The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

yank him back, but I was frozen with stress. It would be stupid to risk my life to save some total stranger. But I hadn’t had anything close to a friend in forever. Already it would be hard to go back to having no one to talk to, after only one night.

“No estoy quemando,” he called down, his tone teasing.

“Wait… is that…? Ow!” “Diego?”

I leaped across the cave and stuck my head into the tunnel.

His face was right there, inches from mine.

“Boo!” I flinched back from his proximity—just a reflex, old habit.

“Funny,” I said dryly, moving away as he slid back into the cave.

“You need to unwind, girl. I’ve looked into this, okay? Indirect sunlight doesn’t hurt.”

“So you’re saying that I could just stand under a nice shady tree and be fine?”

He hesitated for a minute, as if debating whether or not to tell me something, and then said quietly, “I did once.”

I stared at him, waiting for the grin. Because this was a joke.

It didn’t come.

“Riley said…,” I started, and then my voice trailed off.

“Yeah, I know what Riley said,” he agreed. “Maybe Riley doesn’t know as much as he says he does.”

“But Shelly and Steve. Doug and Adam. That kid with the bright red hair. All of them. They’re gone because they didn’t get back in time. Riley saw the ashes.”

Diego’s brows pulled together unhappily.