I'm Fine I Said For The 2,467th

Mariano The Second Had Been The Son Of A Fisherman, But He'd Suffered From An Unfortunate Tendency Toward Seasickness And Was Forced To Find A Respectable Career That Could Be Safely Conducted On Dry Land. So He Built Boats. Mariano The Third Built Bigger Boats. And By The Time A Girl From A Very Different Type Of Family Business Arrived At Their Shopfront On The Mediterranean Coast, Mariano The Fourth Had Built And Patented At Least Half A Dozen Of The Most Advanced (and Justifiably Expensive) Watercrafts In The World.

I Wrapped My Arms Around My Knees And Stared Through The Window's Wavy Glass. The Red Velvet Curtains Were Drawn Around The Tiny Alcove, And I Was Enveloped By An Odd Sense Of Peace, Knowing That In Twenty Minutes, The Halls Were Going To Be Crowded; Music Was Going To Be Blaring; And I Was Going To Go From Being An Only Child To One Of A Hundred Sisters, So I Knew To Savor The Silence While It Lasted.

Note To Self: Rachel Morgan Is A Totally Awesome Liar.

There's A Power That Comes With Silence. I Had Grown To Fear The Unsaid Thing. So It Felt Like A Release To Say It-to Admit That The Risk Wasn't Just Inside Our Walls-it Was Inside My Skin. I Was Willing To Claw, Scratch, And Bleed Until I'd Found It.

Boys! Are They Always This Impossible? Do They Always Say Cryptic, Indecipherable Things? (note To Self: Work With Liz To Adapt Her Boy-to-english Translator Into A More Mobile Form—like Maybe A Watch Or Necklace.)