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“They basically melted from the inside out.”

A bone-chilling noise came from Cooper.

“I amcertainI have the perfect ratio now.” Dr. Novikov held up his hand, thinking that would ease the Dark Dweller.

“You’re testing on others before you take it,” I stated, understanding his need for test subjects.

“It’s what scientists do.”

Cooper snapped his teeth. “You touch her, and I will rip your entrails out through your nose.”

“I want to take it.” Annabeth’s voice came out strong and clear.

“What?” Cooper and I froze, our attention jerking to her.

Annabeth stood tall, her expression determined but oddly serene.

“Anna…” Cooper rasped.

“It’s what we were coming here for anyway, right?” She swallowed. “I’m dying, Coop. There’s no stopping it, and it’s coming sooner than you want to believe. I feel it taking over. Winning.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I love you more than anything, and if this gives me even the possibility of spending more of my life with you, then I want to take it.”

“And if it doesn’t?” he croaked.

“At least I went down fighting for the chance.”

“I’m not ready.” He shook his head. “I can’t lose you… not now.”

“You will never be ready.” She tried to smile through her tears. “But time is not on our side. I have to take this chance. Now. I need you to be strong. Trust me to do this.”

Emotion burned up my throat, grief hollowing out my chest at the idea we might lose AB today. Now. Everything was out on the table. There was no more hiding her disease, and without that barrier of pretense, I felt extremely helpless. Sacred and vulnerable.

Cooper’s silence seemed to be the okay to proceed. Dr. Novikov nodded to Z, the original creation moving to the side, picking up a small box, looking dwarfed in his oversized hands.

That was it? All this death and sacrifice was over something which fit into my palm.

Z carefully handed him the box, and the doctor opened the lid, folding over some kind of cloth it must have been wrapped in. Its magic slammed into me as if it were freed from its prison. A whisper in my ear, the need to hold it, to take it from him, stole my breath.

Death, life, blood, earth, fire, air. I tasted it, felt it. A magic I couldn’t describe buzzed down my spine, tightening my muscles, causing me to shiver violently.

It held a mix of extreme powers I had never felt before. I tasted blood and death, felt the heat of fire and air on my face.

The room reacted to its dominance, everyone stepping back with a jerk as if it spoke to all of us with the same intense command, needing someone to fall prey to it.

And it all came from a small brownish-yellow lump, a substance resembling honey or amber. It looked inconsequential, like something you forgot about in the back of your cabinet that was now dried up and expired. Not something that would give humans the power of fae, tipping the balance of nature and starting wars that would devastate this world. If it fell into the wrong hands, it could be internationally devastating. Where the hell did this even come from? How did it exist? Fae food was destroyed, so why and how did this survive?

Pulling on gloves, he grabbed shears from his gear, snipping off a piece the size of a raisin.

In the distance, commotion resonated, the monsters shifting their attention to the entrance, away from us to another threat. There was an awareness of something happening, but all I was focused on was the nectar.

The doctor turned to Annabeth, the piece in one of his gloved hands. Her throat bobbed, though her resolve did not waver.

Fear stomped up my throat, hazing my mind, and I felt myself push forward with the need to protect AB. What if we were all wrong? What if this killed her?

Voices and torch lights bounced in the space, twisting my head to the entrance. A handful of men dressed in dark clothes came creeping into the space, unaware of what they just walked into.

You could see it on their faces, the lights shining on those primordial manufactured creatures. Half human, half fae. Full monsters.

“What the fuck is that?” a man speaking in Hungarian shrieked at one of the crocodile monsters, his face stained in horror. I recognized the uniforms, the symbol on their arms from the group who attacked us the night before.