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Turning back to Nico, Nova steeples her fingers together and says, “Nico, you’re the only one who can do this. Trust me, I wouldn’t be asking unless I had to.”

Nico hangs his head, but Nova stands and dips hers to meet his eyes. “You put Sam’s life before your own when you jumped in front of your father’s blade, so I’m hoping you have the guts to do that for the rest of humanity, too. Because you are genuinely the only one who can get into that mansion.”

“What do I do when I get inside?” Nico asks quietly.

Nova glances at Luther, Tanner, and me, then stares right into Nico’s eyes and says, “You rip out Eve’s throat, so the barrier comes down, and we do the rest.”

39

NOVA

“Does it really need to be tonight?” Tanner asks as I lift a knife from the kitchen drawer. Taking in the shining blade, he gulps and slips his hand around my wrist. His eyes shift. A moment ago, they were dazzlingly bright but now they are darker. Searching. He’s opening his mind, sifting through my feelings to make sure I’m not hiding a knot of fear or apprehension.

I let him look. I meet his eyes and show him I’m feeling both. As he inhales sharply with the force of my emotion, I stroke his face and whisper, “Just because I’m afraid, doesn’t mean we should wait.”

“Why tonight?” Luther is holding a bottle of whiskey but has yet to pour himself a glass. The three of us, and Kole, are alone. Shortly after I told him I wanted him to kill Eve, Nico freaked out and ran to the bathroom. Rev went after him, and Sarah took the opportunity to shut herself back in her room, telling us to make sure we let her know the second Sam returns.

“Nico has to get into The Hollow tonight because tomorrow morning, he must kill Eve and tomorrow night, we must end this.”

“Nova, you got back less than twenty-four hours ago. We’ve barely had a chance to absorb it all or to talk about what happened while you were gone.” Luther puts the whiskey bottle down, his fingers moving to the ring hanging around his neck.

“It has to be fast because this time we’re taking control,” I tell him. “We are doing this on our timeline—not his.” I smile and put the knife down on the kitchen worktop, then slot one hand into his and one into Tanner’s.

“But tonight…” Luther grips my fingers.

“I want it to be over.” I look past him at Kole, who’s been watching me carefully. “I want all of this to be over, so the six of us can be normal.”

Tanner stares at me for a moment, then chuckles. “You realize that’s an oxymoron, right? Six people in a relationship isn’t what most people would call normal.”

“It’s our normal,” I say gently, opening my arm so that Kole joins us for a three-way hug.

We’re nuzzling into each other, and I’m starting to think about taking the three of them into the shower and having them help me wash the remnants of dried blood from my skin, when we hear thundering footsteps in the stairwell.

Kole hurries to open the door and welcomes in Mack, then Sam, then Snow—who pushes the kitchen table out of the way so he can fit into the room.

Rev emerges from the bathroom just in time to see one of her favorite vases go flying, but Mack swiftly catches it with a plume of air. Unimpressed, Rev plucks it from mid-air and sets it down near the TV. “Well, shit,” she says. “Snow, it’s good to see you. But I’m not sure there’s room for a two-ton bear in my apartment.”

“He doesn’t weigh—” Mack starts to correct her but, catching her raised eyebrow, stops and clears his throat. “I can’t be separated from him,” he says, a slight tremor in his voice. “If there’s not room, we can sleep on the roof.”

“No. You can’t.” Rev folds her arms, taps her foot on the floor, then huffs and says, “We’ll make do.”

“It won’t be for long,” I tell her.

She meets my eyes. When she glances back at the bathroom, there’s a protectiveness in her stance that I hadn’t noticed before. “He’s barely himself, Nova. Does it have to be tonight?”

I don’t repeat what I said to the others, but nod at her and mirror her pose, crossing my arms over my stomach. “It does.” I turn and pick up the knife, then reach into the cupboard above the stove and take out a glass. “If I fill this, will you take it to him?”

Rev inhales slowly, then nods.

“Nova?” Mack looks from me to the knife.

Setting the glass down in the sink, I raise the blade to my palm. All at once, the five of them lurch toward me.

“It’s okay.” I pause with the metal close to my skin. “I’ll heal.” I flick back my hair to show them there are no wounds on my neck. “It won’t be deep. I’ll heal.”

As I pierce my palm with the tip of the knife, everyone but Kole looks away from me. When I wince, he steps forward and takes hold of my wrist for me, tilting the stream of blood toward the waiting vessel.

“How much?” he asks softly.