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“Easy, Poppet. We’re together now, and I’m gonna keep my promise. I’ll help you get Bixby back. I’ll help you get free of this. I swear it.”
“You’re lying!” She tried to pull her hand from mine, but I clamped my other hand on her wrist, holding tight.
Esme shrieked, and a flash of green exploded from somewhere beyond the smoke. The ground shook and the rain swept sideways. “Damn you, Poppet. Kill her!”
Poppet’s body jerked again, and she doubled over in pain. She coughed and blood shot from her lips.Her body tipped forward. I threw my arms out and caught her around the waist. Electric green veins crawled under her skin, spider webbing around her temples.
“Woah, woah, Poppy, hang on. Stay with me. Fight it!”
A wall of wind swept over us and the smoke dispersed. There was another flash of light, and a black hooded figure came sliding through a teleportation rift. They scrambled over to where I sat with Poppet and pulled a knife from their boot. The silver blade flashed in the low light as the pale hands flipped it over.
I tried to grab the wrist, but I was too slow. The stranger cut Poppet’s right hand and their own, then clasped them together.
“Take her hand again,” she said. “Blood to blood. It’s the only way to save her!”
“Who—”
“Just do it!” The stranger’s head snapped up and their hood fell back, revealing her face. My face.
“Astrid!” I gasped. “How are you—”
“We can reunite later. Take her hand.” She pulled Poppet from my arms and laid her back against the ground. “Hang in there, Poppy, we’ve got you. Take her hand, Rebekah. It’s the only way to break the connection.”
I did as she commanded and pressed my palm against Poppet’s left hand. The connection burned like wildfire and electricity. I felt the poison crawling under my skin. The veins made it halfway up my arm and then a shuddering pulse burst from my heart, rushing down my arm like a wave out to sea. Poppet gasped for air, her back arching off the ground. White light shone from her eyes, and in the span of a few seconds, it was over. Her body relaxed, and she rolled onto her side, curling against Astrid’s legs.
“No!” Esme howled. “I’ll kill you. I’ll kill all of you!”
“Oh, shut up,” Astrid snarled. “You might be strong, Darkling, but you’re not that strong. You can’t take all three of us.”
“You psychotic little—”
“You heard her,” I shouted. “Shut—”
Before I could finish the sentiment, she had me by the throat. Pain exploded through my body, and I felt the power flowing out of me. I could feel her pulling and tugging it out by the fistful. Black spots flooded my vision and—
Something inside me clicked. Grabbing her by the wrist, I turned my head just enough to meet her gaze and smiled. Her connection wavered, and I willed my own mind into her space.
Her fingers loosened on my neck just enough for me to speak, and I snarled,“How do you like it?”
Reversing the channel, I ripped the power from her body, digging my fingers in, and everything faded around me. All that existed was pure cold darkness. It swirled around me, invading my veins, flooding into my nose and mouth. Deep down I knew I should’ve been terrified, but something about this felt right. It felt destined.
In the distance I could hear screams, and feel someone tugging on my arm, begging me to stop, but I couldn’t listen. I was too distracted by the way Esme’s eyes turned a dull grey, and her skin shriveled, sinking in against her bones. Her grip on my neck slackened, and her body dropped, bursting into a puff of black ash across the ground with the loud clang of one final bell.
I took a deep breath and my ears popped as I returned to the present. I lifted my gaze to see Astrid standing beside Jackson. Both of them watched me with wary expressions.
Astrid cleared her throat. “Well…that was unexpected.”
Poppet stepped between us and slapped me hard across the face. “What have you done? She was my only link to Bixby! What have you done?”
“Woah, hey, stop it!” Tate snarled, appearing in his human form to grab Poppet around the waist, hoisting her away from me.
Poppet kicked and screamed. “You killed her! She was my only hope!”
“Easy, Sis. It’s okay. You’re safe,” Astrid said.
I shook my head. “She didn’t give me a choice.”
—”
