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I peered at his ca that was sewn into it said the na

“So that’s it?” I asked, looking at him squarely “You just accept what I said, no questions, no telling me that I’m crazy?”

“Do you think you’re crazy, little lamb?”

“I’ll go crazy if you keep calling me that” I exhaled loudly and puta red waterfall in front of my face “And yes Sometimes I do think I’e can back ets better, could backagain”

I felt Max stiffen beside ain’?”

I e had a few occurrences with a crazy maid at the hotel and thinks I may have made a deal with the Devil I know It just adds to how insane this all is”

“And did you?”

The question of the hour I felt sick just thinking about it It couldn’t have happened, it couldn’t have happened

“No I don’t recall ever doing such a thing” But even as I said the words, despite that I knew their truth, I didn’t feel any better, any safer

A great pause hung over us, pressing doith all the questions I turned h a rusty wall of hair

“You do think I’m crazy, don’t you? You think it’s all bunk”

He seeo past “Would you think I was crazy if I believed you?”

“Kinda”

“Let’s just say I’m more open-minded than most people, if you catch my drift”

“I really need to speak to Jacob,” I said, sitting up Theuseless As much as I appreciated how open-minded Max was, I needed to talk to Jacob, so, ould“Do you knohere he is?”

He shook his head and brought out a cigarette He offered ht otta smoke sometimes”

“That’s an interesting philosophy,” I noted, standing up “How do I hail a cab here, just flag theet soht Maybe Jacob’s there”

He stood up, too “I’ll go with you,” he said quickly, flinging his spent h of soundcheck anyway, and the show doesn’t start until eight tonight”

“So you really are my chaperone”

“I like to look out for the ladies,” he said with a grin as he thrust out his ar that Sage and I had discussed, I couldn’t argue with that Especially when I was going back to the hotel where the supposed crazy maid was

Once back at the hotel, I couldn’t find Jacob, so I ended up taking aht I wouldn’t be able to sleep But I passed out right away and awoke to Max’s wake-up call, which consisted of hih for the sun to be in the sky, setting low on the horizon I couldn’t have handled another disorienting wake-up experience in the darkness Even so, when I got up, I ht in the bedroom and look everywhere for flies There were none I felt a trace of guilt for having been in Paris for twenty-four hours and not having seen any of the sights, but in the end I had to think of the big picture And my job

I got ready for the show, puttingon boots, a denim skirt, and a thin tank top with Janice Joplin’s face sketched on it that I didn’t have to wear a bra with For May, it was still quite chilly in Paris, but I knew the venue would be wars I both loved and hated about concerts—that heat that only hundreds of sweaty, drunk, and adrenaline-fueled bodies can cause It was just as intoxicating as the vibe

Once again, I hadthe band before they went on andperfectly With sharp bitterness, I i her job, and I tried to switch offher I honestly didn’t knoas going to get past that It was one thing to know he’d screwed lots of groupies and chicks over the last eight months; it was another to knohat one of them looked like, to know she made her mark on his skin, that I’d have to see her in the flesh It ly real

I was heading down the stairs to ht a peculiar odor on the fourth floor I looked down the hall, thinking soe outside their door when all the lights on the floor started flickering At the end of the hallway, a tall figure came around the corner and then stopped

I stared at the figure,like there was soure ca behind, and I realized it was a ain, in between the lights so he was hidden in shadow I don’t knohy I didn’t keep walking down the stairs, why I was so drawn to this person couest

Maybe because in uest

“Dawn,” I heard a faint voice whisper, co from his direction “Dawn before the darkness” The voice was ethereal yetof blood I took ers A nosebleed

I looked back at the one The hallas empty Cold

A wo in her arible look as she squeezed past me—I was too stunned tolike mad down the hallway, toward the place where the man had been The man who had whispered my name