“What is this?” I ask, gazing around at the black flames surrounding us.
“A trick I wasn’t sure I could pull off,” he says against my ear. “We’re between. Not fully here but not fully gone.”
“How long can you hold it?”
“Long enough.” He turns me in his arms so I’m facing him. Exhaustion is carved into his features, and his breathing is shallow, each inhale barely lifting his chest. His eyes are bloodshot, and the hollows beneath them look like bruises. But his jaw is set. His gaze is steady. Because underneath all of it, he’s still Logan Ashford, and he’s willing to do anything to keep me safe. “I need to tell you something, and I need you to listen. Really, truly listen.”
“Okay.” I hold my breath, knowing I’m not going to like whatever’s coming next.
“I’ve never traveled back this far before. Now I’ve done it three times with another person in tow, and I don’t think I havemore than one trip left in me. The next timeline is the one that will stick.” His forehead drops to rest against mine, his skin slick with sweat.
One more chance.
One more loop.
And then forever.
“The first timeline.” My brain’s already racing, sorting through memories of four different nightmares, but they’re bleeding into each other, and I can barely remember which deaths happened in which loop. “Or the second. They had the most survivors.”
“Yes.”
“So we combine them. We do an early warning like the second loop. I save Sam, Elizabeth, and Francis. I watch for Nina, Vera, and everyone who died in ways I could have stopped if I’d known what was coming.”
“Jade.” His hand cups my face, tilting it up. “If it goes wrong again, don’t pull lightning from the sky. Fire travel to the cliffs instead, where I brought you in the first loop.”
“No.”
“Please—”
“No way in hell.” I pull back, anger flaring hot and bright. “I’m not hiding on a cliff while my friends get slaughtered. Because that’s what the Council members did, isn’t it? Helen and Tobias were here, and I haven’t seen them in any of the timelines. But we’re better than they are, and I’m not leaving everyone to die, and nothing couldeverconvince me otherwise.”
Black flames sputter around us, thinning at the edges.
Logan’s mouth curves into a small, knowing smile that makes my heart do stupid things.
“You’re going to pull lightning from the sky in front of everyone.” It’s not a question.
“If that’s what it takes to save them, then yes.”
“The Council will find out about your magic. You won’t be safe here. You won’t be safeanywhere.”
“I know.”
He nods, resignation passing through his tired gray eyes. “The second the hellhounds are down, get to the passages. I’ll handle things here. Then I’ll meet you at our door, the one at Phoenix Hall, as soon as I can.”
“I love you.” The words tear out of me. “Whatever happens, whatever timeline we end up in, I love you.”
He pulls me closer, and even drained and exhausted, he holds me like he’ll never let go. “I love you more than anything. Remember that, always.”
“I will.” I rest my head on his chest and brace myself for the vortex.
Instead, the flames flicker in and out. There’s only Logan’s arms around me, the muted screaming beyond the dark, and the possibility that he’s burned through everything.
“No.” My hands fist in his shirt, electricity surging up my arms. “You don’t get to strand us here. You don’t get to?—”
Lightning arcs from my palms into his chest, and a black wall of fire ignites around us. It’s flickering and thin, but it’sthere,and Logan shudders against me so hard I feel it in my bones, his skin warming everywhere my electricity touches.
His arms lock around me as the world tilts and spins, and for one final time, we’re pulled into the vortex.
