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Mercy looks at me.
“Don’t make me into some chosen savior.”
Her smile grows. “I wasn’t.”
“Good.”
“You’re far too irritating.”
“Thank you.”
She looks at Ezra again. “Live.”
He closes his eyes then Mercy turns to Rhett. “Try not to murder anyone.”
“No promises.”
“Rhett.”
“Fine. Fewer people.”
She laughs, then Malakai. Her face softens. “You always listened to the Earth.”
He nods.
“What does it say now?” she asks.
Malakai looks around.
Dead field. Ash. Silence. Then his expression changes.
“What?”
He kneels. Presses his palm to the soil. His brow furrows. “Sage.”
“What?”
He looks at me. “The land isn’t dead.”
My stomach drops.
“Please don’t say anything terrifying.”
“It isn’t.”
“Your definition of terrifying is questionable.”
He digs his fingers into the soil and pulls something out. A tiny green shoot.
I stare. “No.”
Malakai smiles. “This is normal.”
“Normal?”
“Normal.”
I crouch. One tiny plant. No teeth. No blood. No screaming. Just green. I touch it and nothing happens.
