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Chapters (53)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Letter from the Author
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Contents
  6. • One •
  7. • Two •
  8. • Three •
  9. • Four •
  10. • Five •
  11. • Six •
  12. • Seven •
  13. • Eight •
  14. • Nine •
  15. • Ten •
  16. • Eleven •
  17. • Twelve •
  18. • Thirteen •
  19. • Fourteen •
  20. • Fifteen •
  21. • Sixteen •
  22. • Seventeen •
  23. • Eighteen •
  24. • Nineteen •
  25. • Twenty •
  26. • Twenty-One •
  27. • Twenty-Two •
  28. • Twenty-Three •
  29. • Twenty-Four •
  30. • Twenty-Five •
  31. • Twenty-Six •
  32. • Twenty-Seven •
  33. • Twenty-Eight •
  34. • Twenty-Nine •
  35. • Thirty •
  36. • Thirty-One •
  37. • Thirty-Two •
  38. • Thirty-Three •
  39. • Thirty-Four •
  40. • Thirty-Five •
  41. • Thirty-Six •
  42. • Thirty-Seven •
  43. • Thirty-Eight •
  44. • ∞ •
  45. • Thirty-Nine •
  46. • Forty •
  47. Epilogue
  48. Acknowledgments
  49. Excerpt from Be Dazzled
  50. One
  51. Two
  52. About the Author
  53. Back Cover

Kane wanted so badly to respond, but he couldn’t find the words. A new, burning agony brimmed behind his eyes. He didn’t know why he was about to cry, or why the question felt like such an invasion.

Adeline pulled to the side of the road and parked the car.

“Kane, you need to know something, and I couldn’t tell you with Ursula and Elliot there. They know what happened the night of the incident, but not everything.” She turned to face him. “You asked me to do what I did. When that crown was taking over you, you grabbed me and begged me to destroy your memories. Told me to destroy everything. And I didn’t know what to do, so I listened to you. And it worked. The crown let you go, and you survived.”

She looked at Kane, something like hatred in her big, brown eyes.

“And it kills me that I listened. I think of the person you used to be, and I hate myself for destroying him, too.”

The air thinned to nothing. To poison. Kane died upon each word, sure he couldn’t take another breath of whatever Adeline was saying. This wasn’t his fault.

This wasn’t his fault.

“Poesy is manipulating you,” Adeline went on. “Can’t you see? She’s setting you up and breaking us apart. Again. You need to forget about that crown. I’m sure she’s the one who gave the crown to you, to trigger your blowup. And maybe she stole away Maxine Osman’s reverie, too. And now she’s back, to finish what she started, to finish—”

Kane grabbed his backpack and bolted. He left Adeline in her idling car, passenger door swung wide. He left her like he’d once left Ursula: running away, determined to take the long way home.

• Twenty-Three •

Sea Foam

The following days were bright and crisp, announcing the official end of September with the onset of October’s subtle moodiness. And October was promising everything: cool breezes, tinges of yellow brushing the trees, milky clouds dragging shadows over the suburb—they were the details Kane always looked forward to. October was the month he loved most.

But Kane was not in a loving mood.

At all.

“Honey, you’ve been brooding for days,” his mom said. She and Sophia had convinced Kane to come shopping with them in preparation for a barbecue in honor of their dad’s birthday tonight. They did it every year, even when it was too cold.

“For years,” his sister added.

Kane ignored Sophia, which he was incredible at by now. If there were an Olympics for ignoring Sophia, Kane would be unrivaled.

“Did something happen at school?”

“Yeah, tell Mom what’s up at school, Kane.”