Page 54 of Exquisite Things

no idea how narcissistic you can be. I hear things. I have a musician’s ear. I know the difference between the squeak of her window and a fucking firebomb.”

Oliver never swears. Never swore. He’s changing.

“Okay, I’m sorry, let’s—”

He’s already out the door. I follow him to Maud’s room. An open window. A cold night breeze blowing through it. The sound

of carnage is louder without glass to shield it. She’s stuffed her bed with pillows. Snuck out to live life on her terms.

Oliver leaps out the window. Lands athletically. “Oliver!” He doesn’t answer. Starts running toward Railton Road. “Oliver!”

Lily would have barged in by now if she were up. I could wake her. But that’s not what I do. I jump out the window too. Land

hard on the pavement. Fall to my side. We may be immortal but we do feel pain. The impact hurts. The fear makes me forget

the pain. I chase him. He searches for her.

What I see stuns me.

Our neighborhood is burning.

Police hide behind their vehicles.

Young men and women smash bricks into police cars. Drag cops out of their cars. Fight back. Make the police answer for their

crimes. For their suspicions .

The George burns. The buildings around it still stand. Maud stands outside the old pub. Oliver finds her. I catch up to them.

We stand side by side. Watch the place burn down.

“Old racist pub.” There’s a smile on Maud’s face as she watches it disappear.

“It’s not the pub that was racist. It’s the assholes who worked there.” Oliver takes Maud’s hand in his. They laugh uproariously.

“What’s so funny?” I turn to them. I feel excluded. “Let’s go home.”

“This is our home.” Maud’s eyes can’t glow like ours. But they can light up with fury. “And it’s about time they understood

that you don’t come to a person’s home and lock them up for living.”

Maud runs into the road. Raises her fist up in the air. High-fives every brother and sister she sees. Joins the chants. Unleashes

her power.

“We have to get her home now.” Oliver turns to me. “She can’t be out here all night.”

I follow Oliver as he chases after Maud. Police wield their weapons against the protesters. Beat them with batons. Point their

guns. Young protesters throw petrol bombs at police cars. I watch one burn. Oliver must be looking in a different direction

because he suddenly screams—

“MAUD.”

Oliver bolts toward Maud. A petrol bomb flies in the sky. Toward a police car. Maud directly in its path.

“MAUD, MOVE.”

Oliver leaps. Pushes her down to the ground. The petrol bomb misses her. Misses the car too. Hits Oliver. His hair catches

fire.

A blaze.

“OLIVER.” Panic on Maud’s face. Her eyes full of regret. Fear. “Bram, help, what do we do?”

I see a woman sleeping on the street. Thick blanket on her feet.

Watching the destruction with a resigned lack of surprise on her face.

I don’t have time to ask for permission.

I snatch the blanket. Leap into the blaze.

Wrap Oliver in the blanket. The blaze engulfs me too.

We’re both aflame. Maud screams. The agony of her voice.

No one else seems to notice us. Too many other burning things to look at. I wrap the blanket around us tight.

Oliver’s voice in my ear. Hopeful. “Bram, maybe this is it? Maybe this fire will burn away our immortality. Do you have the

last page with you?”

I always keep it with me. Just in case. I push us down to the ground. Roll around on the pavement until the flames have gone

out.

“Bram, tell me if you have it!”

“I do.” Fire made us this way. Will these flames reverse our immortality just as flames once made us immortal?

But nothing happens. We emerge unsinged. Unharmed. Alive. I pull the page out of my pocket. I put out the fire before it could

burn. I put it safely back.

Maud stands above us. Shocked. “Are you all right? I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. This would never have happened if I hadn’t

snuck out.”

“We’re okay.” I touch Oliver’s skin. Still as smooth as ever. Mine too. Our eyes still glow orange.

Maud leans forward and touches us too. A hand on Oliver’s cheek. A hand on mine. “I don’t understand. You’re not hurt.”

“It’s a miracle.” I look at Maud.

She doesn’t look like she believes in miracles. “It don’t make sense.” She runs a hand through Oliver’s hair. “It’s not burned.

You’re fine. You’re both... fine.”

I try to end her suspicions with a joke. “The power of Lily’s antiaging creams.”

Oliver leaps up. “Let’s go home.”

“Not until you tell me why you’re not hurt.” Maud helps me up. Looks at me with desperate eyes. “I know there’s something

different about you. I’ve always felt it. Tell me.”

“Tell you what?” I brush her off. “We got lucky.”

“Lucky?” Maud touches my skin. Then Oliver’s. “You’re not even slightly burned.”

Oliver takes Maud’s hand. Looks into her eyes. I’m afraid he’s going to tell her everything. A part of me hopes he does. “Maud,

listen.” A deep breath. “You have to trust us.”

Maud’s lips quiver. She has questions. She’s afraid of the answers.

Oliver continues. “Don’t tell Lily. If you do, she’ll know you snuck out.”

“But that’s— Well, it’s nothing compared to... what you did... what you are.” She breathes out forcefully. “What are

you?”

I put a hand on Maud’s shoulder. “He saved your life, Maud. If Oliver hadn’t been here, it would’ve been you who burned.”

“I know, but—”

“Maud, please. He saved your life. This is how he wants you to thank him.”

She stares at us for an interminable minute. Another petrol bomb. The sound of violence. We have no choice but to go home.

Nobody says another word. We climb in through Maud’s open window. Maud agrees not to say anything. Her suspicions will be

all her own. A horrible distrust that I can already feel driving a wedge between us.