“Everything is suddenly new and the most trivial things become beautiful. It’s easy to be absorbed in
your new senses and forget who you were before.”
“I know who I am,” Snod said stubbornly.
“You haven’t asked once about your brother,” Frankie pointed out with a sad smirk, “and you still
haven’t said a word about Rees.”
Snod was startled, blinking a few times as he realized Frankie was right. Rees was dead, and he had
last seen Athaliah handcuffed to his bed. He pressed his hands against his face, a deep pain plunging
into his heart and then fading almost as quickly as it appeared.
“Obe,” Frankie soothed lovingly, kissing him, “it’s okay.”
“What’s wrong with me?” Snod asked hoarsely.
“You’re a vampire,” Frankie replied gently. “It’s easy to forget. But I won’t let you. It took me a long
time to remember...”
Because of what Terrell did to me...
“He wanted you to be this way,” Snod whispered brokenly. “To be this... empty.”
“Yes,” Frankie said, tilting Snod into the water to rinse him off, “but you can fight it. You can wake up
from it.”
“Athaliah’s okay?” Snod asked urgently, forcing himself to focus.
“He’s fine,” Frankie chuckled. “Lorenzo is getting his arm set at the hospital, Athaliah is trying to un-
brainwash Ephraim, and from what I understand? He’s, ahem, become very fond of Amy.”
“Really?” Snod snorted in disbelief.
“He refused to be seen by the doctors at the hospital, but he apparently let Amy patch him up,”
Frankie laughed. “Athaliah said he’s totally in love.”
“I hope so,” Snod said, surprised by how much he meant it.
“Everyone is fine,” Frankie repeated, hesitating to add, “Well...”
Almost everyone...
“Rees is really gone,” Snod said, frowning.
“Yes,” Frankie said sadly, “he was my friend, and he... I am going to miss him very much. He was
like a father to me in a way, and he was always so kind.”
“Me, too,” Snod said, a wave of sadness coming over him. He didn’t know if it was Frankie’s
mourning or his own, but he held onto it tightly before it slipped away again.
