“Nah,” Daphne says with a big yawn, reaching for her suitcase and lifting it up onto the bed to flick it open. “I brought my own.” We get ready for bed pretty quickly, with Daphne’s face cracking with yawn after yawn. We chat a little bit, winding down from our day as we brush our teeth, get chang
I move fast down the hall, Jackson at my heels, and I hope desperately that we’re lucky enough to evade the guards who prowl these halls at night. I mean, we haven’t had a problem with being attacked in our own Palace…ever? So the guards are few and far between. But still, we’ve got to move fast – b
“I think so,” I say, giving a little shrug. “That’s what she called it when mom and Cora talked to her, after all. A ‘gift.’ She said all of her grandchildren would be likewise gifted. Do you know where yours comes from?” Slowly he shakes his head. “No idea.” “Well, maybe it’s also a gift,” I sa
“I was a catastrophe of a person,” Jackson groans, laughing softly as he presses his eyes shut and remembers his first few days in the city. “I was…so shocked by the noise, Ariel, and the pavement – god, stone and metal everywhere - and the people. God, I didn’t think that there were that many peopl
“I hate that,” I murmur, working to press myself closer to him, even though that’s not really possible. “I hate the idea of you scared, and alone, and talking to girls when I was just like…half a city away.” “But you were engaged,” he says, his voice strange – I think a little amused? I don’t know
“I mean, there was a tv in the living room of the boarding house,” Jackson says on a sigh, even as he starts to laugh. “But…before they showed me what it was for, I thought it was a computer.” “So, you knew what a computer was,” I say, grinning, “but not a tv?” “Yup,” he says, smiling down at me
His brow furrows as he tries to remember. “There was one, um…about the six friends? Who all lived in apartments across a hall from each other? Three guys and three girls?” “Besties,” I say, immediately supplying the name of the old sitcom we’ve all watched a thousand times, smiling softly because
A tiny groan escapes Jackson’s lips as he pulls me tighter, moving his mouth slowly over mine, cupping my face in his wide palm as he kisses me breathless. Things move fast, as they always do with us, and it feels like hardly a moment has passed before my hand wraps in the fabric of his t-shirt, pul