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He raised his eyebrows "You’ll try?"

I suddenly felt very aware that I was about to hear so bad Very, very bad ‘Fine I won’t freak out until you’re finished" But after that, all bets were off

He held the needle just above e I flinched--I absolutely, one-hundred percent, hate needles With all their sharpness and being pointy--their sole purpose was to stab you

"I’in with all of this," he o by "Do you remember that story I told you about The one about the fallen star"

"Yeah…I remember"

"Hold still," he said as he tipped the needle down and vigilantly guided it throughBad My eyes snapped shut, and I clutched on to the edge of the couch

"Breathe," Alex reminded me

My eyes flew open, and I sucked in a breath of air

"You good?" he asked after a second or two had ticked by

"Yeah, I think so" But my voice trembled

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah…but can you get this over with quickly Please"

He nodded, and then weaved the needle intoabout the fallen sta--" I gasped as he pressed the needle into my skin for the third time

"Oh yeah, the fallen star--all of what has happened has to do with that"

"How?"

"You reo a star fell from the sky"

I nodded "But that doesn’t mean I believe it"

He paused, the needle ainto my skin "You promised me you’d keep an open mind, remember And you need to believe in the fallen star story otherwise the rest of this is going to sound like a lie"

"But you are a liar, right?" I asked, knowing I was treading on thin water here He was the one holding the needle, after all But still, it needed to be said

"Liar’s such a strong word I prefer to think of it assome of the details"

I rolled my eyes Whatever

This tih my skin, he placed his free hand on my stomach My bare stoers were touchingIt even numbed out the pain a little

"Gemma?" His voice pulled me back to him

I blinked dazedly "Huh?"

He stared down at me, his forehead creased "Did you hear what I said?"

As much as I hated to do it, I shook le word he’d said "Umm…No"

"I asked if you reroup that hid the star"

I nodded, still so my storoup is called Custodis of Vita"

There was so much electricity "The awhata?"

"The Custodis of Vita," he repeated, sounding irritated

That’s it It was too hard to focus with his hand touching me like that I reached down and lifted it off of lanced at his hand, then back at ?" I asked, hoping to distract him away from what I’d just done

"Yeah…it means Keepers of Life But for short we call ourselves The Keepers"

"Keepers of life" I raised h escaped his lips "It’s not, though We actually protect the world fros"

"We?" I studied his expression; so serious and, at least asto so However, Alex was an excellent liar "So you’re saying that you belong to this Keepers group?"