It’s funny—it looks the same as my magical pretend ocean, but it feels different. The vastness of it guts me in the strangest of ways. As if each time a wave licks the sand, a piece of me goes with it. I end up standing there watching until I turn hollow—hollow in a way that leaves me open for something better, something new. So many possibilities exist on the endless horizon where the ocean never meets the sky.

I feel Roman standing at my shoulder, and I glance to see if the view has the same effect on him, but he’s not staring out at the water. He’s watching me.

I blush in the dimming light, and I’m not sure why.

“This place it too alive for vampires,” I say, ruining the moment because, once again, I need to focus.

He looks around. “I think that’s why they like it here. It’s as close to life as some of them are going to get.”

“Where do we even find one?”

“Our best bet is the far side—there’s a section closed down back there, and it makes for a perfect make-out spot for couples. That’s where we should go.” He pauses and clears his throat. “I mean, because that’s where the vampires will be.”

We keep walking, Roman half a step ahead of me, looking so out of place in slacks and suspenders that people glance at him. It’s a good thing we’re not spies.

Roasted corn, garlic fries, deep-fried everything, and the sweetness of cotton candy overpower the undercurrent of salty ocean breeze. I pause again in front of a booth dangling with pink, blue, and purple cotton candy bags, as if someone captured the disappearing sunset and sugared it.

“Do you want one?” Roman comes back to stand beside me.

The question startles me. I’m packing two stakes and four knives on me, and I want to rid the world of a vampire tonight. Now doesn’t seem like the time for cotton candy, and Roman’s always so hyper-focused on the task at hand that I can’t believe he’d offer. Must be a test. I start to say no, but he’s already walking away from me, handing the girl at the counter some money, and bringing back a bag of pink fluff.

I hold it in my hands and just stare at it for a second.