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Vane snorts "Unbelievable"

"What?"

"You live there?" He points to the house ahead--or rather, what’s left of it

A fire conde before I stu walls--one of which still has a cracked glass --along with the scorched support beah space to hide I draped fallen palm fronds across the bearound to form a place to sleep They aren’t nearly as soft as I’d like, but they’re good enough for nesting birds I de to understand his incredulous expression

"I just should’ve guessed I came here a couple times when I was a kid--but then I stopped because I was afraid it"

He stops dead in his tracks

I turn to face hiht

"I was afraid it’s haunted," he says "I heard whispers in the air, and sometihost" He hesitates, like he’s trying to find the courage to ask his next question "That was you, wasn’t it?"

I nod

He backs away fro lightly

He laughs and the harsh sound slices the quiet night "Please I saw the way you floated in the air like that, and for and--"

"So you really did seefor hih, it’s still hard to believe it finally happened

"Yeah So don’t feedhuman, because I knohat I saw, and humans can’t do that"

"Vane" I wait for hi human"

He sucks in a breath "Soyou’re not human"

"No"

His face is a kaleidoscope of emotions Relief Doubt Fear Vindication

I don’t say anything, waiting for him to make the last, most iether in his brain

His voice is barely audible when he finally speaks "But you said you’re the same as me"

I open my mouth to utter the words that will twist his world inside out and upside down, but et who and what I a to face what Ithat kind of blissful ignorance for ten years Oblivious to his responsibilities Unaware of his role Innocent to the overwheles he’ll face

Now I’uilt and regret nearly choke me

But he needs to hear the truth And I swore an oath that I’d tell him So I square my shoulders and yank his universe out froht, Vane I’m not human And neither are you"

CHAPTER 9

VANE

I can’t stop laughing

I laugh so hard I scare bats out of the trees My sides ache and I have to gasp for air and tears stream from the corners of my eyes But what else a new realed there I s about my life orI mean, I look like everyone else I feel like everyone else

So does Audra

Right--because she’s human too, I tell myself

Psycho But human

I must’ve dreamed what I saw in my room I’ve had plenty of other crazy dreah explanation for me

"I’m out of here," I say as I head back toward my house "Get off our property--and stay away fro order so fast you won’t knohat hit you"

"I can’t do that, Vane"

I ignore the chills I get when she says irl She’s a proble rid of

She doesn’t follow

I don’t want to listen--fight to ignore her--but it feels like her voice bores into my skull The sounds are mush, but after a second they sink in and become words

"Come to me swiftly, carry no trace Lift me softly, then flow and race"

The words fill me armth and ache and I want to run to them and away from them at the same time But I can’tina spell onto break whatever voodoo she’s using

She doesn’t answer

Instead, a blast of wind tangles around me, and I learn what a fly feels as a spider binds it with a web Austs I feel her arms wrap across ainst mine Then we’re airborne

I swear my stomach stays behind as we cli my ears as we shift altitudes

But I’ing on a gust of wind that Audra’s sooddess or other iht up in the dark sky Natural Like scratching an itch I didn’t feel until the burning relief rushes througharoundelse washes away

I close my eyes and listen to the wind--and I don’t hear the thundering, whipping sound I expect I hear the ancient language that belongs to the wind and the wind alone It whispers of the places it’s been