Die? It didn’t seem possible. It didn’t seem real. He couldn’t die. Not like this. Not when the Reaper had been trying to kill me. For a moment, I swayed from side to side, just like the librarian had done. Then, all of my seesawing emotions, all of the pain and fear and worry I’d felt these past few weeks, disappeared into the burning ball of anger that roared to life in my chest. The Reapers had already taken my mom away from me. Nyx’s mom, Nott. Logan. They weren’t getting anyone else—not if I could help it. I shrugged off Daphne’s arm, got down on my hands and knees, and peered under the counter. “Gwen?” Daphne asked. “What are you doing?” I didn’t answer her. There was only one thing I was focused on right now—Nickamedes’s water bottle. I used the edge of my hoodie sleeve to fish the bottle out of the shadows, careful not to touch any of the water that had leaked out of it. The plastic rolled to a stop right beside the stool I always sat on whenever I was working in the library.
