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"But this is ounded me most of all," he says, and he reaches for le tear escapes and slowly trickles down ertip has returned to its normal color, and there are no indentations left Even so, it seems to throb in le, gentle kiss

"Will you tell me why?"

I want to tip ht at him With Damien, I do not feel weak or broken, but I am ashamed, because he asked ain And this is twice now that I have broken that proer, at least, survived my assault with more aplomb than my hair

"I’ve told you most of it already," I say "It’s just been a hell of a day"

"All right Now tell me the rest" His voice is easy, conversational, and it soothesGiselle as the hostess Looking around at unfas, I realize how nize the third floor That rooht they weren’t" And I wasn’t yours

I think the last part, but I don’t say it out loud Instead, I shrug, a little es I feel vulnerable and fragile, and I do not like feeling that way And so I wait for hi to calm me

It takes a moment for those words to come, and when they do, they surprisearea tucked away against the east wall It’s the most private area of the ht to the third floor It is dark here, the only illu

"What are you doing?" I ask as he pulls ht fills the long, glass-topped display case in front of us There are only two things inside, as if this case is meant for treasures, and only two have been located

They are battered copies of Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles, both by Ray Bradbury I’m confused, but I trust that Damien has a purpose

"Bradbury’s one of ins

"I know" He’s told me about his love of science fiction as a child In a way, it was his weapon against his father, his coach, and his life I understand; how can I not when I’d relied on weapons of eles, and one day I heard that he was going to be signing books at a store in the Valley I begged my father to take me, but he’d scheduled an additional practice withto cut rin is slow and wide "I went to the signing anyway"

"How old were you?"

"Eleven," he says

"But how did you get there? Didn’t you live in Inglewood?"

"I toldto the courts, hopped on eles? It’s a miracle you survived"

"Trust erous than my father when he learned what I’d been up to"