“I heard my father trail off, my face hidden in Bram's chest."Ah...I should have told you about that," Samedi said, sounding a trifle embarrased. Bram urged me back again and bent down to give me another peck on the lips, a calmer one. I melted into it."You do realize that this is wrong?" Bram joked. I opened my eyes and found him looking at me as if he wanted to rememorize my face."So,so wrong," I agreed, reaching up to finger another new cut he'd acquired on his hairline. The skin along his right cheek was lightly singed. He was still the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen."No, it's all right, Samedi," I heard Dad chuckling. "It's all right.”

“I broke away from Samedi and sprinted down the gangplank, screaming out Bram's name. His head turned, and he started limping toward me."Nora!" I heard someone yell.Bram met me halfway. He scooped me up with one arm and pulled my head toward his. I didn't fight it in the least. He kissed me harshly, and I returned it, leaping up on my toes, seeking out his chapped, broken lips with my own, inexpertly, needfully. And then he just held me as I cried, soaking his dirty T-shirt with my tears, his cheek on my head. "I thought you were gone," I managed to get out. "I thought you were really gone...""I thought I was, too," he said, laughing weakly. "But I'd never leave you if I had the choice. I was going to get back to you, or grind to dust trying.”

“Now. Bram, you are a good friend and an uptanding young man, but I'm afraid that tradition dictates I now attempt to scare you within an inch of your unlife.""Understood," Bram said, taking his arm back as I got myself under control.My father is a gentle-looking man. Thus, why I started laughing again as he attempted to look stern. "What are your intentions concerning my daughter?"Bram cast a look my way, laughing himself, before clearing his throat and doing his best to look scared. "Why, to care for and protect her until I rot away, sir.”

“And Bram?"Panic punched me in the chest. So far today she'd been willing to touch me, laugh with me, confide in me, and now she was wondering if Chas shouldn't go out with me? Had I misread something somewhere?Chas shook her head and grinned. "Nah. Bram's too busy waiting.""Waiting?" Nora didn't take her eyes from me. Maybe she wanted me to answer. "For the right girl," I said curtly. "And he has very specific physical preferences," Chas said. I grabbed her wrist and squeezed. She'd better not.She did. "For some reason, he is terribly attracted to black hair. Tom's a leg man, himself...attached, unattached, doesn't really mtter. But Bram likes the hair."With all the various methods of Chastity Disposal flying through my imagination-should I just shoot her, or should I open her skull and puree her brains with a motorized mixer, or perhaps set her on fire?-It took me a minute to notice me a very shy smile.I dropped Chas's wrist. I almost dropped my machete.Nora looked away and moved a few steps in front of us, leaping into the grass to flatten it for herself as she went."I win," Chas whispered."Smoke all you want," I whispered back.”

“I mean, I don't even like guys with light hair, for one thing! Never mind the fact that he'd knock me into a coma every time he opened his mouth. Oh, and that he's a hateful, violent half-wit. Yeah, that's prime courtship material right there."It wasn't me. YES!Wait. Was this that Allister fellow?I drifted over and sat next to her. She looked at me and offered the com unit. "Bram, tell Pamma that there's no way I would want Michael Allister, ever."I ran this through my "girl talk" translator and said, "I could eat him, if either of you'd like. Seems like it might be the easiest thing to do.”

“I ran this through my "girl talk" translator and said, "I could eat him, if either of you'd like. Seems like it might be the easiest thing to do."-Bram to Nora & Pamela”

“We were all quiet for a few moments before I broke the silence by saying, in my best upper-crust-girls'-school voice, "I am sure that all of you are really just suffering from some horrible disease, and that I should feel nothing but pity for you. If you let me go, I will organize a charity function that you will not believe. It will be, as our ancestors used to say, 'epic.'"There was some furious whispering before Bram responded with, "Ah, thank you, Miss, but we're already dead."I bit my lip. I was starting to crumble.”