Page 45 of Abducting Sarah

“Not as fast.”

“Understandable.” I held my cup out for more banwine and he poured, “Thank you. Have you heard from Fan and Bell lately?”

Gram shook his head. “Not in over a month.”

Not a good sign.

“Why is Deacon’s consort coming to Halla?” Gram asked.

“It’s a long and stupid story. But she’s a human and she is also—”

“He united with a human?” Gram’s eyes went wide with shock.

“Yeah, but she’s notjusta human, she’s a—”Conduit.

Shit.Realization hit me, and I dropped the big glass and ran back to my onworlder. Gram didn’t wait for an invitation—he jumped on behind me, gripping my waist for safety.

He shouted over the motor, “She’s what?”

“In trouble,” I hollered back.

I couldn’t shout what she was—a human conduit—not if the other conduits were spying on Gram because then Sarah’s life would be in bigger, mortal danger.

The motor smoked because I had it cranked all the way up, but I wasn’t about to slow down for anything. Part of me wanted to pray to the conduits that she was safe, but that felt wrong in light of everything Gram had said and how evil so many of themhad become. I pulled in front of Valor’s cabin and ran past the garden into the house, with Gram close behind.

I didn’t see Sarah anywhere, but I did find Deacon. “Where is Sarah?” I asked in an urgent tone. I desperately needed to see for myself that she was okay.

Deacon frowned at me. “Jac, what’s—”

“Where?” I demanded.

“In the toilet room,” he said, annoyed with my tone. “What is going on?”

“And Predict?”

“I don’t know. She’s around somewhere—”

Sarah came from the hallway and her smile lit up as soon as she saw me. “Jac, you’re back. Why do you look so odd?”

I panted my relief and took a half a breath before I saw Predict behind Sarah in the hallway, a sharp bone knife in a falling, arcing hand toward Deacon’s consort.She knew what Sarah was and planned to murder her.

Without hesitation, I ran forward, knocking Sarah out of Predict’s reach. The knife sliced through my chest and hit something sensitive, almost frying out my nerves as it embedded deep into my skin. I hissed in pain. I couldn’t think anymore—only the searing agony existed.

Thankfully, I had already begun to swing on Predict before she had stabbed me, and I knocked her into the wall and off balance. Valor lunged around me, stabbing Predict in the throat with his own bone knife.

Predict tried to scream and couldn’t, the fucking bitch. I fell to the ground next to her, our eyes locked in a deathly gaze, which is exactly what I wished for her. To fucking die.

My vision faded as I wheezed, “Is Sarah hurt?”

The last thing I remembered was her scream and the fear that I had failed her.

CHAPTER 14

Deacon

The peal of Sarah’s scream enraged me as she fell to the floor. I was on my knees next to her without a second thought. “Are you hurt?”

She started to hyperventilate. “Jac—he’s—oh god!”

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