“Sara, I didn’t realize you were so crazy,” Evan noticed. Sara just smiled in return and hopped away to find her new friends. “Did you know she was like this?”“Yes,” I stressed. “It’s one of the reasons we’re best friends. It’s not like she can be this way in school. This is how we are when we’re somewhere else.”

“I sighed. “Mom, it’s not like we’re going to have sex with you home.”“Well, honey, it’s good to know that you only have sex when I’m not home.”Daemon coughed as he fought a smile. “We can stay—”

“I feel it in here," she said, placing her hand against her chest and then against her stomach, "and here. It’s like there’s not enough air or room inside me. That I may… burst out of my skin or drown in it, and that wouldn’t be a bad thing. I don’t know why I feel this way, but I always have… and will." She tipped her chin up and her entire face was a rosy color. "It’s you. I… I love you.”

“Seeing her, well, it did things I hadn’t been ready to delve into before. Hell, I really didn’t even know at what point I had become ready.Probably happened somewhere between when I thought she was dead and when she wasn’t.”

“I don’t know if it’s possible to take hate away from people. Not even people like us, who’ve seen firsthand what hate can do. We’re all hurting. We’re all going to be hurting for a long time. And we, probably more than anyone else out there, will be searching for a new reality every day. A better one.”

“He…he kisses like he’s dying of thirst, and I’m water.” I smacked my hands over my hot face. “I can’t believe I just said that out loud.” Lesa giggled. “Sounds like one of those romance books you read.” “It does.” I started giggling. “But, oh Lordie Lord, it’s true. I’m like a puddle of mush when he kisses me. It’s embarrassing. I’m so, like, ‘Thank you, can I have another?’ Sad.”

“Bethany." His quiet voice intruded.Her heart turned over heavily. "This is real right?"His face contorted as if he were in pain. "Yes, it's real."Crazy people probably did things like this all the time. Asked their imaginary alien friends if they were real, and of course, they'd say yes.”