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"All right," Skye answered, her voice sincere "I can swear I’ll never walk under there again"

Madison appeared at their side "Should I go with you? Keep you co to Skye, Balthazar couldn’t help noticing that Madison was looking only at him

"She’s fine," he insisted "Skye will be back out soon You can keep watching the gaed and stepped away froain until he had her out of the gymnasium and they were in the silent, deserted halls of the school "What happened under the bleachers?"

"Souy from the seventies committed suicide down there" Her voice shook "He wanted to take back what he’d done so bad, but he couldn’t"

"Hey" Balthazar already had his arhtly "It’s okay You’re past it"

"I felt everything he felt"

"What?" He used his key to the nurse’s station, then edged her inside A flip of the light switch revealed plain white cinder block walls and a siratefully In the corner, a e and apple drink; Balthazar thrust the apple stuff at her "Drink this What do youhe felt?"

"When he couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t either" Skye’s fingers went to her neck again, and he realized that she was seeking the noose "That hasn’t happened before Oh,the words Then she started working on her juice box, her attention clearly turning within fro her arm, and her pale blue eyes turned back toward hi able to breathe wasn’t the worst part, as?"

Her voice small, she said, "He looked like my brother Dakota"

"You mean--the one who died last summer"

Skye nodded "It wasn’t him That’s not how Dakota died, and--it just wasn’t hih"

Balthazar had always thought that if Charity had died in another way, hefor her by now That eventually he could have accepted her death andat Skye’s devastated face, he wasn’t as sure about that any longer