I stare at the bag wedged between my knees and wonder if I’ll ever stop running.

Roy unbuckles his seat belt, angling toward me in his seat. “Listen, lad, I know this is tough. None of it’s your fault, though, you hear me? It’s just…well, rotten luck.”

“Yeah,” I say. “I get a lot of that.”

Before he can respond, I wrench open the truck door and leap out, towing my bag after me.

“Hold on,” Roy says. “I’ll come in with you.”

“Don’t,” I reply. “I know what I’m doing.”

Slamming the door, I trudge up to the visitor’s entrance, where the only light flickers and groans.

A dark-skinned woman with tight black curls and a round, kindly face is sitting behind the counter when I enter. She wears a Star of David necklace and is shifting through an assortment of crystals. The room smells lightly of incense and is neat and clean with dark upholstery and stained glass, like an old Irish pub.

“Are you Colin?” she asks in a richly timbered voice, already reaching for a room key. “Room’s paid through,” she adds when I dig into my pocket in hopes of finding cash.

“No magic or supernatural visitors in the rooms.” She taps a crystal with a wink. “I’ll know. Room’s down the hall to the left. Name’s Alice if you need anything.”

I take the key from her. “Thanks.”

I step back into the chill night air to find Roy waiting for me with an overnight bag. He catches my confused expression. “You didn’t think we were going to leave you here alone, did you?”

“Why not? Everyone else did.” The words are out before I can stop them. But it’s true. I’m sick of being left behind.

Roy doesn’t seem to know what to say, so I follow the corridor to the room. Inside are two queen beds bracketed by nightstands, a low dresser with a TV, and a bathroom. I toss my bag on a bed and pick up a takeout menu someone left on the nightstand.

Half an hour later and we each have a steaming carton with a hamburger and fries. Roy devours his, but as I sit on the bed, the heat of the food seeping out of the carton and into my hands, my appetite is gone.

All I want is to be sitting in the ballroom at Ravenfall, drinking Wish Cider and laughing with Anna. But I know I made the right decision. Staying there put her and her family in danger, and if I’ve learned anything the last few weeks, it’s that people die around me. First my parents, maybe Liam, too, and now Max’s friend.

Being around me is dangerous—especially when I can’t even use my powers.