Page 135 of The Girl Who Only Died Once

Chloe opens her mouth to speak.

“I took this space from the girl’s father after his death and made it my own,” Killian interrupts. “I found it valuable as a planning area.”

“Okay,” Chloe says, peering around it. “Is that a stasis chamber?”

“It was,” he answers, then with a lazy flick of his hand, rights the desk, before he pauses, almost unsteady. “You’re hungry.”

She hears the question behind the statement, so she rubs her eyes. “Somewhat, yeah,” she says, having basically awoken into another crisis, but it’s far off, foreign to her at the moment.

He squints at her, before he vanishes, leaving her in the large warehouse.

“Okay,” Chloe murmurs, and her phone beeps, almost too loud in her backpack.

She pulls it out, her mind racing. She can write up the trap, craft it, sure, but she’s hardly the expert at the actual weaving.

AMBRA (2:02 AM): Just how often are you teleporting?

MAISON (2:02 AM): We have you in the Old Soviet Block? Somewhere?

AMBRA (2:03 AM): Why is he jumping around so often?

Chloe blinks up at the warehouse again, once more in too many emotions.

She should absolutely tell her friends. Absolutely let them know everything—everything—that’s going on. The temptation is to hide it, to deflect.

But…

She had promised Ambra she would tell the truth.

CHLOE (2:05 AM): We had a safe spot that got compromised. Gathering information now.

It’s less than they deserve, but also enough that hopefully they wouldn't panic.

And then, outside of the group chat, Ambra’s contact bubbles up.

AMBRA (2:07 AM): He’s taking you to his safe houses?

Chloe hadn’t outright said that, but trust another demon to pick that up.

CHLOE (2:07 AM): A few.

AMBRA (2:08 AM): Let me talk to him.

CHLOE (2:08 AM): I think he’s off getting me food.

AMBRA (2:09 AM): Oh so he’s feeding you now.

Chloe rolls her eyes and shoves the phone into her pocket, where it beeps again and forces her to pull it out once more.

AMBRA (2:10 AM): When you get back, we need to have wine.

In the short amount of time since Ambra entered their lives, she and Chloe had gone to a wine bar all of once. Ambra had been skittish the entire time, jumping at small noises and barely focusing on the conversation, but afterwards Gurlien had given Chloe a heartfelt thanks, saying that it meant a lot to Ambra to have done so.

It pulls a smile to Chloe, even with all the dire need around. Even in the middle of this crisis, where someone is tracking them while they’re tracking the spirit fox. Even while she has to craft a trap for someone, a trap that will probably mean someone’s death.

CHLOE (2:15 AM): I’m down. Is Gurlien around? I need some trap-setting advice.

AMBRA (2:16 AM): He says he’s not here.

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