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"There are a few things I need to take care of If I did that here, I’d keep you up"

"Like I could sleep after this" Skye sighed, buther, but for theher in the long tero to school tohtly, a phrase and nothing more But Skye’s expression became solemn as she said, "I trust you"

She really meant it

He hadn’t realized, until that ht, he returned to the cheap hotel rooe of tohen he’d believed he would be here for only a handful of days Obviously he’d need a longer-terer to Skye wouldn’t go away in a day, or a week This required long-ter This required coh he, like ht and rest during the day, he knew that behaving this way separated him too completely from human society There were times he’d allowed himself to drift into a vampiric existence; those were the times when he’d looked up to see that a year or a decade had coful experience No more, he’d decided

Besides, if he wanted to help Skye, he’d need an early start

And he did want to help her--ined he would after only a couple of days--

Refusing to think about it anymore, Balthazar went to sleep

And drea had he been out of synch? Five years? Closer to ten, ht--everybody wore jeans washed out pale now, and the stripes on his shirt’s sleeves had gone froe

It wasn’t like he hadn’t left the house in Chicago for ten years He’d et the blood he needed He’d walked to the nearest bars and walked back Soarettes But depression hung a kind of veil over everything--clouding it,it more distant than it really was

Now that Balthazar was pushing hione In its place was a world transfor hite or gray, boxy and boring

Wo--sort of like the 1940s on acid Big hair, big shoulder pads, brilliant neon colors: It would take soive it points over the 1970s