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The girl was crawling toward Spin. He didn’t falter in his story, only watched her from the corner of his eye. When she reached his legs, she pulled herself into his lap and nestled her head over his heart, her hands clasped under her chin like a child praying. He brought his arms up and around her in slow motion, as if afraid to startle her, then laid his cheek on the top of her head. She shuddered once and closed her eyes.

“There, now,” he murmured into her tangled hair. “It’s all right. You’re not alone anymore.”

A solitary tear traced its way down her cheek.

#

As the early winter dusk darkened the sky, we finally admitted there wasn’t much more we could do. We’d investigated every inch of the place and found no helpful tools or equipment. There was a little place on the garage door windows where Jax had managed to scrape off the black paint, but the view wasn’t encouraging. Several demons milled about outside and he saw at least one human armed with a machine gun.

Even if we broke out, we’d be caught or killed in seconds. Nephilim were as vulnerable to bullets as any living creature.

Hungry, tired, and discouraged, we decided to try to sleep.

The cots weren’t bad. They were more like roll-away guest beds than the taut canvas cots I’d been expecting, and they were large. There were pillows and blankets, too, that all seemed in good, clean condition. We’d be sleeping more comfortably tonight than we had since we’d started hiking.

Then the girl refused to release her hold on Spin. He tried talking to her,Itried talking to her, but she wouldn’t budge.

“She’s like a little monkey,” Tara snickered.

“And Spin’s the mommy monkey?” Maddy laughed.

“Please!” Spin whined. “At least call me thedaddymonkey.”

I giggled with the others.

With a sigh, he gave in. He picked up the girl, carried her to a bed, and laid her on it, then sat beside her to kick off his boots. She rolled over and curved around his back like a magnet to metal.

“Uh, I don’t feel right about this.” His face flushed. “You know, sleeping in a bed with her.”

“Dude, you’re both fully clothed and surrounded by other people,” Jax said. “Are you planning to feel her up in the dark?”

“No!”

“Then slide in there with her and be quiet so we can get some shut-eye!”

“Why me?” he moaned. “One of the girls should sleep with her.”

“Listen, Spin, you’re the one who coaxed her into latching onto you in the first place. Now that she has, you’ll have to man up and take one for the team.” Chance’s voice was rich with laughter.

I grinned as he continued to razz Spin, whose discomfort increased with the teasing.

It was the girl herself who finally settled matters. Still draped bonelessly around Spin as he perched on the edge of the bed, she started to make little hurt sounds in the back of her throat.

Spin panicked.

“Oh, no, don’t do that, little monkey! I’ll stay! Just don’t cry. I’ll stay with you!”

As he spoke, he twisted around and half-lifted, half-shoved the girl over, then crawled in with her.

“Monkey.” Chance snorted. “I’m sure she’s gonnalovethat nickname.”

I listened to Spin murmuring to the girl in a tender tone, the words too soft to make out, until my conscience bit at me.

She may be too broken to fix.The mind is fragile, even a nephilim’s. And, for all we know, she’s a normal human. Their minds are far easier to break and much harder to heal. Chance knows it, too. Why hasn’t he said something? We have to warn Spin of that possibility.

I yawned, drowsy now.

But not until tomorrow.Tomorrow will be soon enough for a dose of reality.

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