There was a great deal of reshuffling to be done... There was a great deal of reshuffling to be done in Jeb's caves, and the move to the big game
room–now the communal sleeping quarters–was good preparation for more permanent
arrangements to follow
Every space was needed, so rooms could not remain vacantStill, only the newcomers,
Candy–who had remembered her correct name at last–and Lacey, could bear to take Wes's old
spaceI pitied Candy for her future roommate, but the Healer never betrayed any discontent at
the prospect
When the rains ended, Jamie would move into a free corner in Brandt and Aaron's cave
Melanie and Jared had kicked Jamie out of their room and into Ian's before I'd been reborn in
Pet's body; Jamie wasn't so young that they'd needed to give him any excuse
Kyle was working on widening the small crevice that had been Walter's sleeping space so that
it would be ready when the desert was dry againIt really wasn't big enough for more than one,
and Kyle would not be staying there alone
At night in the game room, Sunny slept
chanel classic handbags curled into a ball against Kyle's chest, like a kitten who
was friends with a big dog–a rottweiler whom she trusted implicitlySunny wasalways with
KyleI couldn't remember ever seeing them unattached since I'd opened these silver gray eyes
for the first time
Kyle seemed constantly bemused, too distracted by this impossible relationship he couldn't
quite wrap his head around to pay attention to much elseHe wasn't giving up on Jodi, but as
Sunny clung to him, he held her to his side with gentle hands
Before the rain, every space was taken, so I stayed with Doc in the hospital that no longer
frightened meThe cots were not comfortable, but it was a very interesting place to beCandy
remembered the details of Summer Song's life better than her own; the hospital was a place of
miracles now
After the rain, Doc would not be sleeping in the hospital anymoreThe first night in the game
room, Sharon had dragged her mattress right next to Doc's without a word of explanation
Perhaps it was Doc's fascination
replicas bolsas with the Healer that motivated Sharon, though I doubted Doc
had even noticed how pretty the older woman was; his fascination was with her phenomenal
knowledgeOr maybe it was just that Sharon was ready to forgive and forgetI hoped that was
the caseIt would be nice to think that even Sharon and Maggie might be softened over time
I would not stay in the hospital anymore, either
The crucial conversation with Ian might never have taken place if not for JamieMy mouth
would go all dry and my palms would sweat whenever I so much as thought of bringing it up
What if those feelings in the hospital, those few perfect moments of certainty right after I'd
awoken in this body, had been illusion? What if I remembered them wrong? I knew that nothing
had changed for me, but how could I be certain Ian felt the same? The body he'd fallen in love
with was still right here!
I expected him to be unsettled–we all wereIf it was difficult for me, a soul used to such
changes, how hard must it be for the humans?
I was
top chanel bags working to put the last of the jealousy and the perplexing echoes of the love I still felt for
Jared behind meI didn't need or want themIan was the right partner for meBut sometimes I
would catch myself staring at Jared and feel confusedI'd seen Melanie touch Ian's arm or hand
and then jerk away as if she'd suddenly remembered who she wasEven Jared, who had the least
reason for uncertainty, would occasionally meet my confused gaze with a searching one of his
ownAnd Ian… Of course it must have been hardest for him
We were together nearly as much as Kyle and SunnyIan constantly touched my face and hair,
was always holding my handsBut who did not respond to this body that way? And wasn't it
platonic for everyone else? Why didn't he kiss me again, the way he had that first day?
Maybe he could never love me inside this body, as appealing as it seemed to be to all the other
humans here
That worry was heavy in my heart the night Ian had carried my cot–because it was too heavy
for me–to the big,
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It was raining for the first time in more than six monthsThere were both laughter and
complaints as people shook out their damp bedding and arranged their placesI saw Sharon with
Doc and smiled
“Over here, Wanda,” Jamie called, waving me toward where he'd just set his mattress next to
Ian's“There's room for all three of us now
Jamie was the one person who treated me almost exactly the same as beforeHe did make
allowances for my puny physique, but he never seemed surprised to see me enter a room or
shocked when Wanderer's words came through these lips
“You don't really want that cot, do you, Wanda? I'll bet we could all fit okay on the mattresses
if we shoved them together Jamie grinned at me while he kicked one mattress into the other
without waiting for agreement“You don't take up much space
He took the cot from Ian and set it on its side, out of the wayThen Jamie stretched out on the
very edge of the far mattress and turned his back to us
“Oh, hey, Ian,” he added without
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