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Malakai nods.

“The Food?”

“Yes.”

A beat passes before he continues.

“The Mask.”

Her hand rises toward her face as though the mask is still there. “The Hunt.” Her eyes move to me.

I hold them. Something passes between us. The maze. Her running. Me following. Her laughing. The moment I caught her.

My blood warms.

Her pupils widen slightly. She remembers too.

“The Revel,” Malakai continues.

Sage looks toward him.

The kiss.

Her cheeks flush.

There it is.

Then Malakai says “The Blood.”

She touches beneath her nose. Her expression changes. “And then?”

Nobody answers.

She looks at us. “And then?”

“The Sowing,” Ezra says quietly.

Sage swallows. “What is that?”

“We don’t know.”

She laughs. “You were there.”

“The ritual never reached it,” Malakai says.

“Because we stopped it.” Ezra’s voice is hard. “The Earth took her before the final rite.”

Sage stares at us. “So nobody knows what happens if it finishes.”

“No,” I say.

“And it’s happening to me.”

“Yes.”

“And I can’t leave.”

“For now.”