Page 103 of The Fallen Kingdom

Lena’s smile disappears. “Those pages are why I betrayed the Morrigan.”

“Could we destroy the curse?” I swallow hard. “Rewrite it?”

A violentboom!in the distance. Something falling and shattering downstairs. Kiaran urgently calling for me.

Hurry.

The look Lena gives me holds so much sadness that it’s more than I can bear. “As it begins in death, so shall it end in death, until the day a child of the Cailleach confronts their fate with a true lie on their lips and sacrifices that which they prize most: their heart.”

“I know that.” I try to keep my voice patient.

“Then you know what has to be done,” she says. “What you have to do. It was clear from your memories.”

I frown. “What are you talking about?”

Before Lena can reply, the bedroom windows shatter. Glass crashes to the floor and the whole building sways. I’m jerked back violently, my shoulder smashing into the wall.

Lena pushes to her feet, her expression frantic. She nearly loses her balance. “We have to go.” Her eyes are deep, deep pools. “She’s coming.”

CHAPTER 45

IGRIP LENA’Shand and pull her down the quaking staircase.

Plaster falls from the ceiling and a sudden crack in the foundations almost makes me lose my footing. Lena pitches forward and I yank her back. The paintings sway on their hooks around us. Somewhere down the hall, a mirror shatters on the ground.

Kiaran looks up with relief as we enter the antechamber. Dimly, I notice the others aren’t there; they must have stayed outside. “Cutting it close, Kam,” he says.

“You know me. If it’s not close, it’s not exciting.” I gesture to the girl with my head. “This is Lena. Lena, this is Kiaran. There’s the front door. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

We rush out of the house and down the front steps. Alarm goes through me when I see the other houses in the square are falling, crumbling. One after another after another, like buildings made of sand instead of stone.

Bam!I look over my shoulder just as Number Six—my beautiful childhood home—collapses to the ground. Dust and debris explode around us. I pull Lena with me across the street where the others are waiting and watching with wide, frightened eyes.

They only look slightly relieved when they see us coming—except Sorcha, who looks irritated, but what else is new?

“You’re just in time for the apocalypse,” Sorcha says.

“She is such a treasure,” Gavin mutters.

I tug a blade out of my wrist sheath and toss it to Sorcha. “Shut up and slice open your skin before I do it myself.”

Sorcha is about to make a cut across her palm when she’s shoved by an unseen force that sends her crashing into the cobblestones. I spin, but there’s no one behind me but the others.

Catherine’s wide eyes flicker to something beside me. “Aileana!”

Something slams into me. I’m thrown into the air, my body rolling and skidding painfully across the pavement. My arm smacks hard against a fallen piece of rubble. When I look up—stunned, unfocused, my vision blurring—I only see Aithinne.

When her eyes meet mine, they’re the bright, vivid blue of the Morrigan. She’s possessed Aithinne’s body.

And she’s heading right for Lena. “All I had to do was follow her until I found you,” she says to Lena in Aithinne’s voice. Lena cringes away, her back pressed against the lamppost. “All along I thought you’d just been here hiding with my Book. But I recognize my spells on your skin, my devious little fawn. How clever you are.”

Kiaran lunges for the Morrigan with his sword out, swiping her across the arm—just enough to distract her. “Run!” he tells Lena.

The Morrigan smacks his sword away and slams her fist into his face. She holds him down with her powers. Lena tries to run, but thorny vines break up through the cobblestones, so quickly that she doesn’t have time to flee. They wrap around her and pin her into place. Her eyes are wide with panic as she struggles against the vines.

At the edge of the square, Catherine moves to intervene, but Gavin and Daniel hold her back. I shake my head wildly.Don’t. She’s too powerful.

The Morrigan in Aithinne’s body seems so much taller, larger than life. A goddess wearing the skin of a lesser being.

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