Ronan stumbled. The memory filled his mind but as soon as he pushed it away, others came up to take its place.

He cleared out trash and from his BMW, working as fast as he could. His body was shutting down. The black ooze that ran down his eyes and nose told him that, but he could feel the energy leaving him.

"It's like you want it," Adam said.

"No." Ronan thought he'd yelled it but the word came out as a harsh whisper.

He blinked to clear his eyes some more. He focused on Elle. "Yeah, I'm not always this ugly. Let's get the fuck out of here and then I'll deal with my face."

He grabbed his sword from where he dropped it and held out his hand to Elle. He didn't want her to fall without him realizing until he was too far away to help.

Behind him, the raven took flight without waiting for Ronan.