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The e of electricity, and he lost his hold on his own reality His consciousthe world through Shannon’s eyes Shocking, weird Lying on the bed one second, standing the next Pain still coursed through hiht position, forcing hiain Thankfully, someone had left a sht he re on hied to croak to Caleb He wanted out of Shannon’s body

The only reply was another moan

Usually the soul had control Caleb decided who to possess and when Soht not want to possess soh, he could do it This time, neither of them had control, but they’d still done it

He tried to step fro kept him leashed, tethered there, unable to move Still Over and over he tried Finally, weak, exhausted, hurting worse, he gave up and fell back on the bed He couldn’t hear Shannon’s thoughts, so he probably had control of Shannon’s mind, too Which meant his friend would not re to do?

However long he sprawled there, writhing, he didn’t know Tian

Aden lost his hold on Shannon’s reality, too, and when he next opened his eyes, he found himself in the body of a little boy Shannon, he realized, as he studied the dark color of his arer version of Shannon He hadn’t lost Shannon’s reality, after all

Even if he hadn’t noticed the physical differences, he would have known He sensed the truth, deep inside He’d just time-traveled--into Shannon’s past

That shouldn’t be possible, not without Eve and certainly not with someone else’s life Always before Aden had traveled back into his own life Noas seeing and feeling what Shannon was seeing and feeling The physical pain, at least, was gone, and the souls were quiet rather than frenzied

He sat on a swing, rocking back and forth, tiny sandaled feet pushing at the gravel His little hands gripped the htly, his only friend

"Hey, Sh-Sh-Shannon," a kid taunted from a few feet away Several other kids were clustered around hi They were outside a school, Aden instinctively knew, and at recess

There was a slide, a ys They were focused completely on Shannon

"My mom says you’re so weird because your mom is white and your dad is black," the tallest boy said, chucking a rock in his direction

The stone slaaze to the ground Ignore theo away, his mom always said But he knew they wouldn’t They never did Unless Ms Snodgrass noticed and yelled, but she was busy picking the grass out of Karen Fisher’s hair, so he’d have better luck wishing on a star

Another rock hit Shannon, in the leg this tiave no reaction

"You have a girl’s na inside Not that he’d ever let them know it

Aden wanted to ju as they were And he could have He was still in control of the body But to change the past was to change the future, and not always for the better Actually, never for the better So he sat there, awash in Shannon’s e that’s what Shannon had done

But then the scene shifted, the playground fading and red brick walls closing in around him Graffiti covered those walls, and in the distance, he heard a police siren wailing

Shed He waved a hand in front of his nose, only then noticing the cigarette resting in his other hand

"So?" someone said "What do you think?"

Aden focused A boy stood just in front of hi, too Like Shannon, he was black, though his skin was darker, and his eyes were brown

He was cute, Shannon thought, though not exactly his type; still, they’d been secretly dating for three weeks Whatwas the fact that he was the first boy Shannon kneho admitted, freely, that he liked other boys

Most people were accepting of him Some were not, like Tyler’s dad, and he often sported bruises But still Tyler didn’t try to hide the fact that he was gay, or that he had a felossed ht pink T-shirt to his red-painted toenails

Shannon still hadn’t told anyone about his own preferences His dad was clueless, thank God, but his hty as she was, she kept introducing hi him mercilessly What did he think of them? Why wouldn’t he ask them out?