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“After you and Dante and Magnus left the house, I torched it Do you remember that?”

He nodded “It blew up,” he said quietly

“Right I needed to destroy all the evidence The cops passed it off as a gas leak and the whole thing was considered a tragic accident No one knew about you except the people who hurt you”

He nodded again

“I spread the word that you were killed in the explosion… so no one would co for you”

He stiffened a bit and I could tell he was battling with hile was a brutal one I barreled on so he couldn’t talk hi me a chance to explain

“I orried the story about your return would eventually get out and those people would recognize you and figure out you hadn’t died in the blast, so I cas for a bit”

He opened his eyes and I could see the surprise in the me?”

“From a distance,” I said with a nod “I had feelers out back in Chicago too to see if anyone found out you were still alive I kept waiting for the reporters to start showing up…”

“Dante convinced Mama and Papa not to tell anyone back hoency passport but then told the people they got it from that it had all been a mistake and that it hadn’t been me who’d been found It was a false”

He seeht word for a moment, so I offered, “Alarm?”

He nodded “Yes False alarm” He lifted his hand to wipe at his mouth “Mama and Papa didn’t want people to knohat happened to me,” he said softly Color deepened his already flushed cheeks “They… they wanted me to come home and be normal but when I wouldn’t let them take the…”