Under_The_Whispering_Door_by_TJ_Klune

we can do it after—”
“Oh, hey, no,” Wallace said, even as a little flicker of jealousy flared
within him. “I get it. He’s … You have to do what you do. Don’t worry about
me. I know what’s important here.”
Hugo looked frustrated. “You are. Just as much as he is.”
Wallace blinked. “Thank you?”
Hugo nodded furiously, looking down at the floor between them. “I don’t
want you thinking you’re not. I … like it when we talk. It’s one of my favorite
parts of the day.”
“Oh,” Wallace said. His face felt warm. He cleared his throat. “I, uh. I
like it when we talk too.”
“You do?”
“Yeah.”
“Good.”
“Good,” Wallace said. He didn’t know what else to say.
Hugo gnawed on his bottom lip. “I act like I know what I’m doing. And I
like to think I’m good at it, even when I’m out of my depth. It’s … different.
Each person is different. It’s difficult, but death always will be. Sometimes
we get people like you, and other times…”
“You get an Alan.”
“Yeah,” he said, sounding relieved. “And I have to work harder at it, but
it’s worth it if I can get through to them. I don’t want anyone who comes here
to turn around and do what Cameron did. To think that there’s no hope. That
they have nothing left.”
“He’s…” What? Wallace wasn’t sure what he was trying to say. It felt too
big. He pushed through it to the truth. “He took his own life.”
Hugo blinked. “What? How did you know that?”
They hadn’t had time to talk about what’d happened in the tea garden. All
that he’d seen. All that he’d felt. All that Cameron had shown him. “I saw it
when Cameron touched me. These stars, these pieces of him. Flashes.
Memories. I felt his happiness and his sorrow and everything in between.
And there was part of him that knew I could see it.”
Hugo sagged against the wall as if his legs had given out. “Oh god. That’s
not … the Manager said…” He hung his head. “He … lied to me?”
“I don’t know,” Wallace said quickly. “I don’t know why he said the
things he did to you, but…” He struggled to find the right words. “But what if