Page 342

KEEPER.

Still there.

But beneath it, something new appears.

A tiny symbol.

Three circles around a seed.

I look through the windshield and all three stop at exactly the same time. They look at their palms. The red seeds beneath their skin pulse. Once.

Mine answers. Once.

Nobody speaks.

Rhett slowly looks at me. “Well.”

“No.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Don’t.”

Malakai looks toward Ward Farm as smoke rises into the pink morning sky. His face changes.

“Kai?”

He listens then looks at me.

“What?”

His eyes drop not to the farm to my stomach.

My blood freezes.

“Kai.”

He comes closer slowly and puts his palm against the car window. “Sage.”

“What?”

His expression isn’t afraid.

That’s worse.

“What do you hear?”

He looks into my eyes and whispers “Growing.”

My stomach moves.

Once. Slow and deep.

I stop breathing.

“No.”

The three seeds in their hands glow. My mark burns. And somewhere beneath my ribs… a fourth heartbeat begins.