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the protruding tongue of a stone figure with a horrific grimace.
    As terrifying and ugly as some of the gargoyles were, Eve loved them all. They had saved her life. The gargoyles protected the church from demons. She, along with Jess and Luke, had found safety here when they needed it most.
    Eve returned her attention to the front of the church as Ms Hahn began to play ‘Calling All Angels’ on the organ. When she finished Luke’s father, Reverend Thompson, took his place at the pulpit.
    ‘Welcome,’ he said gravely. ‘We are gathered here today to celebrate the life and mourn the death of Kyle Rakoff.’ Eve reached out and took Jess’s hand. This was only the second funeral she’d been to. The first was for her great-aunt, who had died at the age of eighty-seven. That had been sad, but right somehow. No, right wasn’t the word she wanted. Appropriate? Expected?
    All the relatives had kept saying, ‘She lived a good life.’ That was the thing. Kyle hadn’t. He should have had so many more years of life to live. It felt so hugely unfair that he didn’t. That was the difference. Hergreat-aunt’s death had been sad, but not tragic, because even though it was a complete cliché, she had lived for a long time and gotten to do all the things she wanted to, and that meant something.
    Eve realized she’d been so caught up in her own thoughts that she hadn’t been following what Reverend Thompson was saying. She refocused. ‘Kyle will be missed by all of us. But his memory will live in our hearts as long as we ourselves live.’ Then he asked if anyone wanted to share a memory about Kyle.
    Mrs Rakoff stood up. She opened her lips to speak, but then her face contorted and she started to cry. She held out her hands helplessly.
    ‘Take your time,’ Reverend Thompson said, but Kyle’s mom shook her head. Her husband stood up and wrapped his arm around her. ‘Thank you all so much for coming. It means a lot. A lot.’ He sat back down, drawing Mrs Rakoff back into the seat next to him.
    Mr Tollefsen, who’d been Eve, Jess and Kyle’s fifthgrade teacher, stood up next. He talked about how curious Kyle was, how interested in everything around him. Ben Flood told a long, rambling story about playing football with Kyle.
    When Ben sat down, Dave Perry got up. ‘I think I’m the last person who saw Kyle alive.’ He cleared his throat twice. ‘I want everyone to know, he was happy. We were joking around.’ Dave gave a choked laugh. ‘He was just being Kyle, you know? He was a great friend.’
    Jess squeezed Eve’s hand. Eve squeezed back. More people stood to share their memories of Kyle, and Eve wondered if she should say anything. She’d known him for years, and they’d been lab partners. But she couldn’t think about Kyle without remembering their last conversation. She wasn’t like Dave. She didn’t have good memories of the last time she saw Kyle. She’d been mean to him.
    Eve was surprised when Briony stood to take a turn.
    ‘I hardly knew Kyle,’ she admitted, ‘but he was the friendliest guy. He was the first person who talked to me on my first day. He took me on a tour of the school.’ She gave a little smile. ‘Not a normal one. He didn’t show me where the office was or the cafeteria. But he showed me where the security cameras are, and where people go to make out.’ She winced. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have said that. What I wanted to say was, Kyle made me feel really welcome at Deepdene High. I wish I’d gotten a chance toget to know him better.’ She sat down quickly.
    Eve started to stand, but Helena beat her to it. She walked up to the front of the congregation with her head held high and tears running down her cheeks.
    ‘Kyle was my true love,’ she said. ‘I would say he was my first true love, except that makes it sound like there will be others. There won’t. I won’t ever love anyone like I loved Kyle. We would have been together for ever if things had been different with