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 Alice, I hate to break it to you, but I already kind of am. Milo looked rather sheepish as he put
away the last of the groceries in the fridge, and then turned to face me.
 Well, they re super rich or whatever, but you just live with them, I gulped down the juice and
chomped on the stick.
 Yeah, but&  He shifted uneasily, probably fearing the worst from my reaction.  I m like part of
the family now. So, Mae and Ezra set up credit cards and an expense account for me the other
day, and Ezra s working on documents to legally change my name to Milo Townsend. Once that s
through, I m going to get a driver s license, but it s going to say that I m 18, since I can pass for it
now and it ll be easier to get things done that way.
 Nah ah, I gaped at him.  You have an expense account?
 Yeah, I mean, it s just easier that way. So I can buy my own things. He shrugged, then added.
 And groceries for you too! I m spreading it around!
 But&  My face crinkled in distress.  But that s their money. Don t you feel bad about taking it?
 Not really, Milo admitted timidly.  I mean, I didn t really feel bad about taking Mom s money. As
soon as I m able to, and as soon as they ll let me, I m gonna start working. So& I ll pull my own
share. But I m kind of a kid right now, and they just adopted me. I guess I d feel worse about
taking their money if they were poor or something.
 They are adopting you, aren t they? It was starting to hit me in a weird way that Milo wasn t
really my brother anymore. He was, and he always would be, but at the same time, he wasn t.
 Milo Townsend?
 Yeah, it sounds weird, right? He wrinkled his nose, and I felt a little better knowing it was
strange for him too.
 Whose last name is that anyway? I went back to chewing on the wooden Popsicle stick and
trying to seem casual about Milo s news.
 I think its Ezra s. I think Jack s is really Hobbs, and Mae s is Everly, but I don t really know what
Peter s was. He leaned back against the refrigerator, watching me swing my feet and chew on
the stick.  They don t really talk much about Peter.
 That s not surprising. The wood had started to splinter so I tossed the stick in the garbage can
and looked over at him.  What do they say about him?
 Mae told me about you guys being bonded and about how Peter nearly killed you before. A
shudder ran over him at that.  Why didn t you tell me about that?
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 How could I? I countered.  You weren t supposed to know they were vampires. It d be pretty
weird to just say, oh yeah, Peter tried to drink all my blood, without a preface about them being
immortal.
 How could you not tell me all this stuff? Milo insisted, looking hurt and offended.  This stuff that
was going on with you, it was huge! Jack told me how you were going to turn last spring, but you
changed your mind because of me. And I appreciate that, I really do, but you almost did it! And
you wouldn t have told me about it? You were trying to make the biggest decision of your life, and
you didn t mention anything to me!
 I couldn t tell you anything! I cracked my neck loudly and got frustrated with his accusations.  No
matter what you say, the answer is going to be that I couldn t tell you anything! They told me not
to! They said it would be better for you if you never knew, and I raised the same argument! How
would it be better for me to just disappear instead of telling you something. And they said it would
be too hard for you to live a normal life while knowing that they exist.
 But you could ve made up something, Milo shook his head.  You could ve just told me about the
whole triangle thing with Peter and Jack, and said you were thinking about running away with one
of them. That was close to the truth.
 I don t know. I didn t think of it, I guess, I sighed.  Look, I m sorry I didn t tell you anything. But at
least I can talk to you about it now, right?
 On the subject of which, Milo grinned mischievously at me and titled his head.  What s this I
hear about you kissing Jack last night?
 Word travels fast, I grumbled, avoiding his eyes and what they insinuated.
 Come on. There s like four people in that house. You re the only word there, Milo laughed,
shaking his head.  What else would we really talk about?
 Things, I replied vaguely.
Looking down at my feet made me realize how badly the dark purple nail polish was chipping on
my toes. In order to reach it better, I pulled my knee to my chest and started chipping at the nail
polish with my fingers.
 That s really hygienic. Milo nodded to my foot being on the counter, and I stuck my tongue out at
him.
 What do you care? You don t eat here anymore. Then I smiled, almost sadly.  Hell, you don t
even eat anymore. Or get sick. I don t think this is really an issue for you.
 You re avoiding the major issue, he looked at me sternly. Swiftly, he pulled out a kitchen chair [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]