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"Wait," Luce said, "the sorry-ass ex-boyfriend Did he "

Shelby looked away "We werethedeal, I was, like, two inches o the oor But Phil wouldn't let it go He started buggingall these weird questions"

"Like what?"

"I don't know," Shelby said "Soht me to levitate Whether you could levitate too"

"Why me?"

"Probably more of his pervy roommate fantasies Anyway, you should have seen the look on his face that day Like I was sos o "

"That's awful" Luce squeezed Shelby's hand "But it sounds like his problem, not yours I know the rest of the kids at Shoreline look at the Nephilih schools, and I' to think that's just the way most kids' faces naturally bend Besides, no one's `nor freakish about hi about his eyes They were blue, but faded, almost washed out He had to wear these special contacts so people wouldn't stare at him" Shelby tossed her head to the side "Plus, you know, that third nipple" She burst out laughing, was red in the face by the tiht tapping on the pane shut both of them up

"That better not be him" Shelby's voice instantly sobered as she hopped up fro over a potted yucca in her haste yucca in her haste

"It's for you," she said, almost numbly

Luce was at thein a heartbeat, because by then, she could feel hi her palht air

She was face to face, lip to lip, with Daniel

For the briefestpast her, into the roo the back of her head with his soft hands and pulling her to hi her breath away A week's worth of wary for the harsh words they'd said the other night on the beach

"Hello," he whispered

"Hello"

Daniel earing jeans and a white T-shirt She could see the cowlick in his hair His tre the black night, luring her in They seemed to beat in the sky almost in time with her heart She wanted to touch theht on the beach It was a stunning thing to see hi outside her third-story

He took her hand and pulled her over the sill and out into the air and his are under thethat she'd never noticed before

She always felt the urge to cry when she was happiest "You're not supposed to be here But I' as he pulled her back against his chest so that his head was just over her shoulder He looped one ars When she looked over her shoulder, all she could see hite; the world hite, all softly textured and agloith an to beat--

Her sto lifted--no, rocketed, straight into the sky The ledge below thehter and the wind ripped across her body, tousling her hair across her face

Up they soared, higher into the night, until the school was just a black sround below Until the ocean was just a silver blanket on the earth Until they pierced a feathery layer of cloud

She wasn't cold or afraid She felt free of everything that weighed her down on earth Free of danger, free of any pain she'd ever felt Free of gravity And so in love Daniel's mouth traced a line of kisses up the side of her neck He wrapped his arht around her waist and turned her to face him Her feet were on top of his, just as when they'd danced over the ocean at the bon re There was no wind anymore; the air around the of Daniel's wings as they hovered in the sky and the beating of her own heart

"Moo through hile"

Then he kissed her as he'd never kissed her before A long, extended kiss that seemed to claihtly at rst and thenin her curves Shethe backs of her thighs, her hips, her shoulders He took control of every part of her

She felt the muscles beneath his cotton shirt, his taut arms and neck, the hollow at the small of his back She kissed his jaw, his lips Here in the clouds, with Daniel's eyes sparkling brighter than any star she had ever seen, this here Luce belonged

"Can't we just stay here forever?" she asked "I'll never get enough of this Of you"

"I hope not" Daniel s out Luce kneas co next A slow descent

She kissed Daniel one last ti herself for ight--but then she lost her grip

And fell

It see backward, her ar wildly, and then the rush of cold and wind as she plulimpse was of Daniel's eyes, the shock in his face

But then everything sped up, and she was falling so furiously she couldn't breathe The world was a spinning black void, and she felt nauseated and scared, her eyes burning fro to pass out

And that would be it

She would never knoho she really was, never knohether it had all been worth it Would never knohether she orthy of Daniel's love, and he of hers It was all over; this was it

The as a fury in her ears She closed her eyes and waited for the end