Page 81 of No More Secrets

“Here she is, kids. The magic behind the pen. The dreamer behind the paintbrush. The one. The only. The incredibly talented...Jenna Mason!” He screams her name, turning stage right where Lucas and Olivia watch from below, stupefied by the theatrics.

Hands clap, feet stomp, and there she is. Lily.

His heart drums in his ribs.

She’s shorter than Olivia, but just as beautiful, dressed simply in jeans and Chucks like the ones Shiloh has. She wears the sameTabby’s Squirrelshirt as Felix, but in highlighter green. She’s dressed for the kids, and she’s so completely Lily.

His chest tightens, trapping his breath. His eyes feel like ice picks are stabbing them, they burn so badly. “It’s Lily.” His voice is rough, gravelly with disbelief. Olivia briefly grabs his arm and leans her head against his shoulder to acknowledge the intensity of what he must be feeling. He glances quickly at her before turning his attention back to Lily in utter shock that she’s there and he’s here when he never believed he’d have the courage to see her again. Ever.

Beside him, Olivia claps with exuberance. She cups her hands to her mouth and lets rip an earsplitting whistle, capturing Lily’s attention. Lily waves at Olivia, then shifts her gaze to him. Her expression falters. Her hand stills in the air. Her eyes widen, and he sees the moment she recognizes him. She stumbles.

“Whoa.” Felix grabs her elbow so she doesn’t topple over, and he chuckles. “You fall, and that giant squirrel over there will accuse me of tripping you and tackle me.”

The giant squirrel shakes his fists, and everyone laughs, including Lily, although uneasily. She glances back at him one more time, her shock finely etched on her face, before giving her full attention to her fans.

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Shiloh can’t believe she’s here, that Jenna Mason is right there, less than twenty feet from her. They’re breathing the same air, existing in the same space.Oh, my god!She jumps up and down with the crowd.

Shiloh’s never been to a concert, let alone sat in the front row. But she imagines it would feel something like this. Loud, electric, and colorful. The crowd’s energy dances along her arms. Her scalp tingles from it. Jenna’s fans adore her.

Ever since she came out about her true identity, that of Lily Carson, and why she’d been in hiding, Jenna Mason’s popularity soared. People empathized with her. And her publicist worked her story from every positive angle, especially one that now resonates with Shiloh because of her own experience: Jenna is the voice for every abused teenage runaway.

Giddy, nervous, and excited beyond comprehension, Shiloh lets herself get caught up with the crowd. She’s going to listen to the interview, then Lucas will introduce them, then Shiloh will ask her every burning question she’s had about animation since she watched her firstTabby’s Squirrelvideo short.

Shiloh has followed Jenna’s career since the beginning. She grew up watching her YouTube videos, where plenty of nights she waited with bated breath for the next hilarious clip of quirky characters to drop. Jenna’s stories were a slice of sunshine in Shiloh’s gloomy existence. She made Shiloh laugh when all she wanted to do was cry, her mom having spun out, leaving Shiloh to fend for herself. Jenna’s characters made her feel a little less alone, and Shiloh hopes to do the same. Out there,somewhere, there’s a young girl fending for herself who will grow up watching Shiloh’s videos.

Jenna waves at the audience, and Shiloh waves back with her books. Grateful Lucas brought her, she catches his attention. He’s still talking with his older sister, but he waves back. She then turns her attention to the stage. Jenna and Felix are sitting down. They pick up their microphones.

“Can you believe this?” Felix starts.

Jenna takes in the crowd. “No, I can’t. If you told me eight months ago this would be my life, I wouldn’t have believed you.”

“You have quite the story. You’ve had quite the life,” he says, hinting at her past. “A very successful YouTube channel with millions of hits. Two books in less than a year, and now a movie.”

“Coming out this summer.”

“Tabby’s Squirrel: Lost in the Park. Quite a year it’s been.”

“It sure has.”

“In more ways than one.”

A shadow falls over her face. “Yes, that’s true.”

Felix leans forward. His voice lowers, a ploy to hold the audience captive. “Tell us how it started,” he asks, diving straight in.

Jenna chews her bottom lip, her gaze sliding to stage right toward Lucas and their older sister. Shiloh holds her breath, wondering if she’ll talk about what happened the night she ran away.

“Doodles,” she says.

“Doodles?” Felix lurches back at the unexpected, simplistic answer. His movements are exaggerated, a performance itself.

“Doodles in a notebook.” Jenna grins with a shrug. “An idea. A dream. And a fat squirrel nesting in the tree outside my window when I was a little girl,” she explains, to which the giant squirrel onstage does a jig. The audience laughs on cue.

Under Felix’s intense and charismatic questioning, a lively conversation evolves. Shiloh is transfixed, oblivious to the passing time whenshe feels a hand on her knee. Startled, she looks down. Crouched beside her so she isn’t in the way of anyone’s view, is Sophie.

“I’m so glad I found you.”

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