Coraline doesn't let go, not when he put his hands up or his arms around her. She's not letting him go not ever. She'd drawn him, the light in the dark and that was what he was to her.

"You can too," Coraline argued, pressing her face against his chest. Jason was one of the few people on the island taller than her and it made hugging him all that easier. She didn't have to crouch for once. "I'll find someone and then they'll come and ground you and you won't be able to do anything fun and it's rubbish. Really, really rubbish."

Coraline sighed, looking up at him curiously with her eyes suspiciously red. She wasn't going to cry. "Where were you?"