I blinked at the spot on the porch, my heart racing empty beats at the place Kason should've been. He'd gone outside the house, so had the poppies affected him before Claudia's blue spiral had done much damage? Or was he lying in bed while the life seeped out of him? A choked moan pushed between my clenched lips.

Please don't be dead, Kason.

Claudia looked on at the open doorway with her one dangling eye as if she could sense the magic contained within. She ...