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Aleksander briefly glanced my way as I stumbled over and fell at his side.

“Do something,” I pleaded. “Help her.”

He gave me a dubious look.

I grabbed his wrist and guided his hand toward the girl.

His muscles tensed, preventing me from dragging him any farther. “I can’t raise people from the dead, Nova.”

“I don’t think she’s entirely dead. Not since I—I don’t know what I did. Something is strange about her. Just…try. Please.”

He jerked his arm from my hold.

But then a miracle occurred:He did as I asked.

Doubt clouded his eyes, but he reached his hand out on his own, letting it hover just above the girl’s pale face. Golden light snaked along the lines of his palm, collecting at the tips of his fingers and growing thicker before falling down like drops of blood, splattering against the girl’s forehead. Lines of gold raced out from the points of contact, spiderwebbing across her skin, drawing warmth into her pallid complexion, little by little.

She took a deep, gulping breath—like a fish tossed onto dry land.

I started to reach for her, but she rolled aside. She was fully convulsing an instant later, caught in the throes of Aleksander’s magic, her body as lost in the flashes of light as it had been in my shadows earlier.

Aleksander hissed out a curse, drawing his hand back, abruptly getting to his feet and stepping away. “I’m making it worse. Let’s just go find Thalia and see—”

I got to my feet as well, grabbing his arm and holding him still.

He stared at the grip I’d claimed on him until a sharp breath from the girl drew both our gazes back to her. She was going still once more, her body turning the color of stone as the last of Aleksander’s power left her.

We should have done as he said and ran away from the scene of this strange disaster.

So why didn’t I move?

Aleksander’s eyes slowly shifted to me. Intense and burning and full of uncertainty. But I didn’t flinch, even as the full heat of his stare settled over me—because in my mind, I saw the aftermath of our collision from yesterday: The world blooming around us. All of it dying just as quickly…exceptfor those stubborn shoots of green grass and budding flowers.

A garden taking root where it shouldn’t have stood a chance.

And here was that moment—that power, that connection—all over again. Except, this time, he wasawake.

Awake and looking at me as though I was some combination of pure chaos and pure magic, something he wanted to both strangle and embrace at the same time. I felt his gaze like sunlight settling over my skin. His magic like a current of lightning building in my own body, preparing to leap to his, to weave so deeply between us that I wouldn’t be able to tell where I ended and he began.

I looked to the girl, my pulse racing as I tried again to understand why she had followed me.

Who was she?

What had I divined from her body when I touched her? A memory, I assumed—but that didn’t fit with the explanation Thalia had given me. This girl was a shade, devoid of consciousness, awareness…

Was there life still holding on, deep inside of her, same as there had been green grass buried in the dead soil yesterday? A buried life just waiting forsomethingto pull it to the surface?

My touch slid down Aleksander’s arm, my hand finding his. I interlaced our fingers. His hand felt so warm. So heavy. He shifted, angling his body more fully toward mine. Hesitation gripped me.

This is foolish.

“What are you doing?” he asked, his voice low, full of an emotion I couldn’t name.

“Trust me,” I replied—though I didn’t know what I was even asking him to trust me about. I just didn’t want him to let go of my hand. Just like he hadn’t let go of me in the lake. Because it had been his voice, I realized now.

Just stay with me.

I’ve got you.