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“He is.”

Harlow strode toward the stairs with Gloria and walked ahead.

“You'd better leave now.” Gloria followed the co-director. “I'll escort you to the parking lot, just to be on the safe side.”

As the voices grew fainter and fainter, I was the first to exhale audibly.

“That was close,” Larissa laughed, looking at Miles as he stepped out of the shadows toward us with a serious expression. First, he looked at his sister, then at Emely.

“Thank you.” His voice sounded overwhelmed. Perhaps it was because he had almost been discovered by two high-ranking Air Quatura. Julie had told me that these women learned how to effectively break people's necks using telekinesis.

“Don't thank me too soon.”

Emely sounded annoyed as she rushed past us without a further word.

Amulet

Angus MacRae

A moment passed as we all looked at each other in confusion, then I felt Larissa's gaze on me.

“I'm sorry, Bayla.”

“Did they mean you with the Senseque?” Miles asked quietly.

“They're holding her mother captive. That's the point.” Larissa sounded angry.

Miles nodded, and I looked at Julie, whose expression had darkened. “She shouldn't be here.”

“Who was that woman?”

Julie looked at Larissa, her expression rigid.

“Gloria.”

My best friend's eyes widened. “That was Gloria?”

“Are you coming now?” We all turned at the same time to Emely, who was holding Alarik's office door open. “If you stand there any longer, you might as well accompany Harlow to her office when she comes back.”

With that, we started moving, and I nodded my thanks to Emely before slipping through the gap in the door.

After we all had entered Alarik's office, Emely closed the door behind us.

The candles lit themselves, and Miles flinched.

“Wow.” He looked visibly startled as he scanned the room, then the candle holders. “Can someone turn those off?”

Larissa used her thumb and index finger to pinch out one of the little lights, but shortly after the flame was extinguished, a new one appeared.

“What the...” Larissa whispered, and Julie's eyes widened in fascination.

“Storage practices.” She paced around the room. “An ancient practice that allows an element to be stored in objects. But I wonder...” In front of one of the candlesticks, she came to a stop and eyed one of the flames as if it were a phenomenon to be explored. “...why here at Vanderwood.”

“Such things exist?” Miles sounded suspicious as he touched another candle flame with both fingers, trying to extinguish it, but quickly withdrew his fingers and shook his hand with a pained expression.

Larissa grinned gleefully.

I stared at his fingers, where the skin appeared reddened. But in the next instant... the redness disappeared.