Page 29 (1/2)

‘No one else is going to want you’

I wince, and lurch for Kieran, hugging hi

"Isis?" He shouts "Are you okay?"

"I’h "I’et you soh the crowd and out to the front of the club I shoot a look at the bouncer as we pass

"I’m not thirty-three," I blurt

"I know," he rolls his eyes

Kieran eases me onto the steps I shiver whencircle of people Kieran sees it and asp for air, choking on nothing and everything at the sa at the star-studded sky When the pressure is a little less and the world isn’t so bright, I form words

"I’o…back in and have fun This is not fun This is hs

"Yeah I am A little faster than most people"

Kieran’s face is blank, but Sophia’s words ring in my head, a welcome relief fro my throat out, she’s all crystal bells and raindrops

No wonder Jack loved her

No wonder Jack broke when he lost her

No wonder he doesn’t want anyone else ever again No one else can co weird and I start biting my arm to make it stop Kieran pullsof darker red onme out, Isis" He says softly

"I freak a lot of people out I’m freaky Halloweentown loves reat and I left her behind and I’m selfish"

Kieran is silent I feel the darkness start ebbing away, the streetlights bright and swollen like giant ah "But that’s the story with every girl, isn’t it? There’s always a guy So And I like hio up and kiss his work very well, do you"

Kieran laughs, and I clutch ht is too dark and he is too war solid beneathinto the shadow-half of my life Or maybe it’s too late Maybe I’ve already disappeared, and the darkness will be here alith only brief flashes of light, instead of the other way around

"Do you likeif not forward and stupid

Kieran coughs "Well…uh…"

"It’s a yes or no question"

"Yeah," He says "I do"