ya

When the time comes, don__ be afraid to open the door, just make sure you choose the right one.

Tangled onto the shuttle, we were being woven back and forth to create the same tapestry of despair and heartbreak and loss. It was so muchbigger than I could see before, and all I had done was stand at the centre of the web and feed it my anger and frustration and jealousy.

Without thinking, I step a little closer, reaching out slowly to slide a fingertip over the largest petal of the lily tattoo on her lower back. Instantly a vibration moves up my arm, and I swear the mark on my hand burns against my skin.I clench my fingers into a fist, but I don__ step away.__id you feel that?_ she asks.I shake my head. __ don__ know._ I feel so much, always so much.She takes my hand and brings it to her side again, resting it on the violets. I look at thepurple flowers between my fingers and feel the heat of her skin, the way it slides beneath my palm, soft as silk. And that vibration moves through my arm again.Her breath quickens.I find myself moving closer as her blue eyes go wide with wonder. My heart stutters and my chest aches with some unknown need.__re you doing this?_ I ask. Is she making me want this?__o,_ she breathes. The smell of her turns to spice, sharp and warm, and I know I__ sensing her now, even through the block in the house.We stand like that for an eternity, still as statues on the outside, but inside I__ running, running toward a place I__e never been. I should be terrified. But all I feel is strength. Rightness.And then Kara moves, her hands skimming up my chest, testing the boundaries. Her palms slide to my shoulders, her fingers tracing the line of the muscles in my arms, down to my waist. She grips my shirt, stretching it a little, waiting for me to tell her to stop. But I watch her lift it, let her pull it up, raising my arms, and I even take the last of it off myself, dropping it to the floor.We breathe, staring at each other.The vibrations move between us. My left arm buzzes with them. I think she__ doing it. Whatever__ happening, it__ her.I reach up and brush my marked knuckles across her cheek, amazed at the feel of her, the way her eyes seem to see everything, the way she pulls me into her. I can__ seem to remember why I shouldn__ kiss her. And kiss her. And . . .I kiss her, taking her face in both hands, skimming my thumb over her jaw as she leans into the touch, reaching out to curl her fingers around the back of my neck. I have to remind myself to breathe. I need more of her. The emotions roll over me in a rush, a tangle of sensation and movement, heat and sugar and heady aromas.I grip her tighter.Her nails dig into my shoulders. My hands slide down her spine. The kiss deepens, goes on forever, until I can barely see sense. I explore her shape, the feel of her ribs, the textures and taste of her skin on my tongue as I kiss her neck, her shoulders, her chest. As I draw trembling gasps from her lips, she grips me so hard it hurts.Our bodies mesh. Our breath mingles in frenzied desperation. Nothing else exists except her. Her warmth. Her spice. Her.

Everything changes, and there__ no denying that. But change isn__ always bad, as long as you hold onto who you truly are, and hold onto each other.

This is m-me._ I indicated the lonely track.__eally? What__ up there?_ He peered over my shoulder in genuine curiosity. __s there a house up there? You__e not a sylph or something that really does live wild, are you?

Oh r-really? Do t-tell?_ I quirked an eyebrow back at him.__ell, usually it__ best to take your shoes and socks off before you step in the stream, better balance on an uneven surface. Also, you avoid that unpleasant squelchy feeling when you wear the shoes again later._ He paused, smirking. __lso, if__ was going to paddle barefoot upstream in Yorkshire, I__ wait until at least May before I tried it. But you go ahead, love. You__e clearly a Spartan lass.

How did you get so scratched up then, Emlynn?_ He looked at me uncertainly again.I felt wildly like laughing. Too many swooping highs and plummeting lows. What a weird fewdays. Weird being a massive understatement.__r-Crawling through gorse bushes._ I took a perverse delight in answering his questions in a way that told him nothing at all. I__ never paid much attention to boys before. Maybe Grace was onto something after all.__rawling through gorse,_ he repeated. __art of your action-girl antics, no doubt?___-no doubt._ I smirked again.

Hey now, wait a second. When will I see you again? You can__ leave a poor lad dangling like that!__is look of bewilderment made me bite my lip to keep from laughing.__hy would you w-want to?_ The words were out before I could stop them. A rare occurrence for me. And now I seemed pathetically needy. Very attractive.__ecause I love a pair of pretty green eyes._ He grinned.

Love when you can, and fight when you must, but stand together and never give up, not to the enemy, and not on each other.

Dad looked more sheepish than I had ever seen him look in his life. It made him appear younger.__ scent. Your mother__ shampoo.

Maybe because I knew Haze and Kate so well by then the passage leapt out at me, clear and sharp as di

Oh r-really? Do t-tell?_ I quirked an eyebrow back at him.__ell, usually it__ best to take your shoes and socks off before you step in the stream, better balance on an uneven surface. Also, you avoid that unpleasant squelchy feeling when you wear the shoes againlater._ He paused, smirking. __lso, ifI was going to paddle barefoot __ was going to paddle barefoot upstream in Yorkshire, I__ wait until at least May before I tried it. But you go ahead, love. You__e clearly a Spartan lass.

Every time I had things straight in my head abouthim, I saw him smile or crook an eyebrow, and all my sensible reasons on why I couldn__ have feelings for him seemed redundant.

She looked at him and felt a dagger pierce her heart, then she felt a warm chocolate feeling swallow her senses.

We must seek the truth, not revenge._ -Michelle

I know he sees it, because for the briefest moment he drops his expressionless mask and the look in his eyes shows me he feels the same way. A mirror of every part of myself I can't bear to face.

He__ drowning, suffocating under the weight of my darkness and there__ nothing I can do to stop it.

Sometimes there's nothing you can do. Maybe sometimes promises had to be broken. Maybe sometimes you were doomed to failure from the start, no matter how hard you fought. But acknowledging your own helplessness was no consolation - if anything, it just made you feel worse.