sending him sailing over the rail. His scream echoed all the way down.

“Oops,” I grinned.

The others backed off, shouting for backup. I didn’t slow. No one was keeping me from whatever this was.

Because it was mine.

Or it would be.

Another dart whizzed past my head — tranq. Amateur. I ducked and kept running, still laughing.

When I reached the witches’ floor,BitchfaceLyra and her franken-guard Ivan were waiting outside. They froze when they saw me.

“Ash. What are you doing?” Lyra demanded.

I ignored her. “What’s in there?”

“None of your business. Go downstairs,” Ivan barked.

“Nah. Don’t wanna.”

“Ash!”

Two guards lunged at me from behind. I whooped as they landed on my back — two? Pathetic. I threw one over my shoulder; he hit the wall hard. The other grabbed my arm, and Ivan stepped in, trying to drag me away.

So I punched him in the mouth and kicked the other guard free.

And then — the door opened.