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Ezra looks irritated. “I mean because things were different.”

“Sure.”

“They were.”

“Mm-hmm.”

I bite the inside of my cheek.

Malakai has no such restraint. “You’re jealous.”

Ezra turns. “I am not jealous.”

Sage looks at me.

I shake my head. “Very jealous.”

“Fuck both of you.”

Mariah whispers to Ali, “This is the weirdest night of my life.”

Ali nods. “By a lot.”

Sage crosses her arms. “So you tried to save her.”

“Yes.”

“What happened?”

This time nobody wants to answer.

Finally, Malakai does. “We interrupted the ritual.”

“And?”

“It punished us.”

“How?”

I straighten. “Ezra became the Sower.”

She looks at him.

“Rhett became the Reaper.”

Her eyes find mine.

“And Malakai became the Tiller.”

She turns toward him. “And the Bride?”

Silence.

Her voice softens. “What happened to her?”

Malakai looks toward the floor. “The Earth took her.”

Sage’s face loses color. “Alive?”