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Ezra’s smile appears through his tears. “Even the haunted bell tower?”

“Let’s not make promises under duress.”

His laugh breaks free.

Theo’s purr deepens around us.

Then the cemetery bell rings once. This time, it sounds like only a bell.

Theo adjusts me carefully against his chest. “We need to get you home.”

Ezra stays tucked against my side.

I look at the quiet route, the cold witness stone, and the empty space where the old bond used to hold them.

“Home,” I say.

My pack leaves the circle together.

Chapter 43

Ezra Heron

Theo carries Pepper home while I keep waiting for some part of me to disappear. Nothing does. I stay beside them anyway, close enough that my arm brushes Pepper’s where it hangs around Theo’s neck.

She is pale beneath the blood drying along the side of her face. Her ankle has swollen against the top of her shoe, and every few steps, Theo adjusts her as though he can keep the movement from hurting her if he is careful enough.

Pepper watches me.

“You’re staring,” I say.

“You’re still here.”

“So are you.”

“Debatable. I’m pretty sure I’m ninety percent adrenaline,” she says.

Theo’s arms tighten around her. “Don’t joke about that.”

“I’m not joking. It’s a rough estimate.”

The fog is gone. Sunlight falls through the trees in bright, ordinary patches, which somehow feels more unreal than the white did.

The route behind us looks ordinary again. I can still see the cypress knees and the old channel if I look back, but the magical pull toward the open circle is gone.

The old bond is gone too. I reach for it without meaning to. I keep anticipating the pressure behind my shoulder and the low hum that always told me where Theo was.

There is nothing. My breath catches.

Theo looks at me. “You can’t feel me.”

“No.”

“I’m still here.” The words settle where the bond used to be.

I reach across Pepper and grab the back of his shirt.

The cemetery house appears through the trees. People are everywhere. Roman reaches us first, followed by two sheriff’s deputies and a pair of paramedics carrying equipment through the grass. Scarlet is directly behind them.