Aurora peeked her head around the door and waited for the woman at the desk to notice. After a moment, Isabella looked up from her screen. Her crystal blue eyes went wide. She immediately jumped from her chair and nearly knocked Aurora over.

“Here's how this is going to go,” Raeth said. “You're going to put down that little ticking time-bomb of an apocalypse you're holding there.” They took a step closer. “I'm going to pick it up.” Another step. “And then you're going to run like hell.”

That first morning, my brain was numb and full of cobwebs. I had slept all through the night, but it was if I hadn't slept for days. I wasn't tired though, not precisely. Someone had just taken sandpaper to the inside of my skull and forgotten to clean up after themselves.

She was on fire inside, but her limbs were bound with fatigue. Her heart burned and her lungs seized up. Every part of her mind wanted to escape, to do something to relieve the pain. But she could barely move.