Page 66 of The Girl Who Only Died Once

She holds up her hands, dropping her phone onto the bed with a thump, and he abruptly cuts off the flow of power.

He stares at her, wild-eyed, and she gingerly lowers her hands.

“Sorry, bad news,” Chloe says, and her voice is small, even to her own ears. “About friends.”

If anything, his eyes sharpen, and he leans forward, a sudden intensity of self that sends Chloe scrambling back on the bed. “What news?”

Her phone beeps again, but she doesn’t dare look at it.

“Someone tried to attack my friends,” she responds, and her heart pounds all the same. “I got scared, we’re not in danger here, I just…”

He doesn’t sit back, but some of the sudden fierceness of focus wanes, leaving the room a bit more breathable.

“And someone attacked a bunch of bases,” she continues, when he doesn’t say anything. “So my friend was checking in on me.”

This settles him more, but his eyes still reflect all the light in the room, the shadow face shifting behind the human one.

Carefully, Chloe reaches for her phone, making no sudden motions, as if that could pacify the suddenly terrifying demon in front of her.

AMBRA (3:09 PM): Wherever you are, we can’t teleport to you.

Chloe nods to herself, ever aware of Killian’s gaze.

CHLOE (3:14 PM): I know. Are you okay?

AMBRA (3:14 PM): They were expecting just Alette. They got more than that.

It’s a deflection if Chloe’s ever heard one, and she very much so doubts that she’d get an honest answer from Ambra on how she’s feeling.

Probably terrified.

CHLOE (3:15 PM): I’m sorry I wasn’t there.

AMBRA (3:15 PM): I’m taking Gurlien somewhere safe.

It’s expected, and Chloe swallows, glancing back up at Killian.

“Their security is going to be worse,” he says, his voice something awful, devoid of any warmth that had snuck in over the last day. “It’s going to be worse and it’s going to be harder.”

Logical conclusion, and Chloe nods, before he stands, abrupt, pacing to the window and tracing along the wards, dipping more power into them.

“Did they harm your friends?” he asks, strangely formal.

“No,” Chloe responds, and he ties more power into the ward, so much that the very building creaks around them, stealing the air from her throat.

“I don’t like this,” he says, understated.

“Me neither,” Chloe responds, letting her phone drop back onto the bed, her mind scrambling.

Of course, her first instinct is to run. Flee. Find someplace safe and huddle there until nobody else can find her. It’s an instinct that has served her well, an instinct that’s gotten her out of so many bad situations, an instinct that’s saved her life more than once.

She could call Ambra, drive back out of the teleportation hole, get picked up within an hour or so. She could transform a bunch of cash and buy a plane ticket to anywhere, disappear and craft a new life once again.

Abandoning the spirit fox once more.

Chloe flops over on the bed, ignoring Killian’s alarmed jerk.

“So what are the options?” she asks, and her own voice is remote to her ears.

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