“You sound disappointed.” Shane’s voice came out faint and thready, and he put his head back against the cushions as he squeezed his eyes shut. “Damn, I hate this. I really do.”I know,” Oliver said. “Your blood reeks of it.”

“Then his eyes glazed over for a second. 'I go places sometimes,' he told me, his voice as thready as his eyes. 'Don't know why I go places... I just do.”

“I wanted to be alone with him. Really alone. "Maybe we should take this back to my place." He lifted his head to look at me, a strange expression on his face. I let out a nervous giggle. "That sounded better in my head.""It sounded pretty damn good out of it.”

“I slammed the back door shut and gave Caspian a look.He put both hands up in the air, "What? I didn't do anything.""No. But you wanted to. And besides, we don't really know yet what can you do.""Well, I know I can't make people disappear," he muttered darkly "or else he would have been gone a half an hour ago"I was shocked at how serious he sounded, and then I looked into his eyes, "You're jealous!""He wanted to kiss you!"Now I was dumbfounded, "How do you know that?""Because," he said, running a hand through his hair and pushing it back "It's what I'd want to do”

“How did you know to turn back?" I said.With his head still down, he said, "I waited for you.""But its a race. Why did you wait for me?"He lifted his head so that his eyes met mine. "I always wait for you." He took a deep breath, my ankle still in his hands. "I'm always waiting for you."In an embarrassingly breathless voice that didn't sound like my own, I said, "Because I'm so slow?"He smiled. "Yes. But not in the way that you think.”

“Oliver...''What?''I do like you.''But?''I just don't want you to think that I'm... that is, I'm really not looking for...''Hey.' I could hear the faint smile in his voice. 'It's a book, not an etching.”