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Beside me, Azaren made a suspicious little sound. "Hm."

I glanced toward the shimmering distortion that followed me through the hallway. "What?"

"Hmm." He sounded far too innocent. "Nothing."

I narrowed my eyes. "You know something."

"I know many things."

"About the virus?"

"I know many... unrelated things."

Definitely guilty. Not that I had the energy to interrogate an ancient demon about hospital IT.

Outside, the evening air was blissfully cool. The last streaks of orange faded behind the trees surrounding Screaming Woods. I stretched, rolling the knot from my shoulders.

"So..." I remembered. "Mrs. Wilton wanted us to find Moonbell Blossoms at twilight."

Azaren sighed dramatically. "Right. The flowers."

"You don't sound excited."

"They're not flowers."

Not flowers?

"They're a diagnostic tool."

"...A what?"

"They bloom where the boundaries between realms are weakest."

I frowned. "So..."

"If Mrs. Wilton believes Moonbells are blooming tonight..." His expression darkened. "...she isn't sending us to gather ingredients."

My stomach tightened.

"She's sending us to find the tear."

The tear. Somehow I'd managed not to think about that since leaving her cottage.

I put more courage into my next words than I felt. "No time like the present."

We started toward the forest. He was still invisible. Mostly. Every few steps, though, I caught it. A shimmer. Like heat rising off asphalt. Gone almost before I could focus on it.

I stopped. "Was that always there?"

"What?"

"The flickering."

The shimmer disappeared instantly. "No."

I folded my arms. "You hesitated."

"I did not."