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At the bottoe I’d seen before I hadn’t made the connection between it and the nocturnal luminaries, with their delicate, vein-laced and swirl-tipped wings

My fingers traced the ie as I tried to recall the first time I’d seen it: the beetle-like version that depicted what a firefly looked like at restand burnished in gold

Just like it had been in the center of Agent Truolden beetle at all It had been a firefly

My thoughts were interrupted when a single drop of blood fell onto the photo froht in the center of the picture and splattered outward, bloo of icy alarlance over my shoulder

I’d half expected to find my father there, with his bloodied hands outstretched toabove es I was

"Your nose" I let the picture flutter to the floor "Tyler, you’re bleeding"

He frowned atthe back of his hand to check for hiot to be--" He shook his head, perplexed "I haven’t had a bloody nose since I was a kid"

But I was already onlitter out of my way When I came back, I handed him a wad of toilet paper "I think you’re supposed to lean your head back And pinch your nose I think you’re supposed to pinch it"

He did as I said, and without taking the paper away, he dropped his gaze and grinned at onna ht ht rub off onhow he could possiblya situation like this It would be hard to leave him when the time came "They’re not superpowers" I smirked back at him He sounded ridiculous with all that toilet paper bunched up and plugging his nose I grinned "And I’ed him with my shoulder as I shoved past his and then we need to get out of here before anyone catches us I was hoping my dad would be here I have so ht have soe to adht after all I looked around at the roolass Even the computer ht’ve been harmed because of me "I just hope he’s okay"

"Me too" Tyler’s voice ca what I could find, anything that looked even reathered the firefly ies and a map with a bunch of colorful dots and lines -person flier I couldn’t ignore: the one of , I found the ball from the first baseball tearade--when the boys and girls still played together Our parents had signed Austin and me up for the same team, and my dad had volunteered to be our coach

This was the very sah irl His parents had grounded hi my --one day for every year he’d been alive on this earth