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"Thanks for asking me" Nadia didn’t seem to knohat to do with her hands all of a sudden, so she stuffed the?"

Mateo opened his ed "Great Terrible Both at once, most of the time"

"Yeah I kno that feels"

For another moment they just stared at each other This orse than the few haunted glances they’d exchanged in the halls at school, on the days when Mateo bothered to show up Then Mateo finally said, "Come on Let’s walk"

They went to the shoreline, where the sand was no longer loose enough to drag against their shoes but packed hard by the departing tide The ground underneath was still soft enough to hold the faint impressions of their footsteps, side by side

"The worst part is what I feel when I see Elizabeth," Mateo said, staring out to sea "I didn’t know I could hate like that Maybe I have the right to hate her, but inside it feels like--it feels like that sky looks"

He pointed upward All Nadia could see was an ordinary gray sky, but she knew Mateo’s Steadfast ability showed him its true nature "Describe it to me"

"It boils With a filone too hot on the stove Except whatever this is drains the light Sucks it in It’s like watching poison poured over us all, over and over again Be glad you can’t see it, Nadia"

She was But she wouldn’t say so Her spell had done this to him; that meant what he had to see was her responsibility, and alould be

He continued, "But there’s a good part, too"

"Yeah?"

It took Mateo awhile to find the words--a long silence between the of the waves and the shrieking of gulls "I don’t know if I can make you understand what it’s like to know that I’m not crazy That the visions are true No ht it At least, I can if you help me"

Their eyes met; as one, they slowed their steps and simply faced each other Nadia finally said, "Does that mean you--you trust me?"

"I have to"

It was like another slap in the face, but how could she blame him?

Then Mateo added, "And you’ll have to decide whether or not to trust lanced down at the sand, breaking eye contact, like he was asha"