Chapter 11 The Confession

• Thalia dropped to her knees beside him without a second thought, ignoring the damp earth soaking through her skirt, hands hovering uselessly over a body that seemed to be fighting some invisible war she couldn't see the shape of.
• "Talk to me," she said, voice shaking now despite her effort to sound calm. "Gideon, please, tell me what to do."
• Somewhere in the distance a dog began barking, agitated by something in the air that ordinary senses could not quite name, and the wind through the trees above them seemed to hold an odd, listening stillness, as though the whole valley had paused to watch whether this particular fold of time would hold or shatter.