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Verlaine shook her head "That’s not ht to be Who can feel joy when everyone else overlooks them? Whose heart can stay pure when they’re tormented by loneliness, and by jealousy for the sih you’ve come closer than anyone else I’ve ever heard of There’s so ht, not even Elizabeth could take it all"

"Stop," she said, stepping back from him "Please stop"

"The theft is an illusion, really" Asa’s voice was desperate now "You still possess it, this ability to be loved, but the light shines on her instead Like a candle that’s only visible in a mirror, do you understand?"

Verlaine shook her head She was dangerously close to tears "I don’t understand any of it You have to stop"

But Asa kept going "The illusion doesn’t work on demons I know you, Verlaine No one else in the world does, but I do"

"You could beall of this up"

"You know better"

She did But Verlaine had learned to deal with a hard world She had learned to hold on to what she kneas true even when faced with hatred or indifference She could hold on to it now, too

"You’re a de my life Whatever you feel doesn’t matter Whatever I feel doesn’t matter You’re here on this earth to do evil, and I’m here on this earth to stop you So--that’s that"

Asa straightened He looked even sadder than she felt, and Verlaine had the absurd urge to coe to put her arms around him

"That’s that," Asa said, and he turned and walked out into the cold The door shut behind him, untouched

21

NADIA SAT ON THE 22 BUS, HEADING NORTH ALONG Clark Street, cell phone clutched in her hand Texts fro the screen, one after the other, each of the what Elizabeth had stolen froh Verlaine’sherself to feel anything--and for once, she didn’t think darkto do with it

She was only ten blocks froht A powerful numbness had settled over her, which Nadia kneas an attempt at self-preservation