Jamie

Last night felt like a whirlwind.

I usually loved the parties Magnus threw, but last night the flying had left me shaken and panicked, afraid of everything from the Island coming back for me, right up until the moment Eddie had shouted at me to stop running. It was an incredible thing, having a night turn around so completely, but within less than half an hour with Eddie, I had gone from feeling as if my chest was being crushed by some awfully heavy weight, to feeling like I could fly without any help from the beads. Like I could fly and it would be the most wonderful thing in the world instead of the most frightening.

And Eddie loved me. Nothing could be frightening after that.

When Eddie suggested we go to Elio's instead of going back to the Home, I had jumped at the chance to spend the night with him instead of in a completely different room. I hated that the Home had separated us once they found out what was going on, but I also knew I couldn't do anything about it.

This was good, though. It was nice. Even having to sleep on a couch didn't make it any less comfortable. I had spent years sleeping under the roots of a tree, sleeping peacefully and comfortably on a dirt floor with a dozen other boys and their skinny limbs draped across me. Pressing close to Eddie on a couch wasn't a hardship at all. I would have stayed here forever if I could.

Except right now I had to pee. I carefully extricated myself from where I was sleeping and yanked on my clothes before I tiptoed down the hall to the bathroom. I still wasn't sure how strange Oliver found my presence to be, so I didn't want to wake him by accident. I was as quiet as possible, but on the way back to the couch I spotted Elio out on the patio and went in that direction instead.

"Hi," I said, my voice soft. "Good morning."

I understood a lot of Halloween traditions in Darrow, as they were similar to things we had done back in London, and it was nice to have something so familiar and comforting as that. I was excited for it, I enjoyed knowing it was something that didn't make me feel entirely out of place, even though some aspects weren't quite the same.

The haunted houses, for example, were very new.

I had already been to one with Eddie and some of the other kids from the home, but it seemed like there was a new one nearly every weekend. When Elio asked if I wanted to go, I nearly jumped at the chance, because I had liked the first one so much. Being scared, as it turned out, when there wasn't really anything to be truly afraid of, was an exhilarating kind of experience. I had laughed and screamed and jumped in the last haunted house, clutching Eddie's hand or Beverly's shoulder, and I wanted to do it again.

I was waiting impatiently outside of the Home for Elio. I had been told I had a curfew, as usual, but that was okay. I had some money in my pocket for the entrance fee and for dinner if we wanted to have some. Mostly I was excited for the haunted house, though. I couldn't wait. I hoped Elio was the sort to scream.