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I shake my head, panic rising. “Not without you.”

“I can’t.” He glances down at his foot, his ankle mangled and swollen as he leans on his good leg. I know what he’s saying, but I refuse to accept it.

“Just try!” I pull on his arm, but a shot cracks through the air before he can move. His body jerks backwards with a sickening thud against the car, and something inside me breaks with it.

He falls, sliding down to the white gravel splattered red.

“No!” I drop to the ground in front of him, my hands pressing on the wound in his chest as if I can hold him here by force alone. “Stay with me.”

I don’t know how to exist without him. Blood seeps through his shirt, spreading fast. I press harder, but it only wells between my fingers, hot and slick against my palms.

“I’ll call for an ambulance. You’ll be okay.” My voice shakes around the words.

I don’t know where we are or how we’ll get there, but there has to be something I can do. There has to be a way to fix this.

The driver approaches, his arm outstretched, keeping a steady mark on my brother.

“Shadow Bluff,” Asher forces out. “Take the medallion to the Serpents. Tell no one else.”

Tears blur my vision as I shake my head. He’s already leaving me. This can’t be happening. None of this feels real. Not even the warmth of his blood flowing over my hands.

“I can’t—” The words break on my tongue.

He lays his hand over mine as if it weighs a hundred pounds.

“You can,” he says, his voice fading. “You don’t need anyone, Zaiya. You’re stronger than you think.”

He’s wrong. I need him.

“Please.” I choke on my pleading cries.

“Go. Find them.” He takes a deep breath. “I love you.”

The way he says it terrifies me more than the blood. Like these are the last words he expects me to hear.

“Don’t.” I shake my head.

The driver’s voice cuts in, cold and impatient. “Why’d you have to make this difficult?”

My head spins, but I don’t have a choice. Stay and be taken or do as Asher says. Either way, I lose him.

I rise on trembling legs. My world has already ended, but I force myself to move. I back away, taking in my final seconds with him, tears warming my cheeks. Every step feels like a betrayal. His body stays slumped against the car, and I know this is the last time I’ll see him alive.

As I turn to run, the driver lunges at me. He comes up inches too short, yelling through a groan.

Asher has his knife buried in the man’s calf.

“Run!”

I take off, away from the only person who could save me. Cornstalks tower overhead as I sprint down a single row into nothingness.

A gunshot rings out behind me. Fresh tears spill down my cheeks as I jolt to a stop and look back through the corn. The driver lowers his arm and Asher’s lifeless body lies face down on the ground.

My knees buckle, dropping me into the soft dirt. Every part of me screams to go back to him.

With no remorse, the driver turns to face me as if he can see exactly where I am.

Then he steps into the field.