Last Christmas (Private 0.60)

his dark, wet head, and pushed. Pushed with all her strength. He struggled for a moment. Just for a moment.

But he was weak. And before long he slipped silently underneath the ice. His eyes dark, unblinking, stared up

at her from under the glassy gray surface. And then he was gone. Vanished. As if he had never existed.

A thin film of new ice was forming over the hole he'd fallen through. She stared at her reflection in the icy

water, sinking into the silence that hung heavy over the clearing. A strange warmth settled over her as she sat

on the ice.

It had been so easy. She had taken control back. She'd get to keep Billings, her mother, Thomas. She'd have

time to figure it all out perfectly. And with that thought, her mind was finally calm. Free. The voices had

quieted.

All but one.

"Ariana!" Thomas's voice boomed across the lake, and she glanced up to see him limping toward her. "W

hat

happened? Where's Sergei?"

"Stay there!" she yelled. "The ice isn't thick enough!"

Thomas froze, and she pushed herself slowly across the ice, careful to stay low. When she reached him at the

edge of the lake, she wrapped her arms around his legs, squeezing them tight. He was here. And they were

safe.

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EVERYTHING

***"We have to get out of here. Now," Ariana rasped, grabbing Thomas and pulling him back toward

campus. Away from the lake. Away from Sergei's body.

"Ariana." He grabbed her arm, refused to let her run. "You have to tell me what happened out there."

She searched his face. Took in his furrowed brow, the way his mouth twitched slightly. He could never know

the truth. He wouldn't understand.

"He grabbed me. He ... he tried to hit me," she said. There was a waver in her voice. Good. It sounded like she

was scared, trembling. Really, she was waiting. Waiting for the gravity of what had just happened to weigh

her down, drag her under. Waiting for the guilt to suffocate her. Just waiting for the calm to break. Waiting to

feel.

But all she felt was ...peace. It had been so easy. All her problems gone-just like that.

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