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"I can do this," he said stiffly. I nodded and turned back around.<br />
The basement door squeaked when I opened it, and I grimaced at the sound. Scarcely daring to<br />
breathe, I stood perfectly still at the top of the stairs, waiting and listening. The house and its<br />
eccentric decorating looked the same as when we'd been brought in. Dark blinds covered all of<br />
the windows, but along the edges, I could see bright light peeping in. Sunshine had never tasted<br />
so sweet as it did at that moment. Getting to it meant freedom.<br />
There were no sounds, no movements. Looking around, I tried to remember where the front<br />
door was. It was on the other side of the house—really not far in the grand scheme of things but<br />
a gaping chasm at the moment.<br />
"Scout with me," I whispered to Mason, hoping to make him feel better about bringing up the<br />
rear.<br />
He let Eddie lean on Mia for a moment and stepped forward with me to do a quick sweep of the<br />
main living area. Nothing. The path was clear from here to the front door. I exhaled in relief.<br />
Mason took hold of Eddie again, and we moved forward, all of us tense and nervous. God. We<br />
were going to do this, I realized. We were really going to do this. I couldn't believe how lucky<br />
we'd gotten. We'd been so close to disaster—and had just barely made it through. It was one of<br />
those moments that made you appreciate your life and want to turn things around. A second<br />
chance you swear you won't let go to waste. A realization that—<br />
I heard them move almost at the same time I saw them step in front of us. It was like a magician<br />
conjured Isaiah and Elena out of thin air. Only, I knew there was no magic involved this time.<br />
Strigoi just moved that quickly. They must have been in one of the other main floor rooms that<br />
we'd assumed were empty—we hadn't wanted to waste the extra time looking. I raged at myself<br />
internally for not having checked out every inch of the whole floor. Somewhere, in the back of<br />
my memory, I heard myself taunting my mother in Stan's class: "It seems to me like you guys<br />
messed up. Why didn't you scope out the place and make sure it was clear of Strigoi in the first<br />
place? Seems like you could have saved yourself a lot of trouble."<br />
Karma's a real bitch.
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