Ralph continued running, and Dante jerked the gun out of my shaking hands.
“Now learn,” he said, his voice low. His eyes were more angry this time, darker, as though something had finally burst in him and he was draining all the darkness he had hidden up there to the very last drop.
I stood paralyzed, my body resisting but my head screaming that I should do something of any sort. My heart was thumping loudly. The burden of it all sank on me. I didn't want anybody to die because of me. I wouldn't be able to bear another murder on my conscience.
So I pushed him. Hard.
I touched his chest with my palms and a moment later I could feel the warm solidness of him before he fell backwards. The gun fired with a roaring crack that startled my ears and my entire body. The bullet lodged in the gr
