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and headed back toward the kitchen.
     
    An hour after the outsiders went to bed, I lied down, staring up at the dark ceiling.  I was working very hard to not think or feel anything.
    My door opened but I didn’t bother turning to see who it was.  A warm body slipped into the bed next to me, strong arms circling my waist.  I numbly turned on my side and rested my head on Avian’s chest.
    “I understand how hard you are trying to be empathetic with West,” he said in a low voice.  “And how you’re trying your best to be like the rest of us.  I know you’re trying to understand the crazy emotions we all have to deal with.”
    He pressed his lips into my hair, gathering me tighter against his body.  He took several deep breaths and I realized the way I had been behaving the last week had not been hard on me alone.
    “But you seem to think that you need to rediscover who you are now that you know the truth about your origins.”
    He pulled away from me slightly so he could meet my eyes.  His own burned with intensity.  “Eve, there is nothing wrong with who you are.  With the way you are.  You are you, Eve, and not anyone else.  You’re tough and you’re stubborn, and you don’t always understand emotions and what you or everyone else is feeling, but that is part of who you are.
    “I fell in love with a girl who was okay with not fully understanding her past.  I fell in love with a girl who stood on her own and owned her present and future.  That is who you are, Eve.  You don’t need to be anyone else, for anyone else.”
    For the second time in my life, I felt a bead of moisture rolling down my cheek.
    Not because Avian had made me sad or hurt my feelings.
    But because I had never had that much acceptance of myself.  I had never thought someone could fully love me the way I was—twisted, manipulated, and engineered. 
    He was right.  I didn’t need to rediscover who I was.  I didn’t need to change into someone different.  That was betraying myself.  That was the worst kind of self-loathing I could imagine.
    I pressed my forehead to Avian’s and breathed for a moment, emotions swelling in my chest.  This time, I didn’t mind them.
    “I am not me without you,” I said.  “Thank you for always standing by my side.”
    Avian brushed his lips against mine.  His hand pressed into the back of my neck, his fingers tangling in my hair. 
    It took a man capable of an immeasurable amount of understanding to strip away the insecurities I’d felt after learning what I was.  It took a man capable of loving me until the end of the world to make me accept myself.
    And I would move heaven and hell to keep him.
    Always.
     
     
    I breathed a little easier the next morning.  I just had to survive today and tomorrow and then these outsiders would leave.
    And then Dr. Beeson would have time to fix me.  To make me me again.  And maybe I wouldn’t have a nuclear meltdown.
    Avian and I switched places, he headed for the lobby, and I started for the kitchen.
    I was about to walk into the dining area when I heard two voices followed by a laugh, and froze.  I ducked just outside of the doorway and listened.
    “Come on,” a female voice said.  “You did not get scars like that falling out of a truck.”
    Even though she was asking about a heavy subject, her voice was light, like she was amused at the conversation. 
    It could only be Elijah or West who would answer, and I knew exactly where Elijah was and that wasn’t down here in the dining area.
    “Are you calling me a liar?” West responded.
    “Yeah,” the girl said with a laugh.  “I guess I am.”
    “Maybe I’m Frankenstein’s monster,” he said.  I could almost see the way he would raise his eyebrow at her.
    “You’re pretty scary looking,” she said.  “But not quite that scary.”
    “I am a monster,” he said, his tone growing more serious.  “Just not that kind.”
    Hot urgency burned through my veins.  I wasn’t going