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But it was Kessily’s eerie, fixed silence that sent a prickle down my spine.
“I’m fine,” I promised June, squeezing her back. “Let’s get you home.”
“How?” June asked.
“It’s a bad idea,” Zehr warned me. “I saw how you stumbled across the floor like you were two bottles deep. You’re running low, Honor.”
“Shut up, Zehr,” I said.
Then I realized my friends were still staring at me, waiting on an answer.
“I can travel,” I said. “I’ll show you.”
I held out my hands, and they placed their hand in mine, looking uncertain but trusting.
The room was full of shadows. I inhaled, imagined Rylow, and the world blurred.
This time, it felt as if we were moving slowly, not like the few heartbeats’ of travel the last few times. But then we were on the street, and I was so, so tired, but my friends were safe. The academy rose above us, framed above a dusky sky. I’d been in the bone kingdom long enough I wasn’t sure if the sun was rising or setting.
“You are incredible!” June said, hugging me again, but Ellie looked at me as if she wasn’t quite sure what was happening.
“How did you do that?” Ellie asked.
“I’ll explain everything later,” I said. “For now I have to get back—”
“We’re not the only ones,” Ellie said, and June’s smile died. “What are you going to do to help Calla? To save the others from Rylow?”
“I’ll fix it,” I promised.
She started to say something else, but I lurched back into the shadows. I’d melted every other time, moving gracefully the way Zehr had, but now…
I landed back in a room that felt empty without my friends.
Only three occupants were left.
Zehr, unconscious on the bed.
Kessily, who wanted to kill me.
Calla, who lunged forward and shook the bars. Her face looked human right now as she begged, “Help me!”
I took a step toward her and she leapt forward, hissing, slamming into the bars. I stopped dead, my heart leaping into my throat.
“Calla.” The name came out a broken whisper. She was my friend who had always been there for me, who had leapt to help me scrub and mop when I couldn’t explain my secret identity. She’d been ready to do anything to help Hanna.
And now she was lost to the Scourge curse.
But I’d helped Arren. I’d save Calla from it too.
“She’s just the first,” Kessily boasted. “They’ll find everyone you love and turn them into Scourge.”
“You don’t have that power.”
“He’s dying,” Kessily said. “He left his power inside me.”
“Do you know how to take it back?”I asked Zehr.
“Killing her seems like it’s worth a try. I felt my power come back from Tor.”
