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She dared a glance over her shoulder. Darien was still right behind her, looking confused but not doubting her, his footsteps never faltering.

When she spotted the corner that would lead to the library, she plunged her hand into her bag, digging around until her fingers closed on the two syringes.

Darien said her name, but she refused to slow or turn as she emptied the needle into her neck, concealing her actions from Darien with her hair. She dropped it back into her bag, and with a flick of her fingers, she took the cap off the other.

She skidded around the corner and flew through the open doors of the library, hurtling past the Staring Teenager, heading straight for that patch of colder air about halfway across the room. She couldn’t see it, but she could sense it. It was only feet away now.

Just as she reached it, she screeched to a stop and spun around.

Darien was still running. The momentum behind his steps sent him crashing into her before he could slow.

She stuck the needle in his neck.

“What the fuck!” he barked.

But they were already through the Veil, leaving the guards and the academy behind, their bodies dissolving into colorful sparks.

—

Darien landed on top of Loren in an explosion of purple dust that choked their surroundings. But he paid no attention to those, because he had crushed the air out of her lungs with his fucking weight.

Panic gripped his heart in a fist as he pushed himself up onto his elbows and carefully took Loren’s head in his hands.

“Loren,” he said, voice echoing far and wide. It sounded metallic in here, as if he were talking into a silver bell. “Are you hurt? I’m so sorry. Tell me what hurts.”

But she was breathing fine, and she was taking his face into her hands then. “Darien, I’m okay,” she said softly. “I’m fine. Look.” Gently, she turned his head to the left…

Darien was too stunned to speak.

Violet land with a black sky stretched all the way around them, that sky lit up with bolts of lilac lightning. A full moon hung above them, bathing everything with its spectral glow. Mountains peaked way off in the distance, jagged and capped with white. The only vegetation in the area were shrubs and trees that resembled evergreens, but they were stark as silhouettes and just as black.

He forced himself to blink. Several times, just to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. And then he looked down at Loren, who was still holding onto his face, her eyes heavy with relief.

“Spirit,” Darien whispered, that same strange echo chasing the word, rippling all the way out to the foreign horizon. “This is Spirit Terra.”

Loren lifted her chin, as if she were trying to nod. But she froze halfway and thumped her head against the ground, a quiet sob clawing up her throat.

Darien held her tighter, not understanding—dying to understand. “Baby, don’t cry. Talk to me.” But she only shook her head, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Why won’t you talk to me, Loren?”

“Darien, I’m sorry,” she managed to gasp. “I tried to tell—” She froze mid-sentence again, looking like she was choking—

Holy fuck. Suddenly, all those shadows crowding his mind were driven away by a light that was blinding, and Darien knew exactly what was going on.

He wiped the warm tears off her rosy cheeks. “Shh, it’s okay. It’s okay. You can’t tell me, can you?” His thumb brushed across the glowing numbers on her neck—the same ones he could feel ticking away in his own. “What is this?” he asked.

“A Life Clock.” That, she could answer. She lifted her head off the ground, hair coated with purple dust. “We have to get out of here.”

He stood and helped her up, and then he drew her into his arms, holding her tight. “I need you to do something for me.”

When she replied, her face was still buried against his chest. She clung to him, as if she’d feared she would never get to again. “Anything.” The word was a sob.

“I need you to turn off your phone,” he said. She peeked up at him. “I need you to turn it off until I’m out of the school. And tomorrow, you’re going to meet me at the gates at three. Okay?”

She nodded. “Okay.”

“And before you come to the gates, I need you to shut off your phone again. Can you do that for me?”

She nodded again, one last tear slipping down her cheek as her sorrow was replaced with hope and understanding.