Page 65 of The Girl Who Only Died Once

“What do you think the likelihood that they’ve already found a way to track those who have been brought back by Necromancers?” he asks, and his voice is honestly curious, not judgmental. “And do you think it’s trackable to them based on which Necromancer, or would it be a blanket track?”

“Oooh, good question,” Chloe responds, and he wrinkles his nose at her. “Even with enhanced view of demons and other things, I couldn’t tell the others who’ve been raised from normal people.”

“Do you know for certain that they’ve never experimented on the others?” he asks, almost gently. “Has any of the others disappeared for any amount of time, to your knowledge?”

Chloe opens her mouth, then closes it. “Look, it’s just me, a spellweaver who’s dating a Wight, the first Necromancer's little bro, her boyfriend, and her cat.” He raises an eyebrow at her. “And the second Necromancer's boyfriend and the boyfriend’s mom. I think.”

“Are you talking about Alette?” he asks, way too sharp. “Or is there another?”

It sits uneasily with her that he knows that much already, so she shifts on the bed.

“That Necromancer is very well protected,” he says, crossing his arms. “I’m not so stupid that I’m planning an attack on her, she’s killed at least three demons.”

Chloe only knows of two of them, but she’s not going to quibble on that.

“Yes, Alette,” Chloe says, instead of commenting on that.

“So no one on that list would go unnoticed if they were captured, is what you’re saying,” he says, then looks away, snaking out a little bit of his power towards the window, like he’s checking his work almost unconsciously. “Then they probably won’t be able to scan you. Unless it’s just generic ‘all magicians.’”

The very air in the room seems to shimmer with some unspoken tension, and it’s not his power, not this time, but it settles poorly in Chloe’s stomach.

“So what do you want to do right now?” Chloe asks, as brightly as she can, but her voice wobbles. “We have thirty-six hours, wanna watch a movie? This hotel probably has HBO.”

16

It’s a few hours later, when Killian almost seems to doze in the chair, and Chloe flips through the TV and settles on a generic action movie, before her phone beeps again.

GURLIEN (3:02 PM): Where are you?

Chloe inhales at the text.

CHLOE (3:02 PM): Code.

GURLIEN (3:02 PM): Ida grove.

CHLOE (3:03 PM): Charter Oak. I’m in Minnesota, why?

GURLIEN (3:04 PM): Attacks on the Atlanta base, the Fairbanks base, and a small one in North Dakota.

Chloe worries her lip, stealing a glance over at Killian, whose head rests unmoving against the back of the chair.

CHLOE (3:05 PM): All at once?

GURLIEN (3:06 PM): Coordinated.

Chloe stares down at the clinical tone, her heart pounding.

GURLIEN (3:07 PM): T stopped one at the compound.

Chloe can’t help herself, some sort of choked off noise comes from her throat, and Killian startles awake, eyes blazing.

GURLIEN (3:07 PM): No injuries, they got away, they have a teleporter.

CHLOE (3:11 PM): Are you okay? Like, beyond the no injuries, are you okay?

Three dots appear, then disappear, and that query goes unanswered.

“What is it?” Killian demands, and his power floods the room again, filling it until the very air thrums with it.

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