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Luce slipped o her black ats and tossed them aside on the beach The sand between her toes was soft and cool When Daniel pulled her close, her toes overlapped with his and she almost lost her balance, but his arms held her steady When she looked down, her feet were on top of his And when she looked up: the sight she yearned for night and day Daniel unfurling his silver-white wings

They lled her plane of vision, stretching twenty feet into the sky Broad and beautiful, glowing in the night, they s in all of Heaven Underneath her own feet, Luce felt Daniel's lift just barely o the ground His wings beat lightly, al both of them inches above the beach

"Ready?" he asked

Ready for what, she didn't know It didn'tbackward in the air, as slided out over the water, holding her in his arasped as the rst frothy wave skiher in the sky He dipped her backward He spun the On the ocean

Thedown on only the so hter

"Thank you," she whispered

His ansas a kiss He kissed her softly at rst On her forehead, then on her nose, then nally found his way to her lips

She kissed hi her whole body into it This was how she came home to Daniel, how she touched that easy love they'd shared for so long For afor air She hadn't even noticed they were back on the beach

His hand cupped the back of her head, the ski cap she had tugged down over her ears The cap concealing her bleached-blond hair He pulled it o and a blast of ocean breeze hit her head "What did you do to your hair?"

His voice was soft, but somehow it sounded like an accusation Maybe it was because the song had ended, and the dance and the kiss had too, and now they were just two people standing on a beach Daniel's wings were arched back behind his shoulders, still visible but out of reach

"Who cares abouthim Wasn't that all he should care about too?

Luce reached to take back the ski cap Her bare blond head felt too exposed, like a glowing red ag warning Daniel that sheapart As soon as she started to turn away, Daniel put his ar her close again "I'm sorry"

She exhaled, drew into him, and let his touch wash over her She tipped her head up to meet his eyes

"Is it safe now?" she asked, wanting Daniel to be the one to bring up the truce Could they nally be together? But the worn look in his eyes gave her the answer before he opened his mouth

"I shouldn't be here, but I worry about you" He held her at arht to worry" He ngered a lock of her hair "I don't understand why you did this, Luce It isn't you"

She pushed him away It had always bothered her when people said that "Well, I'm the one who dyed it, Daniel So, technically, it is me Maybe not the `me' you want me to be--"

"That's not fair I don't want you to be anyone other than who you are"

"Which is who, Daniel? Because if you know the answer to that, feel free to clue rew louder as frustration overtook the passion slipping through her ngers "I'ure out what I' here with all thesewhen I'm not even "

"When you're not what?"

How had they gone so quickly fro on air to this?

"I don't know I' to take it day by day Make friends, you know? Yesterday I joined a club, and we're planning a yacht trip sos like that" What she really wanted to tell him about were the shadows And especially what she'd done in the woods But Daniel had narrowed his eyes like she'd already done so on a yacht trip anywhere"

"What?"

"You'll stay right here on this caer "I hate giving you these rules, Luce, butI' happen to you"

"Literally" Luce gritted her teeth "Good or bad or otherwise See anything at all"