“Just for fun I flew in huge banking arcs, taking deep breaths, enjoying the feel of my newly weightless hair. The stylist had called it “wind tossed.”If only she knew.”

“I always had this little terror, this feeling that the whole world was asleep, that around this whole, huge planet, I was the only ne left awake in the world.”

“Then right before my eyes, she flew. She actually flew like a bird. No, she flew as a young girl might fly, or a woman or a man, if people were meant to fly. She soared through the air. And that changed the course of my life forever.”

“Okay, so, flying,” I started, taking a deep breath and focusing on the thing I loved most in the world. “Flying is … great. It feels great when you’re doing it. It’s fun. Pure freedom. There’s nothing better.”Dylan smiled, a slow, easy smile that seemed to light up his whole face.“So the first thing we’re going to do,” I told him, “is push you off the roof.”

“Call me crazy, but there's just something cheering about seeing huge raptors tear into Eraser flesh.”

“Don’t ever leave me again,” I said in a tiny voice.I won’t,” he promised into my hair, sounding most un-Fang-like. “I won’t. Not ever.”And just like that, a cold shard of ice that had been inside my chest ever since we’d split up-well, it just disappeared. I felt myself relax for the first time in I don’t known how long. The wind was chilly, but the sun was bright, and my whole flock was together. Fang and I were together.Excuse me? I’m alive too.” Iggy’s plaintive voice made me pull back.”

“I was breathless, talking as fast as I could. I was afraid if I stopped talking, even for a second, I’d start sobbing again.“Whoa, there.” Fang smiled and reached up, tracing a hand down the side of my face, winding strands of my hair around his fingers. “Stop talking and let me just tell you how great it is to wake up staring at your face. Okay?”