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Now he was real, and she was real, and they were together. No matter what nightmare explanation there was, what mistakes made in blood and darkness when their mothers were young, this year was better than the last.
Jared’s eyes had closed. Kami reached out, seeing her hand tremble in the shadow and moonlight, and stroked his hair very, very lightly. She traced the curling ends of his hair with her fingertips and murmured, “I’m here now. You’re safe with me.”
She lay down beside him. She curled close into the warmth of his body, not quite touching, listening to his breathing smooth out and become easy and regular. They spent the night together, safe.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Waking the Woods
Kami’s eyes opened and she stretched, both reflexive moves that woke her up a good deal faster than usual. The stretch brought her body into contact with Jared’s, lightly touching all along one side. It was very strange to be so fiercely aware of one edge of your body.
Jared was lying propped up on one arm, looking down at her. Good morning, he said silently, and the two things fused together, the voice in her head and the boy in her bed. They almost seemed natural.
Good morning, said Kami. You look better. She should have spoken aloud. It was too intimate, morning sunlight and rumpled sheets and silence. It made Jared think—or perhaps she was the one who thought it—of when they were fourteen.
There were thoughts you couldn’t help having at fourteen, thoughts they couldn’t help sharing. Kami thought of them now and felt the blood wash hot into her face.
He was real now, and looking down at her, lying close beside her. The mattress dipped under his weight, so her body inclined naturally toward his. She touched his mind and saw his intense focus on her, their minds mirrors reflecting back on each other. The shape of him was encompassable, potentially knowable, and yet terrifying and strange. She could map out the muscles and planes of his shoulders under her palms. It was possible.
Kami thought she could reach up and slide her palm up the nape of his neck, and as she thought that, she heard his breath catch.
On that sound, the door opened, and Jared threw himself backward off the bed.
“What the hell is going on?” demanded Kami’s dad, advancing with his black eyes snapping.
Jared blurted, “My intentions are honorable.”
Kami sat up straight in her bed and stared in Jared’s direction. “Are you completely crazy?” she wanted to know. “This isn’t the eighteenth century. How do you think that’s going to help?”
“Well, I mean,” Jared said, back against the wall like a cornered animal. “When we’re older. I mean—”
“Please shut up,” Kami begged.
“I agree with Kami,” said Dad. “When you’re in an abyss-like hole, quit digging.” He did look marginally amused now, rather than homicidal. “Ash Lynburn, I presume.”
Jared made a face. “I’m the other one.”
“Oh,” said Kami’s father. “The one with the motorcycle? In my daughter’s bedroom. At an ungodly hour of the morning. Fantastic. What was that about your intentions again?”
“I’m just going to go,” Jared decided.
“Might be best,” said Dad.
“She isn’t seeing Ash.”
“She talks for herself,” Kami announced loudly. “Or rather, she doesn’t talk about things like that with her father, ever, at any time. And neither should anyone else.”
“So, I really must be going,” Jared resumed. “I have to be … somewhere else.”
That was when Kami realized something that should have been obvious before. Jared really was completely better. He looked uncomfortable, but other than that he was his normal color, not holding himself with any trace of pain. His thoughts hummed along hers unchecked, not hiding any pain.
People didn’t get sick like that, or recover like this, but her mother had said the Lynburns were not people.
Jared glanced at Dad, then back at Kami, and said, “I’ll call you later.”
You have never called me once in the entirety of your life, said Kami. I’ll talk to you in a few minutes.
Jared nodded to her dad, who watched him with narrowed eyes as he went past. Kami heard Jared’s steps going down the stairs before her father shut the door and cut the sound off.
