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Relief eased the tension in my shoulders That…that was cool of her "Yeah, that’s why"

She shifted in the seat again "So there are that erous?"

"Yeah, Josie, it’s really that dangerous" I sighed as the Porsche picked up speed "There are daimons--pures and halfs that had become addicted to the aether that’s in our veins Aether is what fuels our abilities--gods have the ods’ various little creature-features and lesser deities, then the pures and finally the halfs The pures who get addicted to it, it changes their entire che To mortals, they look nor them for how they really look Pures don’t I’ bound"

"What do they really look like?"

"Pale faces with no eyes and a h" She drew back, visibly shuddering "So, let uess, they use their teeth to feed?"

"Yep It’s not the only way one can drain the aether from someone, but the daimons like to bite because they also like to cause pain" I frowned as I squinted into the already fading sunlight Kentucky was a boring-ass state to drive through "They’ll also go after end of vaet power hungry without the aether People break laws in our society, just like they do in theit over and over in her hands for a fewto her "You’re sorry for what?"

"All of that sounds lonely and just… It sucks, growing up that way I didn’t have friends, but I had a childhood, you know? I got to be a kid" Her wide gaze"My mom…she told me once when I was little that there had to be a reason why her life ended when an"

Jesus

"But she still loved ain, she was staring straight ahead, the Nook pressed to her chest "I know she did That didn’t s…easy all the time, but I can say that about her and it doesn’t sound like you can say that about your mom So, I’ the scabs off old wounds I’d either forgotten about or had nore all of these years Yeah, my childhood sucked ass, but I didn’t deserve sympathy Not after all the terrible shit I’d done

Chapter 12

WE DIDN’T talk after I told Seth I was sorry for what he’d experienced as a child, or in a hat he hadn’t experienced I had difficulty with randparents, and it sounded like Seth had no one A huge chunk of me felt bad for Seth I knehat it felt like to know you weren’t wanted--the sting and burn that existed inside of you every day knowing you were just an accident You ca they could undo the act that brought you there That kind of knowledge festered, and it rotten and ruined parts of h I knew my mom, underneath it all, loved ht We hadn’t spoken more than a feords to each other e finally stopped for food The burger didn’t settle well and another hour went by before he spoke again