Surprisingly, I turned out to be an okay bird hunter, though I would never tell Jo that.

At the thought of her, I quickened my pace along the stone bridge. I wished I knew what was happening with her, if she was still safely tucked away inside her house surrounded by hawthorn twigs and lilac petals to keep everything horrible away from her and Cal, if she knew yet that I had failed and that the Core had opened. Would she ever forgive me for the part I played to destroy the ...