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“No.”

Roots wrap my wrists, my ankles. It spreads my arms and legs. Readying me for the ceremony.

I thrash against the roots, trying to get myself free but they just tighten. “LET ME GO!”

Ezra attacks the Brides. His knife passes through one.

She turns, her stitched mouth opens and a scream knocks him backward.

“EZRA!”

The Harvest reaches toward me. Its hands don’t touch. They hover.

My body arches as pain rips through my abdomen making me scream. Something moves inside me causing my stomach to visibly shift.

Mariah screams my name somewhere in the crowd.

“STOP!”

Another movement. My abdomen swells. Not much but enough. “No.” I stare. “No no no.” My camisole tightens across my stomach.

Ali starts sobbing. “SAGE!”

Rhett loses his fucking mind and lunges as two Brides grab him. He throws one only for another to come for him.

Malakai drops beside me so hard his knees hit the dirt.

Both palms slam flat against the ground.

“LET HER GO!”

The Earth answers him.

Roots explode upward around us, but these aren’t the black, rotting things wrapped around my body. These are pale and alive, streaked with green, tearing through the soil in twisting ropes before latching onto the Harvest’s roots.

Kai’s roots.

They attack.

They coil around the ones binding my wrists and legs, tightening until wood splinters and black sap sprays across the dirt. The root around my right arm snaps apart.

My hand comes free.

“Kai!”

For one second, hope punches through me.

Then the Harvest screams.

Malakai is ripped off the ground.

His body flies backward and slams into the dirt hard enough to bounce. The green roots collapse with him, shriveling before they even hit the ground.

“KAI!”

He rolls onto his side.

Blood pours from his mouth.