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So hot and needy flashed in his eyes and he lurched forward so that ere only inches apart "I saw you kiss hioodbye to hie hands and held ers bit into ainst his chest My , ever-constant presence He glanced at theaze to mine

"You’re"He’d better not touch you again"

"He won’t," I proive hih, but I couldn’t do anything but tell him the truth Tristan and I were over It was only Seth It was probably only ever Seth

"I’ed voice "I swear to you, I will try to kill you"

"I know" And a tear slipped from the corner of one

My breath caught as I slipped in the air but I quickly rightedto the ground, letting the iiving up But I couldn’t And not just for me

For Seth too

I moved with my loved ones and we made our way back to America, then Nebraska and finally home We were as sloe could be on the way ho attention to ourselves Still, there was an earnestness to get Jupiter horavel drive silently It was just past ht and vast as they stretched out from one end of the horizon to the next I paused and looked at theht from such a distance; for the help they could never offer me; for their far-removed existence that didn’t even touch the chaos I lived in

We fought the same battle, but it felt infinitely different We shared a common enemy, but I was not like therasp the concept of the bigger picture in , no conflict, no battle, no torment existed except Seth and his heavy presence in my world

Even Aliah paled in comparison to the man I loved and the destruction of what should have been a perfect love I hated that he was so far away from me, but at the same time I needed him to stay away

I hated that I loved him while he was like this; at the sa that would save hi inside the house drew h the front door that was left ajar to watchroom table Whatever had been on there had been swept to the floor and Serena was running into the other roo items as my mom shouted instructions

Nate andthe swords fro since passed out, so I prayed he didn’t feel the jerking and tugging as the ed with a bright, ale flowed from his body and ht in

I watched in horrified fascination as they worked on Jupiter’s body His skin was sickly pale, but the blood was so bright, so hot Where it dripped on the table it sizzled into beads My mom’s hands weren’t bothered by the heat, but the toere stea

If he were a Warrior, this wouldn’t be a fatal wound; he would already be healing But he wasn’t a Warrior He wasn’t even human I realized he outlived most humans by hundreds and hundreds of years but I had no idea how resilient he was to this kind of blood loss

Eventually Serena ran out of a job and walked over toher arm around my shoulders she led me out to the front porch Wordlessly she sat down on the porch steps and I followed si while we just stared up at the sky and watched the stars twinkle above us Eventually she let out a long sigh and said, "I h escaped h I felt a serious detachht now I probably should have been worried about how my body seemed to shut down and block the torrent of pain and heartache I should be going through On the other hand, it actually felt kind of nice to be separated fro heartache

It felt like survival

"It’s siuys are bad guys, good guys are bright, fiery balls of Light There’s no confusion in who to kill, who to save Evil is always evil and goodness always, always looks exactly like it should"

I stared at et to the point

Hopefully she had a point

"I’ here," she adh or stab herback broke free and the hot tears were falling frolanced down atsurprised by my show of emotion A little aardly, she did put her arm back aroundher head on top of mine she said, "You were built for this world, Stella You are equipped with the right emotions and defenses to deal with all of this I wouldn’t have spared Seven’s life today And I wouldn’t have spared Seth’s You are for this world, for the people that live here They couldn’t have chosen a better Star"

"You say that, but if it were Nate-"

"If Nate were trying to kill er in possession of his soul, I would not hesitate It ht kill me, but I would not hesitate"