22.
HIDE-AND-PEEK
IT HAD TAKEN MUCH LESS TIME THAN I'D THOUGHT—all the terror, despair, and the shattering sealing of my heart. The minutes were ticking by more slowly than ever before. Jasper still hadn't come back when I returned to Alice. I was afraid to be in the same room with her, afraid that she would guess my secret... and I was afraid to hide from her for the same reason.
I would have thought I was far beyond the ability to be surprised, my thoughts tortured as they were, but I was surprised when I saw Alice bent over the desk, gripping the edge with two hands.
"Alice?"
She didn't react when I called her name, but her head was slowly rocking side to side, her bare buttocks and clean-shaven area mimicking the motion, and I saw her face. Her