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I laughed and asked, “How old were you?”

“Nine or ten, I guess” I saw his smile falter, then he dropped his eyes I had no doubt he was thinking about how his life had changed so drastically just a few years later, since he had been only thirteen when his father had touched him for the first time

I gripped h that some of it spurted up the straw and dripped onto my hand

“I haven’t had one of those things in a while,” he ed a half-srow up sometime, huh?”

I lifted the milk and said, “Not completely, no”

He nodded and took a sip of his milk “You have a sister?” he asked

I autoh I’d known it would eventually co about my father’s sweet tooth

I nodded

So an to fiddle with the straw I kneouldn’t ask me what he obviously wanted to, so I bit the bullet and said, “I don’t knohere she is She’s beenfor almost two years”

Chapter 6

Caleb

I hadn’t been expecting hi after he’d tensed up when I’d mentioned his sister, so I was momentarily shocked into silence at his admission

“What happened?” I finally asked I kneasn’t any of my business, but I was desperate to know more about Jace, and while it wasn’t exactly the best topic, I’d take anything he gave otten me out of the psychiatric hospital, he’d never once talked about himself

“She and her boyfriend went to Europe a couple years ago for a long backpacking trip Everything was going fine until they got to Germany She used to call me like clockwork every week to check in Just like that, the calls stopped There were no es, either Her boyfriend’s parents didn’t hear anything either The Gerether… decided to cut ties and just not co until about three months later when her boyfriend’s body was discovered in a field outside Berlin”

Although Jace’s voice was even as he spoke, I could see the tightness in his jaw and the spark of pain in his eyes

“There was no word of your sister?” I asked

Jace shook his head “It was like she just disappeared off the face of the earth”