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“Is there a plan, then?”
“There will be,” said Mae
“When there is,” Matthias told her, “I’ll be interested to hear it” He stepped back, out of criht even pipe all your bad dreams away”
He was gone before Mae could ask hin of hi that traveled farther and farther away into the shadows The dancers who had surrounded her started, one by one, to follow after that sound
Mae took a deep breath Her bones ached, and she felt suddenly exhausted Her throat was so dry it burned
When Seb returned they got glasses of water and went outside, where the ement had turned on the heaters, red ribbons of pretend fire casting a glow on the knots of people and giving scarlet haloes to the gravestones scattered across the ground Mae chose one that read SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF OUR BELOVED DAUGHTER and sat on it, tucking her booted feet up underneath her
Seb stood looking aardly down at her Mae had to wonder if his much-talked-about choosiness was actually painful shyness Maybe she was supposed to be the girl who petted hily and murmured, “There, there, Sebastian, I know you’re an animal!”
“Mae West was a movie star in the thirties,” Mae said instead “She wrote plays and tons of her own lines, and she was a forty-year-old sex syer than she was”
Seb looked appalled “She had a boyfriend as ten?”
“Uot the boyfriend when she was in her sixties Anyway, she esome! Salvador Dalí made a sofa shaped to look like her mouth”
“A really tiny sofa?” Seb asked
Mae glanced up at hi to hi fun of her the whole time
She was no good at being a el anyway, and no lass down, jurabbed his hand
“You’re good enough at flirting when you’re a yard away from me Let’s see how you do on a dance floor”
Mae led him inside and up toward the balcony bar, which was usually the best bet if you wanted a bit of space to move around in
“This is going okay, isn’t it?” Seb asked at the top of the stairs
“We’ll see,” Mae said, amused Then they reached the balcony bar and she felt her smile snatched away, easily as if it was a stolen purse
Nick was standing against the wall, half-lit by shihts and half in shadow He pushed hiht for them
“Where have you been?” he deed
“Where have I been?” she echoed, and dropped Seb’s hand as she clenched hers into a fist “What are you even doing here? Why are you everywhere? Why can’t I escape you for one night?”
Nick looked down at her, face still, and the urge to hit hi as it was ridiculous
“Jamie’s upset,” he said
It was no answer at all, but itattention to either of them as she scanned the room for her brother
He wasn’t hard to spot
He was the only one in the balcony bar as dancing People were staring at hietically, doing spins and staggeringhis ar up in soa fit
“Has Ja?”
“Not that much,” Nick said
“Not that erously, “or not thata song and fall over after a sherry at Christmas?”
“He said it would make him feel better!” Nick snapped “Hoas I supposed to knoouldn’t?”
Mae opened her h theher head because it was so deliberately quiet and controlled
“Maybe we should go get Jaue later”
“Don’t be an idiot!” she said sharply, and Seb looked surprised Mae took a deep breath “If I take hi”
She turned on her heel and headed for the dance floor
The soles of her boots were sticking to the floor a little, so she are of a peeling sensation with every step It slowed her down a fraction, long enough so that by the time she reached Jamie, she’d remembered to put on a smile
“Hey,” she said, loud above the seriously ill-advised funk music, and Jamie spun around
He stood there staring at her, looking bewildered and a little wary, and she caught his hands in hers and stepped in to him His eyes widened
“Hey there,” she said again, and began to play the game “So where did you learn to dance?”
Jah, then started to dance with her
“I learned to dance on a battlefield,” he told her “I was the only soldier who kne to avoid the minefields with style”
Mae laughed and Jamie spun her, and when he faltered she spun back to hi at him until he smiled back The smile lit up his flushed face, and suddenly it was just the two of theahts in a dance club It didn’t matter
Ja in sync, back and forth, hiainst the world
p>
“Is there a plan, then?”
“There will be,” said Mae
“When there is,” Matthias told her, “I’ll be interested to hear it” He stepped back, out of criht even pipe all your bad dreams away”
He was gone before Mae could ask hin of hi that traveled farther and farther away into the shadows The dancers who had surrounded her started, one by one, to follow after that sound
Mae took a deep breath Her bones ached, and she felt suddenly exhausted Her throat was so dry it burned
When Seb returned they got glasses of water and went outside, where the ement had turned on the heaters, red ribbons of pretend fire casting a glow on the knots of people and giving scarlet haloes to the gravestones scattered across the ground Mae chose one that read SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF OUR BELOVED DAUGHTER and sat on it, tucking her booted feet up underneath her
Seb stood looking aardly down at her Mae had to wonder if his much-talked-about choosiness was actually painful shyness Maybe she was supposed to be the girl who petted hily and murmured, “There, there, Sebastian, I know you’re an animal!”
“Mae West was a movie star in the thirties,” Mae said instead “She wrote plays and tons of her own lines, and she was a forty-year-old sex syer than she was”
Seb looked appalled “She had a boyfriend as ten?”
“Uot the boyfriend when she was in her sixties Anyway, she esome! Salvador Dalí made a sofa shaped to look like her mouth”
“A really tiny sofa?” Seb asked
Mae glanced up at hi to hi fun of her the whole time
She was no good at being a el anyway, and no lass down, jurabbed his hand
“You’re good enough at flirting when you’re a yard away from me Let’s see how you do on a dance floor”
Mae led him inside and up toward the balcony bar, which was usually the best bet if you wanted a bit of space to move around in
“This is going okay, isn’t it?” Seb asked at the top of the stairs
“We’ll see,” Mae said, amused Then they reached the balcony bar and she felt her smile snatched away, easily as if it was a stolen purse
Nick was standing against the wall, half-lit by shihts and half in shadow He pushed hiht for them
“Where have you been?” he deed
“Where have I been?” she echoed, and dropped Seb’s hand as she clenched hers into a fist “What are you even doing here? Why are you everywhere? Why can’t I escape you for one night?”
Nick looked down at her, face still, and the urge to hit hi as it was ridiculous