a's

as I woke up, c

eding but there was no wound. My skin was smooth and smooth, an

dn't b

stung all over again. My chest rose and fell in my struggle for air, my eyes scanning around the new darkness, until I saw th

or bur

o the room, still dressed for the night, looking around for anyone wh

o get the words out of me. How was I going to

across the room and knelt by my bed. "Talk to me. What ha

out, my voice shaking, "A ni

Instead, he came up to me and stroked slow circles over my back, as he had done

ver it may have been, it was not r

ugh the fear coiled tight in my ches

. "Please, I don't want to close my eyes again.

or. "Lyra, if anyone sees me here after

e, " I don't want my k

ance in his expression, the formal

ser to his chest and placed a kissed o

p once mor

ing through the window and Kael stood bes

." I greeted

asked you to be with them and complete your clearance

ing wa

rd them before, word for word, on a mornin

say?" I whispe

d, giving a slight frown at my

move and breathe despite the fea

way being a rehearsal of what I had already experienced. The clearance process went through as usual. My steps turned back to

d "Uncle

th that same warm pride in his vo

joke, every saying to hurry home, my people awai

was a repeat of something

would bring me back to Silvercrest. I looked out the window, tr

For a weird second, I could

n front of me was a faceless figure, his shape and

'm hallucinating a

ing important message. Your death ... the nightmare was true,

my voice becoming sharp w

turned my stomach over. I saw my parents, many years younger, surrounded by silver blades sta

onnection between your parents' deaths and your own mur

him as his shape fuzzed out even more. "

hand before he disappeared al

ed my e

hrough the window, just as it had been before the vision star

was still

to move, unable to brea

gray eyes placid, oblivious to the battle raging within my mind. It had

I had given him, with my own hands, that had

ust one

ad me