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“I’m Mira. I’m here with Rome and Kerry.”

“Kerry? I want to see him. Where is he? Where’s my boy?”

“Can’t you hear him?” Grinning as an explosion rattled the wooden beams overhead, she looped an arm around me and helped me stand.

“Is he okay? Is Kerry okay?” I tried to get my eyes focused and shuffled my feet faster. “And the others?”

“Yeah. Everyone’s okay. They’re together and fighting some demons that musta followed you down from City of the Future.”

“Anne.” My thinker decided it was going to work for a bit as we staggered toward the door. “Did you rescue Anne, too?”

“Anne? I dunno about an Anne, but there was a girl who Spin called Monkey.”

“Yes. Castle said … rescue her, too. She’s … a muse. Tell Spin. She’s—”

A wave of dizziness made everything whirl. I sagged against her.

“Castle? Samuel Castle? That’s not good.” Mira practically dragged me along now. “Did you know he’s the one who tortured Kerry’s mother? Rome said he did it to make Kerry invite the demon in and that’s how he got possessed. And he was just a little kid at the time.”

Thank God Mira was a big, strong girl. Otherwise, in my shock, I would have taken us both down.

“If he was your captor, why did he ask you to rescue Anne?” She adjusted her hold on me and got us moving again. “That doesn’t make sense. Maybe you’re confused?”

“He let me escape … to rescue her.”

“You can tell the story later. Listen, I’m gonna carry you. We can go faster that way.”

“I just … want to see … Kerry.”

My sweet Kerry. My fierce tiger.

As she slung me up into a fireman’s carry, I fumbled the worn and blood-stained index car. It flitted from my fingers and wafted away.

“Wait! My light!”

“Can’t stop. Sorry.” Her voice shook a little. “I’m carrying some taint and it burns to be in here. Lemme get you out and Rome or someone can come back for it. I promise we won’t just leave it here.”

She carried me out the front door right as the sun rose and bathed us in pale gold. Everything was fading for me, though. In an effort to stay conscious, I hung across her shoulders and recited all the things I wanted to say to Kerry.

“Tell him I love him. Sorry … I hurt him. Don’t give up … on me. Always be my one … and … only—” My vision tunneled into darkness.

“You can tell him yourself,” said a faraway voice. “You’ll see him in a minute.”

I smiled.

#

Rome

It wasn’t going exactly according to our plan.

I’d met up with the others and directed them to meet John as planned, but Chance had fought against leaving. Thinking fast, I’d sent Gigi along to wait until John was healed, then teleport Chance and herself back. She’d also given John my message to hold off on fetching Chessie for now, but to get the rest out.

“What are those?”

I followed Chance’s pointing finger to see what had rattled him.

“Djinn.” I turned and spat over one shoulder, the word like poison in my mouth. “This is going to get ugly.”

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