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Chapters (86)
  1. Title Page
  2. CONTENTS
  3. Love
  4. Before
  5. One
  6. ONE
  7. Two
  8. TWO
  9. Three
  10. THREE
  11. Four
  12. FOUR
  13. Five
  14. FIVE
  15. Six
  16. SIX
  17. Seven
  18. SEVEN
  19. Eight
  20. EIGHT
  21. Nine
  22. NINE
  23. Ten
  24. TEN
  25. Eleven
  26. ELEVEN
  27. After
  28. One
  29. ONE
  30. Two
  31. TWO
  32. Three
  33. THREE
  34. Four
  35. FOUR
  36. Five
  37. FIVE
  38. Six
  39. SIX
  40. Seven
  41. SEVEN
  42. Eight
  43. EIGHT
  44. Nine
  45. NINE
  46. Ten
  47. TEN
  48. Eleven
  49. ELEVEN
  50. Twelve
  51. TWELVE
  52. Thirteen
  53. THIRTEEN
  54. Fourteen
  55. FOURTEEN
  56. Fifteen
  57. FIFTEEN
  58. Sixteen
  59. SIXTEEN
  60. Seventeen
  61. SEVENTEEN
  62. Eighteen
  63. EIGHTEEN
  64. Nineteen
  65. NINETEEN
  66. Twenty
  67. TWENTY
  68. Twenty-One
  69. TWENTY-ONE
  70. Twenty-Two
  71. TWENTY-TWO
  72. Twenty-Three
  73. TWENTY-THREE
  74. Twenty-Four
  75. TWENTY-FOUR
  76. Twenty-Five
  77. TWENTY-FIVE
  78. Twenty-Six
  79. TWENTY-SIX
  80. Twenty-Seven
  81. TWENTY-SEVEN
  82. Twenty-Eight
  83. TWENTY-EIGHT
  84. Eleven Months Later
  85. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  86. Copyright

So I go to Poppy, sliding between everyone on the makeshift dance floor until I find her in the middle. She throws her arms around my neck when she sees me, peppering my face with kisses. I tell her to get off, but I don’t want her to, because she’s never looked so alive. Her cheeks pink and her hairline glistening with sweat, the energy burning off her almost enough to kick start my long-dead heart.

‘This is all I want,’ she says into my ear, holding me tighter.

Twenty-Six

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TWENTY-SIX

I don’t know what time it is, but when I look up from the corner Poppy and I have retreated to, the living room is almost empty. Esen left to do a reap a while ago and when Dev approaches, her pink sequinned dress gone in favour of what she was wearing when I saw her in the bookshop earlier, I know that she has to leave to do the same.

So Poppy and I decide to go as well, hugging Dev goodbye as we part on the pavement outside the house.

‘What time is it?’ Poppy asks as she winds her yellow tartan scarf around her neck.

‘Shit,’ I mutter when I check my phone. ‘It’s almost half-three.’

Everything will be closed now, even in Brighton.

As I’m about to put it back in my jacket pocket, I get a message and say a little prayer that it’s not Deborah.

Luckily, it’s Esen.

If you get a reap, tell me and I’ll do it – E

I don’t even pretend to protest, replying immediately to thank her, then turning to Poppy.

‘You tired, babe? Do you want to head home?’

‘No.’ She shakes her head furiously as she tugs on her bobble hat like a toddler refusing to go to bed.

‘What do you want to do, then?’

‘Everything,’ she says, suddenly breathless, her eyes bright.

‘Like what?’

She thinks about it for a moment and I already know what she’s going to say.

‘Let’s go to the beach,’ she says, reaching for my hand. ‘Say goodnight to the moon.’

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