The bell just wouldn't stop.
GONG!
GONG!
GONG!
Each toll cut through the whole valley—loud, desperate, impossible to ignore.
Kaelira pushed herself harder. Branches scratched her cheeks. Roots tried to grab her feet. She didn’t slow down for anything. Every frantic heartbeat screamed the same thing over and over.
Please… let them be alive.
Ronan kept up behind her, barely breaking a sweat.
“Kaelira!” He shouted after her.
“Stop!”
“They’ll kill you!”
She kept running.
“They’re my family!”
“They blamed you!”
“I don’t care!”
“They cast you out!”
“They still don’t deserve to die!”
Ronan’s jaw clenched. Even now, after everything, she was running straight back to save them.
The trees fell away. And there—Black Hollow.
Kaelira stopped so fast Ronan almost slammed right into he
