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"Exactly."

"With me!" Again.

We run. Not elegant. People slipping. Smoke.

Bodies. A professor crouched over someone. Someone praying. A dragon roaring so loudly my teeth hurt. At the next intersection, two orders collide.

"GO EAST!"

"NO, WEST!"

Students stop. Fatal.

"STOP WAITING!" I shout. Heads turn. "INNER EAST! ARCHIVE CORRIDOR!"

"Who said?" A second-year asks.

"I DID." Maybe that shouldn't be enough. It is. They follow. I don't think about why.

We reach the archive corridor. Door jammed. Fuck.

Cassian kicks. Nothing. Nyra tries magic. Weak.

Everything is weaker. Of course.

"Back." I use shoulder. Pain. Again. Nothing.

A wolf student joins. Together. One. Two. Three. Door gives. People move through. Count. Count. Count. Never stop counting. Sixteen of mine.

Plus Tide. Plus random students. Thirty? More.

"Don't chase!" Someone breaks toward a Hollowborn retreating down the side hall. I grab him.

"He killed—"

"I don't care." His face twists. Wrong words. No time.

"Chase him and he kills you too." That works. Barely.

We move.

At the inner east stair, the smoke thins. Good. Bad. I can see more. Bodies. There are bodies everywhere.

Some white-eyed. Some Academy. Some village.

Some I know. Some I don't.

A girl lies against the wall. First-year. Still alive.

Hands pressed to her abdomen. Blood through fingers. "Help." One word.

We stop. No. Not all. Can't stop all.

"Mira!" Medical. She comes. "With me." We move the girl. She screams.

Sorry.

Sorry.