~Lyra~

She straightened up, wiping a tear from her eye, still giggling like she’d just pulled the world’s most expensive prank. Her laugh had that high-pitched, wheezy chaos to it — the kind of sound that came from the gut, like she was unhinged and delighted and fully prepared to emotionally destroy me before breakfast.

“You should’ve seen your face,” she choked out between gasps. “You looked like you were about to shit yourself and cry at the same time. Like a ...