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And then…

Nothing.

Everything stops.

The pressure vanishes.

The swelling beneath my shirt collapses so quickly I feel my own body drop with it. The black lines beneath my skin fade one after another until there isn’t a single root left.

I stare down at myself.

Normal.

My stomach is flat.

My skin is mine.

Even the wet red stain across my shirt dries before my eyes, crumbling into fine dust that scatters across my body.

Like none of it happened.

I lie there shaking so violently my teeth knock together.

“What the fuck?”

Ezra drops beside me.

His hand hovers over my stomach before his eyes meet mine.

I nod.

He presses his palm against me.

Nothing moves.

Nothing kicks.

Nothing answers.

His shoulders loosen for half a second.

Malakai ruins it.

“The Harvest is preparing her.”

Rhett turns on him. “For what?”

Malakai doesn’t answer immediately.

His gaze moves from me to the ancient table.

Then the altar.

Then the torn-open Earth beneath it.

When he looks back at me, there’s something close to dread in his face. “To grow.”

The Harvest raises one hand.