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Calorogu Shark Media.
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Hello and welcome to Romance Weekly and Halloween Possession. This
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is episode two Losing my Frequency.
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By the second week of October, I'd started timing my
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day around when i'd see him. Pathetic, right, a grown
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woman acting like a teenager. But that's what Ethan Blackwood
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had reduced me to, someone who checked her reflection in
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every window, who reapplied lip gloss for research meetings, who
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felt her pulse spike at the sound of his text notification.
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I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me tell you about
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that first night at the Witch Museum when I learned
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exactly how dangerous touching him could be. Lily was already
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there when I pulled up, standing under a street light
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like she was auditioning for a horror movie. My baby's sister,
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though at twenty eight she wasn't a baby anymore. Looked exhausted,
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Her usually perfect blonde hair was frizzed with static, and
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she kept pulling her sleeves down over her hands, don't
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she said when I went to hug her, I'll shock you.
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I've been shocking everyone. That's when Ethan appeared from the shadows,
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Because of course he did and my body's reaction was
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immediate and embarrassing. My nipples tightened, my breath caught, and
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I felt that pull low in my belly that I'd
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been trying to ignore for three days. You must be Lily,
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he said, keeping his distance. Smart man, I'm Ethan. Your
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sister's been helping me with the festival tours. Helping him?
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Is that what we were calling it? Three days of
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circling each other in old Salem houses, the air between
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us so charged that tourists had started commenting on the
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authentic atmospheric effects. Lily looked between us, and I saw
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her notice everything, my flushed cheeks, the way I couldn't
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quite meet her eyes. How Ethan and I stood exactly
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far enough apart to avoid accidental touching. Oh my god,
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she said, Mara has a crush. I do not. You're
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literally glowing. She turned to Ethan with the wicked smile
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that had gotten her in trouble since middle school. She
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hasn't mentioned you at all, which means she's completely obsessed Lily.
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It's the electromagnetic field, Ethan said, calmly, But I caught
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the way his eyes darkened when he looked at me.
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We both have it. It creates a visible charge when
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we're near each other. My sister's smile faded. You have
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it too, the static thing, among other things. He pulled
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out his phone. There's someone you should meet. Marcus handles
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the technical equipment for the festival. He's been monitoring electromagnetic
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anomalies in Salem for years. Is he cute? Lily asked,
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and for a moment she was just my boy, crazy
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little sister again, not someone being hunted by something that
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fed on women like us. Ethan's mouth quirked. He's intense.
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Twenty minutes later, we were in the basement of the
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Peabody Essex Museum, surrounded by what looked like ghost hunting
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equipment from a sci fi channel show. Marcus turned out
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to be exactly Lily's type, tall, lean, with sleeves of
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tattoos and the kind of cheekbones that made her forget
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about Derek entirely. Holy shit, he said. When we walked in.
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Staring at the laptop screen, the readings just spiked. He
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looked up, his green eyes fixing on Lily. You're putting
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out more electromagnetic energy than a power substation. Charming, Lily said,
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but she was already moving closer to him. Does that
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line usually work? I stopped listening to their flirting because
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Ethan had moved behind me, not touching, but close enough
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that I could feel the heat from his body, every
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nerve ending oriented toward him. Show her, Marcus said, without
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looking up from Lily. Show her what happens when you
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two make contact. That's not a good I need to understand,
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I interrupted. My investigative instincts were the only thing keeping
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me grounded. If this is connected to the disappearances, I
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need to know how it works. Ethan came around to
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face me in the basement's fluorescent lights. He looked younger,
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more vulnerable. It's intense. I can handle intense, he laughed,
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soft and dark. You think you can? Everyone does. Rebecca
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thought she could. You were involved with Rebecca torres No.
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His hand hovered near mine, but she felt the pull
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just like you do. She thought. It meant something, doesn't it.
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It means we're electromagnetically compatible. It means our abilities resonate
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on the same frequent and see. It doesn't mean I
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grabbed his hand. The world exploded? How do I describe it?
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Have you ever been struck by lightning? While having an
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orgasm during a religious experience. No, well, neither had I.
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The moment our skin touched, I could feel everything, not
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just my own response, the way my body lit up
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like a switchboard, every nerve singing, but his too. I
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could feel his desire like a physical weight, could taste
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his want in the back of my throat. I knew
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exactly what he wanted to do to me, could feel
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his struggle for control like it was my own. But
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underneath that was something else, Memories that weren't mine. Rebecca
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Torres in this same basement, reaching for him, Emma Martinez
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before her, Sarah Kim, all of them drawn like moths
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to flame, all of them consumed. I tried to pull back,
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but our hands were locked together, the connections cycling between
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us in waves. Each wave brought more his loneliness, his guilt,
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The way he'd forced himself not to think about me
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at night, the dreams he'd had anyway, God, the dreams
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I saw myself through his eyes, saw what he wanted,
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felt my own body respond to fantasies I was experiencing
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second hand. Stop. I gasped, or maybe he did. Our
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boundaries were dissolving. Marcus grabbed something, a grounding rod, and
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forced it between us. We flew apart, both breathing hard.
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I stumbled back against the wall, my whole body shaking.
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Thirty seconds, Marcus said, clinical and fascinated. You maintained connection
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for thirty seconds. That's unprecedented, Mara, Ethan's voice was wrecked.
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I'm sorry. I should have warned you better. You felt them,
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I said, the other women through me. You felt them.
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He nodded, and I saw the weight he carried, the guilt.
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They're not gone, not exactly. They're scattered. Their electromagnetic signatures
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got pulled apart and dispersed. I can feel pieces of
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them in October when the veil, when the veil is thin,
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I finished your grandmother's expression. Lily was staring at us.
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That's what's going to happen to us. We're going to
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get dispersed. No, Marcus spoke up, his hand, finding Lily's shoulder.
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She didn't shock him. I noticed. Interesting, that's why we're here.
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The festival isn't just a tourist trap. It's a grid
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electromagnetic protection surrounding Salem during October. But it's not perfect.
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Ethan added. Things get through and women with your level
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of ability, You're like beacons. I could still feel him
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on my skin. In my skin, the memory of his
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desires mixed with mine until I couldn't separate them. My
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underwear was soaked through, and I hated that everyone probably
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knew it. The electromagnetic charge affected everything, arousal, fear, adrenaline,
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all of it amplified and shared. I need air, I said.
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I made it to the alley before Ethan caught up.
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He was careful not to touch me, but he didn't
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need to now that we'd connected. Once I could feel
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him from three feet away, it gets easier, he said, quietly,
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the connection. You learn to control it, do you. I
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turned to face him, and the look in his eyes
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made my knees weak, because from where I'm standing, your
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control is hanging by a thread. You have no idea,
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he said, roughly, what I'm controlling right now. The air
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between us crackled, literally, sparks of static electricity danced in
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the space separating our bodies. I can feel what you want,
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I whispered, Is that real or is it just the
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electromagnetic thing both. He stepped closer, still not touching. The
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ability amplifies what's already there. It doesn't create something from nothing.
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So you wanted me before the moment you walked into
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that Victorian house, trying to look professional while your whole
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body sang with sensitivity. His voice dropped low. You glowed, Mara,
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You literally glowed with it. And I knew I was
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in trouble. Rebecca, wasn't you. He was close enough now
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that I could see the gold flex in his dark eyes,
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could smell that cedar and lightning scent. I tried to help, Rebecca.
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I failed. But what I feel for you, that's not guilt,
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that's not obligation. What is it? Instead of answering, he
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raised his hand between us, palm out an invitation. I
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knew I shouldn't. I knew it was dangerous, but my
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hand was already moving, mirroring his position, our palms an
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inch apart. The air between our hands shimmered without touching.
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I could feel him, the texture of his skin, the
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lines of his palm, his pulse racing to match mine.
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It was intimate, beyond description. He was touching me everywhere
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at once. This is what you do to me, he said,
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and through our connection I felt it. The constant effort
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it took not to reach for me, the way he'd
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been tracking my movements through the electromagnetic grid without meaning to,
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how he'd stood outside my hotel last night, making sure
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nothing supernatural came near. I felt his hunger, and it
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wasn't just physical. It was the loneliness of being the
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only one of his kind in Salem, of spending every
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October trying to save women who thought he was crazy.
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Until me ethan I breathed and his control cracked. Our
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palms touched, the alley dissolved. We were in his apartment.
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I was seeing through his memory, and I was underneath
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him on his bed. No, that hadn't happened yet. This
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was what he wanted, what he was inagining right now.
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As our hands pressed together in the alley, I could
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feel both versions of my body, the one standing in
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the alley and the phantom one in his fantasy, responding
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to his imagined touch, his mouth on my throat, his
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hands sliding under my sweater, the weight of him pressing
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me into the mattress. I experienced it all from both perspectives.
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What he wanted to do and how he imagined I
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would feel. It was overwhelming, invasive, the most erotic thing
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I'd ever experienced. Stop, I gasped, but I was pressing closer,
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my other hand reaching for his chest. He caught my
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wrist before I could make contact. Don't if you touch
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me with both hands, I won't be able to to
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what to stop. We stood there, one palm pressed to his,
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my wrist caught in his other hand, both of us
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shaking with want and restraint. This is insane, I said, Yes,
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I don't do this. I don't lose control like this.
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I know I have a story to investigate. Women are missing. Yes,
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I can't afford to get pulled into whatever this is.
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His thumb stroked the inside of my wrist, and even
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that small touch sent shock waves through me. I know
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that too, so let go you first. But I couldn't.
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My palm felt welded to his, the connections cycling between
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us like a circuit. Through it, I felt something shift,
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a presence, ancient and hungry, turning its attention towards Salem,
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toward us. We both gasped and pulled apart at the
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same moment. Did you feel that, I asked, It knows
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you're here. His face was grim, both of you. That's
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why Lily was followed from Boston. It's been waiting for
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someone with your level of ability. What does it want
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to feed to add your electromagnetic signature to its collection,
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he paused, And it uses desire as bait. The stronger
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the connection between people like us, the easier we are
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to find I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly cold.
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So this thing between us makes you a target, makes
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you shine like a beacon. He stepped back, and the
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loss of proximity was physically painful. I should stay away
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from you, should you, Yes? But neither of us move.
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We stood in that alley, three feet apart, while the
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air between us literally sparked with possibility and danger. My
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phone buzzed, Lily, where are you? Marcus is showing me
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the electromagnetic map of Salem, and I'm freaking out. There's
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something moving toward us. We need to get back, I said, Mara.
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The way he said my name made me stop. What
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you saw, what you felt when we touched, That's only
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a fraction of what I'm holding back. Is that supposed
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to scare me? Yes, it should have. Instead, it made
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me want to press every inch of my body against his,
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and damn the consequences. We went back inside to find
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Lily and Marcus huddled over his equipment. On the screen
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was a map of Salem covered in pulsing dots of light.
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We were the brightest spots of intense white in a
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sea of dim amber. Look at this, Marcus said, pointing
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to a dark shape moving through the grid. It started
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moving the moment you two connected outside, The shadow on
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the screen circled our location like a shark. It's hunting,
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Ethan said, testing our defenses. What happens on Halloween, I asked,
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though I already knew the answer. The grid goes down
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for three hours midnight to three am, Salem tradition, letting
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the spirits walk free on all Hallow's Eve. Lily grabbed
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my hand, and for once the static shock between us
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was comforting instead of painful. We should leave, get out
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of Salem. Running makes it worse, Marcus said gently. The
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thing feeds on isolation, women alone, separated from others like them.
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That's why it takes them one at a time, always
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in October, always when they're vulnerable. So what do we do,
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I asked? Ethan and Marcus exchanged a look. You stay
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close to us, Ethan said. The connection might be dangerous,
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but it also makes you stronger, harder to separate and disperse,
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and we have two weeks to figure out how to
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kill it. Marcus added two weeks. Two weeks of this
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electromagnetic pull getting stronger every day, two weeks of feeling
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Ethan's presence like a second heartbeat, two weeks of wanting
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what I couldn't have without becoming a target. Lily squeezed
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my hand. At least the guy's hot, she whispered. I
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looked at Ethan, who was studying the screen, but whose
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awareness of me hummed through the air like a plucked string.