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Either way, fuck him. Clenching my jaw, I spin away from him, step over Melody, who is slowly coming to, and make my way back to my seat.

Ever and Eli are beaming at me, but Eli’s smile slips as I get closer. Ever pushes to her feet, eyes wide. The small hairs on my arm rise as the air charges. A deafening crack echoes around the pit.

“Melody!” Carver shouts, but it’s too late.

Lightning bolts slam into me, at least half a dozen riddling my body with electric pain.

My muscles tighten, tighten, tighten.

Skin burning, burning. BURNING.

Until all I know is agony.

The scent of charred flesh fills my nostrils. Time splinters. My body is in the present, but my mind slips to another place.

Addy is running. Bare feet slapping against the hardwood.

I race after her, grief and terror kicking in my chest.

The haunting echo of screams bang around in my skull.

Dread races up my spine.

A cacophony of pain.

Flashes of flames and curling smoke.

And

then

everything

goes

dark.

I wake with a gasp, sitting up as fear drives into my heart. Fire. There was fire and then… darkness. For a moment, I can’t see anything but smoke, then my vision clears. I grasp at those memories or whatever they are, but they’re far out of reach now, almost as though none of it was even real.

It felt real, though.

Brow furrowing, I glance around. The scent of healing magic and mage antiseptic tickles my nostrils. Twin-sized beds with plain blue sheets line the wall. Two of them have curtains that are pulled around them for privacy, but the rest are left exposed and empty. The windows give a beautiful look at the mountains, though I’m too annoyed to appreciate the view. The wounds Melody inflicted are healed, but my back pulses with phantom pain, some new from today and some old.

“Here I thought you might not wake up.” The voice is right beside me and so surprising, I practically leap out of the bed. Dark hair. Gray eyes. Tattoos that blanket his muscles.

“Fucking shit, Carver!” I shout, pressing my hand to my chest to keep my heart where it belongs. I hate being scared, not that he did it intentionally.

His impassive face betrays no emotion. He sits in the chair near the head of the bed, fully at ease, but there’s tension in his shoulders. The man is a snake coiled and ready to strike. “Are you done?”

I ball my hands into fists. He makes it sound like I’m being ridiculous. “Why are you here?”

“Curiosity, mostly,” Carver admits, standing and studying me. “Melody’s magic shouldn’t have made you pass out like that.”

“Have you ever been hit by six bolts of lightning? It’s really fucking painful, and I swear she was trying to burn me alive.” That would have actually killed me. A few things are fatal to paranorms: being stabbed in the heart with a silver weapon, poison made from the nectar of a Goddess Lily, or being burned up in fire.

“I stopped her before it got too far. Your fainting spell wasn’t because of her stormcraft.” That seems to annoy him the most.

Scoffing, I shake my head. What’s he saying? I chose to pass out? Even if I did, who is he to tell me what’s a reasonable reaction to being hit by literal lightning? “Okay? Well, sorry for ruining your day.”