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“Who was talking when you picked me up?” I ask.

“Maz,” he says. “He was just telling me to get you away from everyone because when you came out of it, you’d take it harder than if it was just me.”

“I hate crying in front of people,” I say.

“I know you do,” he says as he continues to massage my feet.

“I don’t think I’ve ever panicked like that,” I say as I close my eyes, trying to relax on the bed.

“I don’t think any of them have seen you cry before. At least not like that,” he says.

“I wasn’t crying until I got up here,” I say.

“No, baby. You started crying almost immediately. You also hit Volis,” he explains.

“Oh…” I say quietly. “I hate feeling helpless.”

“You feel helpless because you have emotions?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Sounds dumb when you put it like that,” I say, and he laughs.

The door swings open, and Striker comes in. I jump up from the bed right as he gets to me. I go to say something, but he wraps me in a hug and squeezes me. “I’m sorry I scared you,” he says before kissing my head. “Get your shoes on. We need to go.”

“What? Where? What did they say?” I ask as Vash hands me my shoes to put on.

“We have places to start,” he says with a smile. “They’re in Estroria, still. Whatever she is doing is massive. It’s been going on long enough that it would have killed her by now.”

“What if it stops? What if she just stops using it?” I ask.

“That’s why we need to hurry,” he says with concern in his voice. He turns and walks out of the room, and I follow closely behind him.

“Does that mean she could still die? What is she even doing? It shouldn’t take that long to kill someone,” I say. Striker abruptly stops, and I run into him when he turns and cups my face.

“Leli, honey. You are my little sister, and I love you so fucking much… But you need to chill out before you throw yourself into another panic attack, okay? Take a deep breath and let’s just get there,” he says softly.

“I’m sorry,” I say quietly as tears suddenly surface.

“Fuck,” he says as he hugs me. “Don’t apologize. I know you can’t help it.”

“Stop being mushy and let’s go, Bolt,” I say as I pull away and wipe my face. He narrows his eyes at me for a second before he turns back, and we run outside to meet everyone else. When I open the back door to the SUV, Thuly runs up and jumps in. “I guess you’re coming with us.”

“He seems excited to go for a ride,” Dad says.

Once everyone is in, we drive toward Estroria.

Chapter Forty Eight

Lilith

Day Seven

I’vebeenwatchingthevine on the wall all morning. Overnight they made it all of the way around the room to the top of my corner. They are covering the walls from floor to ceiling. Now that they are closer, I can see that while the vines and leaves may be green, the shoots are nearly two inches long and bright red, as if coated with blood. The guys have yet to say anything about it, so I may actually be going crazy.

“You okay?” Daemon asks. “You’ve been staring at the walls all day.”

“You see the vines, right?” I ask cautiously.

“Uhm… Yeah…,” Kael says. “Why?”