Page 80 (1/2)

"Is that why Gideon had the files?"

"I don’t know I’ve been following him around all year; you know that But I don’t have any evidence that he was involved in Cassandra’s disappearance The files you found in his rooone now"

I took his hand "You’re a good person"

Dante shook ave him a level look "I’ the people I loved And the question still remained: Who killed Eleanor and Cassandra?

Dante and I spent ti us closer together than we had been before I finally felt like there were no secrets between us, and Dante suddenly becaly unfas that were always there but you never noticed before I sat throughthe minutes until I would see hirew to accept who Dante was, and even envy it There were a lot of upsides to being Undead For one, because he was already dead, he couldn’t be killed by nor risks a lot easier He never had to worry about the weather being too cold, and since he never slept, he had endless amounts of time That’s why he was so well read And best of all, he couldn’t feel pain--eive to have that power If I didn’t feel pain then I wouldn’t be tormented by the death of my parents, which I still couldn’t make sense of

Later that hen I went downstairs toin the shadows by the stoop I ran over and wrapped my arms around him, only to discover that it wasn’t Dante; it was Brett He looked just as surprised to see ht you were so red

"That’s okay," Brett said, letting out a sigh of relief "I’lad you’re not Mrs Lynch"

I laughed "Yeah Okay, well I’o"

Brett nodded and retreated into the shadows

Dante aiting around the side of the building Before I could ask where ere going, he took my hand and led me toward the center of ca The trees stood around us, barren and lifeless

"How old are you?" I asked, leaning against the trunk of a giant oak

Dante played with a lock of my hair "Seventeen"

I looked up at him "How old are you really?"

He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at the sky, counting in his head "This will be the sixteenth anniversary ofhave you been at Gottfried?"

Dante laughed "Just two years And I’ll only stay here two h school"

Right, I thought, blushing at how silly my question was Obviously it would look suspicious if all of the Undead stayed here while everyone else was graduating

"How did you die?"

Dante took reen "I drowned"

I thought about all the ti see in a different world