When Seb and I had been talking on the balcony earlier, there’d been so much to say that we’d just kind of skirted around the edges of it all, with the unspoken understanding that as soon as we could, we’d be sitting down for a long talk. I wanted that desperately. There was so much I needed to know: to ask if what I’d been experiencing with my angel was normal; to find out more about his life; to compare a thousand and one experiences and see if things had been the same for him.

But as we’d been talking, I’d also been scalp-tinglingly aware of Seb, even standing several feet away from me. It wasn’t because of how attractive he was – and he really was gorgeous; you’d have to be unconscious not to notice – it was just...him. His energy, so like my own. The memory of our hands together; how that had felt. It had been a huge relief when Alex had shown up and I could make my escape.

You don’t even know him, I told myself.

Except that wasn’t true. I did know Seb. Maybe not all the details of his life yet, but the kind of person he was, yes. And now I could feel him sitting beside me. Not only his physical presence, but his energy. We were close enough that our two auras were touching, and though I never really noticed this with Alex unless I concentrated, with Seb it was like I’d just gained an extra sense – one that tingled through me like electricity. His aura was so alive, so buoyant. I could feel it drifting through my own, just like mine was drifting through his. Intermingling. Exploring.

My cheeks heated. Abruptly, I tried to bring my aura back to myself but we couldn’t avoid each other – we were sitting too close. I felt Seb notice; try and fail to pull his own aura completely away. Now there was a sense of gentle, teasing apology where his aura mingled with mine, and I gritted my teeth. Wonderful. I was inadvertently playing aura-footsie with him.

And meanwhile, the silence had not become any less deafening.

“Okay, come on everyone, this is stupid,” said Alex finally. “He’s a member of the team. We can trust him. Just...act normal, all right? Please, for the love of god, before my brain starts to bleed.”

For a moment no one spoke. Finally Kara said, “So, Willow, maybe you could tell us more about what you saw today, when the Council arrived.”