Annie's POV:
The moment broke.
A dancer stumbled into my back. The crowd closed around us. The still place was gone.
"I need to find Jack." The words came out before I could stop them. "He was by the fire."
"I'll help you look." Alexander was already moving.
He didn't ask where. He didn't say not to worry. He just went; I went with him. I didn't ask him why he came. I didn't ask him why he stayed. There were countless questions I had learned not to ask him—and I added this one to the pile.
The square was packed to bursting. The dance had spilled past the fire and filled every space, and a pup was nothing in it, one small head among a hundred. The fire was roaring. The drum had picked up speed. The whole square was one moving body. I had never been in the middle of it before. Five yea
