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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

‘OK.’ I finally summon the strength to stand up. The muscles in my legs protest at the effort, but I manage to remain upright out of sheer stubbornness, if nothing else. ‘I have no idea what’s happening here or what you’re getting out of this, but I’m not dead.’ I hold my arms out and raise my eyebrows at Deborah. ‘So, as much fun as this has been, I’m going to go, because clearly, you’re all out of your minds.’

Dev gapes at me as I step over the blanket which has pooled around my feet. ‘Where are you going?’

‘Home,’ I tell her over my shoulder as I head for the door.

Three

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THREE

As soon as I get out into the street, I check my pockets.

They’re empty.

No phone.

No keys.

No wallet.

Brilliant.

I look at the bookshop, ready to go in and demand them back, but all I have in my wallet is whatever change Nish gave me in the mini-mart. If Deborah wants to keep that and my shitty phone with the smashed screen, she’s welcome to it.

Something tells me I’m getting off lightly.

I don’t linger, another tingle of dread tripping down my spine as I check that she hasn’t followed me before heading towards North Street. I want to run, but I’m suddenly horribly woozy, like when you sit up too quickly and have to sit down again. But I can’t sit down, I have to go, and I don’t know whether it’s the shock of what just happened or my desperation to put as much distance between myself and the bookshop as possible, but my legs are shivering so much it’s all I can do to put one foot in front of the other.

The fact that it’s so quiet doesn’t help. Admittedly, I’ve never been in this part of town so late, but usually it’s littered with people and there’s no one here now – not a soul – which freaks me out almost as much as what just happened in the bookshop.

Someone has left a trail of hot-pink feathers like breadcrumbs that lead to a boa that is curled up in the middle of the road. Whoever dropped it was probably too drunk to notice that it had fallen off and is now long gone. So it’s just me and the feather boa and something about it makes me shiver, like I’m a character in a zombie movie, or something.

Like I’m the only person left on earth.