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I stared at hiripped the arms of his chair and hauled himself back onto it with difficulty His cheeks reddened Scowling, he let out an anguished breath before turning his chair around and returning to the bedroo with Shayla, and they reached him before he could attempt to help himself back into his bed They eased him onto the lance his way before leaving the room As I stepped out into the corridor, hot tears prickled the corners of uessed it was just the shock of finding hi out atto help hi deeper into my emotions, I realized the real reason behind ht

He wanted to be a man, he’d said Yet here he was stuck with us, ht

It didn’tere to him It didn’t matter how beautiful or cozy or pristine Meadow Hospital was

He was a bird trapped in a cage

I have to find some way to free him

Grace

I figured that it was best to give it soain He had obviously been deeply embarrassed I’d seen the flush in his cheeks Maybe I would even wait until tomorrow to return Give him some space I was sure that Shayla would understand

Besides, I had soht back home to my roo onout rateful that we could access the internet in The Shade

I surfed the web, researching and brainstor down ideas and comments in my notebook Once I felt that I had researched all that I could, I left e room toward the back of the apart stacks of boxes I began sifting through his equip was suitable Not much was, but there were a few pieces I retrieved them from the shelves and set them down in the corridor

Next, I headed for our three spare bedroouests staying here now, of course And we did not have guests all that often Usually it was one of my cousins come to stay over

As I stepped into the third rooest s of all three and afforded the best view--hts, and in the far distance the ocean Also, this roole bed, a chair and a bedside table It would not take ed the furniture out and stuffed it into the roo back for the exercise equipe roouest room and then exited the apartymnasium It was empty of pupils at this time, and there were no adults around fros, but I was sure that nobody wouldwhich would be most suitable, just as I had done with my father’s Most of the stuff here was heavy-duty, far too weighty and bulky forto the hospital to have a ith Shayla, but as I stepped out of the gy across the school yard, Anna’s sons--young Kiev and his older brother Jason--close behind the mutt Both of them were vampires Great I didn’t need any more help than them

I called over to thereed to help And so the three of us transported all of the equipled out in shifts back to my apartment Shadow could’ve helped us if we had had so Instead, he proved to be a bit of a hindrance, constantly juot more excitable around me than others, and I was not quite sure why Perhaps because I rarely took him for walks and I was more of a novelty to him He definitely slowed down the process, but within an hour, we had filled up the spare bedroom to my satisfaction

I said thanks to Jason and Kiev before they headed off, leavingas bringing the stuff here, as I tried to put soht into it Once I was done, I couldn’t keep the smile off my face… There was one rabbed my MP3 player and speakers, and hooked them up in one corner Perfect

The way Joshup and down the corridor before he wanted to do much else made me think that in his previous life, he’d had soimen Well, now, if he liked what I’d done, he could cole piece of equip the upper body: ars, but if he took it slowly and steadily, and didn’t strain hi his faded muscles back to life… and maybe in the process feel azed around the roo ive Josh a break fro up with hoininghoould react Whether he would be delighted or… so a smile to his face