“I always thought it’d be fun to sign them up to a dating agency,” said Dante, “One of the proper big ones from the city, you know?”

“Oh, I know all about them,” grinned Lysander, “Helena hacked her way into their databases a few months ago. Talk about an embarrassing setback for the company – they had to explain how a thirteen-year-old girl changed everyone’s status to ‘polygamous and up for it’!”

Dante laughed again. Phantasia couldn’t believe the sound she was hearing or the sight of his aura. Maybe this was her chance to open him up and banish those antisocial walls forever! She skipped out from her hiding place and towards the boys.

“Dante! Dante, I was wondering where you got to!” she cried, her skip turning into a run as she did her best to look like she’d only just noticed him, “Why didn’t you tell me you were going this way?”

The moment Dante noticed her, however, his barriers returned.

“Looks like the crazy girl caught up after all,” said Lysander, winking at Dante and taking a few steps away, “Don’t let us get in the way of your super-awesome date!”

By the time Phantasia reached him, Dante’s aura was back how it started: dense and impenetrable, while Lysander and Angelo were frolicking off down the street.

“You don’t give up, do you,” said Dante, shoving his hands in pockets and avoiding her eyes.

“I was worried…”

“Look, if I tell you everything will you leave me alone?”

“Well…I…don’t know? I’m just trying to friendly!”

Dante glanced back at her. “Fine, I’ll tell you, okay? We’ll go someplace private and I’ll tell you. I’m fed up with you dragging me around and following me and trying to interfere in my life. Maybe if you know the truth you’ll keep away.”

This wasn’t how she’d wanted it to be. She’s hoped Dante would open up to her as a friend, not in anger! She couldn’t deny him the chance to release his demons though, and followed him as he strode through the streets without saying another word. By some strange coincidence the private spot Dante chose happened to be the same run-down park on the fringes of the town that Shelley was also attached to. Phantasia wondered if the two of them were ever here at the same time.

Unlike Shelley, though, Dante preferred the sit facing the town and away from the demonic wastelands. His attention was focused on the church spire, which rose from behind the buildings like a sacred blade emerging from a miasma of despair. It hadn’t been long since he’d woken up in that very church and Phantasia wondered if this was what plagued his thoughts.

“It’s weird how you try get on with everybody,” he said, “Yet they can’t even get on with each other,”

“It’s how I was brought up,” she replied. The differences between the various types of faerie were a far bigger gap to cross than the differences between humans, who were very much made identical. That faeries could coexist without strife, and humans were always fighting one another, was a perplexing issue. “You get on with everybody too!” she said, “I mean, look at all the people we met today! All those different groups and types of people, and how many of them didn’t like you?”

“Quite a few,” he mumbled.

“Okay, there were a couple,” she said, recalling the antagonism of Byron and the Hawks, “But things can never be perfect! Some people don’t like me, either.”

“Yeah, that’s what happens when you’re different. You never fit in anywhere,”

“You think I don’t know that? Look at me! Do I look like I fit in anywhere? And you know what? I like it that way.”

“What if being ‘special’ ain’t all it’s cracked up to be?” asked Dante, “Would you rather be special and alone, or normal and not?”

“Who said it has to be either? Why can’t you be special and have friends?”

“You don’t get it, do you? If you’re different then people are scared of you,”

Phantasia leapt of the swing she’d been sitting on to face Dante head-on. “That’s rubbish! Why would people be scared of you? You’re just trying to make up excuses to explain why you keep yourself locked away all the time. Well guess what? They’re not gonna work with me. I can see right through you, Dante Orpheus!”

She couldn’t, of course. Her sight couldn’t even penetrate his outer defences, but she had to try something!

“So you want to know why people are scared of me?” he asked, dragging his feet along the ground to stop the swing dead, “You want to know what makes me different and special?”

Chapter 35
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