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It should be enough as I step over to hih to see his hair pointing in all different directions, and the fact that there are cowboys on his paja h that he is beckoning h to join hih to feel his hand onis not right I still feel that, in some way, I should not be here

"I’m an imposter," I whisper

"Yes," he whispers back "But you’re the right i Without my Santa suit, I aht on Christmas Day Without my Santa suit, I am real, and I want this to be reality I want this to be the way things are, or at least how they will be

Connor feels me shiver Without a word, he wraps the blanket around us Our home within his home Our world within this world

Outside, there may be reindeer that fly across theanswers and lies that are better to tell Outside, it may be cold But I a I need to know is that I will hold hiain, until I know I belong

Fairmont’s second annual Krampuslauf felt a little bit like a parade and a lot like a zombie crawl, except instead of the undead, ere dressed up like Saint Nick’s creepy buddy, the Krampus Fairmont wasn’t a place where we’d usually spend the afternoon It was full of overpriced boutiques, overpriced coffee, and Mossley Acade with Fairmont was exemplified in the Krampuslauf It was for charity and ca into soainst the true spirit of Kra shit out of people, running around with torches and whips, screaoodness sake Not hot chocolate Not charity The Fair that rich people like Roth did They took soodawful

Despite how Roth thought all Penny’s friends were ignorant, scus because ent to an overcrowded public high school, I was suy, the son of Hel in Norse y Older than the devil, too, so if they seem alike, it’s because the devil bit Krampus’s style I bet Roth doesn’t know any of that I bet Roth just likes him because he looks cool

I had hoped Penny would realize , and then we could go hoood mall, since we’d driven all the way over But, of course, Penny didn’t She craned her neck, looking for Roth and his other girlfriend, the one as rich and went to Mossley Academy and who Penny didn’t want to believe actually existed

"This is a perfect chance to find out," she’d said when she’d explained to me about the flyer she’d seen in Roth’s roouise"

That part was fun Weup old newspapers and luey slop had stuck in our hair, clu horns

Penny’s were the sharp, spiky kind that stuck up from the forehead Wren’s were the curved kind that formed part of a spiral, like a raht back over my head We painted them silver, tipped with red, and raided our closets for dey fur cape Wren has some crazy spiked shoes that don’t have heels and look like hooves And Penny has a red thrift-store Venetianher I thought we looked pretty damn festive