y

car, or worse, hadn't hired a limo for whatever

l person might actually own, even if "normal" w

nd the space between us felt smaller than it had a

nough that the distance felt deliberate. I tried to focus on the blur of hea

ion was

glances at him, and failing anyway. My reflection in the glass looked

m, my pulse tripped over itself, and I hated how little control I seemed to have over any of it. It

Alex throug

d like a small ongoing war with Milo about it in the driveway. His hair was still a little messy, bu

just kept coming, thicker, darker, pressing closer to the car with every mile until the headlights were the only real lig

sked, trying to keep my

r," Ale

t exactly

as stations, no other cars, nothing to suggest civilization existed anywhere nearby, just endless t

esn't feel like function territory," I said. "This feels li

too cheerful for someone driving through what lo

someone would say bef

the seat between us, like some instinct in him wanted to close the distance even if the rest of him was holdi

" he said again. "Do

I very much did not. I pressed my lips together, forcin

a moment later the trees finally broke open and a building came into v

e, stone and glass rising up out of the forest like it had grown there instead o

sure cost more than my entire life lined a circular dri

turned to Alex, my mouth already forming a question I didn't have words for yet. He didn't

nnounced, "to the

for the first time all night, the nerves in my ches

him alone. He was out of the vehicle so fast that before I'd even processed we'd stop

plating whether it was socially acceptable to

ag, stalling, but Alex's

to me, and I hesitated hal

urged. "I'll k

, something like a electric current snapped up my arm, sha

elt it, or he was better at hiding it

s steadier than I expected given how loudly

gging at something I hadn't even known was crooked, muttering about fabric like it w

k tonight?" Alex asked, lifting my ha

lips, it was more to cover the sudden warmth f

aid. "I'm only

that," he said, holdin

I've repa

he time to

enough that I actually flinched. My spine snapped straight an

air swept back, shoulders broad enough to block out half the doorway behind him. His face was b

ze lifted toward the top of the stair

, staring back at the man