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Becausehedidn’t know that. He was only saying it so she’d fool around with him. Because probably he knew she adored him. Probably he’d caught her watching him countless times over the years. He must have felt pretty certain that she wanted him.

She wanted him, yes, but until now it had always been in a far-off fantasy kind of way. Up close, she had no idea what todowith him.

Now his face hovered over hers and his lips weren’t far away at all and his eyes looked different than they did in the yearbook picture Luce had gotten so used to.

And suddenly, she realized she didn’t know him very well at all.

But she wanted to. At the very least, she wanted to know what it felt like to be kissed, really kissed, pushed up against a wall and kissed intensely, until she was dizzy, until she was so filled with passion that there wasn’t any room for shadows or dark woods or a visit to the sanitarium.

“Luce? Are you okay?”

“Kiss me,” she whispered.

It didn’t feel quite right, but it was too late. Trevor’s lips parted and came down on hers. She opened her mouth but found it hard to kiss him back. Her tongue felt all tied up. She was struggling in his arms as if in a dream, trying not to fight the kiss, trying just to take it in and let it happen.

Trevor’s arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her to the bed. They sat down on the edge, still kissing. Her eyes were closed, but then she opened them. Trevor was staring directly at her.

“What?” she asked nervously.

“Nothing. You’re just so…beautiful.”

She didn’t know what say to that, so she laughed.

Trevor started kissing her again, his lips wet against her mouth, then her neck. She waited for the spark, for the fireworks Callie had told her about.

But everything about kissing was different than she’d expected. She wasn’t sure how she felt about Trevor, his tongue on hers, his roving hands. But he seemed to know a lot more about this than she did. She tried to go with it.

She heard something and pulled away from Trevor to look around the room. “What was that?”

“What was what?” Trevor said, nibbling her earlobe.

Luce glanced at the paneled wooden walls, but they were bare. She studied the fireplace, which was dark and still. For a second she thought she saw something—an ember, a flicker of yellow and red—but then it was gone.

“Are you sure we’re alone?” she asked.

“Of course.” Trevor’s hands gripped the bottom of her shirt, inching it up and over her head. Before she could say anything, she was sitting on the bright blue comforter in just her bra.

“Whoa,” Trevor said, holding his hand over his eyes like he was staring into the sun.

“What?” Luce winced, feeling pale and a little embarrassed.

“Everything’s so bright all of a sudden,” Trevor said, blinking. “Isn’t it?”

Luce thought she knew what he meant. Like something between them was lighting up the whole room. Was this the spark she’d been waiting for? She felt warm and alive, but also a little bit too aware of her body. And how exposed it was.

It made her uncomfortable. When he leaned into her again, her insides felt like they were burning, like she’d swallowed something hot. Then the whole cabin warmed and grew way too light. It was getting hard to breathe, and she was suddenly, sharply dizzy, her vision burning bright as if the blood was rushing from her head. She couldn’t see a thing.

Trevor grabbed her waist, but she began to pull away. She heard noises again, and she was sure someone else was there in the cabin, but she couldn’t see anyone, could only hear a growing racket, like the rasping of a thousand saws against a thousand metal sheets. She tried to move but felt like she was stuck, Trevor’s arms tightening around her. They gripped her rib cage until she thought he might break her bones, until his skin felt like it was burning into her flesh, until—

Until he was gone.

Someone was shaking Luce’s shoulders.

It was Shawna Clip. She was screaming.

“What did you do, Lucinda?”

Luce blinked and shook her head. She was sitting outside in the smoky black night. Her throat stung and her skin felt raw and freezing cold.