“Amazing,” I murmur. Amazing that someone could know almost exactly what I would say so many years ago.
“I didn’t believe her,” Chase says. “It wasn’t the first vision she’d Seen of me, but mostly they were little things in the near future. Some never came to pass, and I dismissed this as one of those. How unlikely, I thought. How could anyone know all the things I’ve done and still love me?”
I lift our entwined hands and kiss his fingers. “Now you know how.”
“Do you understand why I didn’t mention it when I first remembered it? We barely knew each other then. What would you have thought if I told you that you were one day supposed to love me? And even after the golden river, after you kissed me and told me that what I’d done in the past didn’t matter to you, I didn’t want to say anything. If you grew to love me, I wanted it to come from you, not from a vision you might have felt you had to fulfill.”
I nod. “I understand. I’m glad you didn’t tell me, and I’m glad I didn’t force it out of you.” I twist around to face him again. “And I want you to know that these words come from me.” I place both hands on either side of his face and look into his eyes. “I love you.” I kiss one eyelid and then the other. “I love you.” I kiss his nose. “I love you.” And I want to move to his lips. I want to kiss him the way we kissed in the golden river. But in this exact moment, Gaius walks past my open bedroom door and realizes I’m awake. His joyful cry is loud, and in the next few minutes, all the members of our team, all the people I didn’t realize were waiting anxiously for me to wake up, begin crowding into my bedroom.
* * *
Later in the day, I come out of the faerie paths inside the lake house. Chase gave the house to Vi and Ryn to use for a while. They can’t go home unless they want to submit themselves to the Guild for questioning, tagging and deactivation of their guardian markings. They were welcome at the mountain, of course, but Chase felt they might need their own space. Their own time. Time to grieve and time to figure things out.
He moved the faerie door to Lumethon’s home Underground so Vi and Ryn wouldn’t have to deal with people traipsing through their living room in order to get to the mountain. Not so great for Lumethon, but apparently she offered.
I cross the open living area and look out the kitchen window. On the grass just beyond the porch steps is a blanket. Vi is curled up on her side, and Ryn sits next to her, writing in a notebook. The scene is so peaceful that I almost turn away and leave. But the longer I wait to speak to them, the harder it will be.
I open the front door and step outside. Terrified, my heart pounding painfully in my chest and the guilt-beast circling at the edge of my thoughts, I walk down the steps and stop on the grass. “Ryn?” He lowers his notebook and looks around as Vi pushes herself up. “I—I don’t want to disturb you, but I just wanted to say that—”
He’s up in a heartbeat, running toward me, his arms around me before I can move. A second later, Vi joins us, her arms encircling us both. “I’m so, so sorry,” I sob, weak with relief and utterly overcome by the fact that they can still love me after the pain I’ve caused them. I hear Ryn crying in my ear. Vi’s arms shudder around me. Their tears only make me cry harder, and it’s a long time—a long, long time—before any of us is able to speak.
“You almost got killed trying to stop those witches,” Ryn says, his voice wobbling and his arms tightening around me as he speaks.
“You almost got killed trying to save me,” I say with a sniff. “And I owe you so much already. Can you imagine if you’d … if you’d …” I shake my head against his shoulder. “I wouldn’t have been able to live with that guilt added onto all the other guilt.”
Ryn pulls back, widening our little circle. “You don’t have to carry any of that guilt around.”
“I do! If I hadn’t—”
“I don’t blame you,” he says. “I was hurting—hurting so, so much—and all that hurt and anger spewed out on you, because you were there and because I could feel your immense guilt. But I don’t blame you.”
I shake my head as more tears wet my cheeks. “You should blame me. She … she wouldn’t have died if I hadn’t let Zed go free.”
“And The Destruction wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t saved the life of a boy named Nate,” Vi says, her voice thick with tears. “Or maybe it would have. Maybe someone else would have caused it, just as some other guardian-hater who was locked in Zell’s dungeon might have come after us and Victoria.” She pulls me closer and presses her tear-stained cheek against mine. “We can’t do this to ourselves. We can’t look back and say ‘what if.’ It changes nothing. And yes, this still hurts more than anything I’ve ever endured, and I don’t understand how it can ever stop hurting. But … I’m not alone. Ryn’s here and you’re here, and none of us is hurting alone. We hurt together because we love each other.”
And just like that, the guilt-beast’s existence is snuffed out like a flame in a breeze.
We move to the blanket then and I sit with the two of them for a while. Vi keeps hold of my hand, and we talk about the mountain and Chase’s team and the investigation on Dad. We speak of where Ryn and Vi might go now and what they might do. We cry some more, and we even end up half-laughing when Ryn suggests he and Vi live in the human realm and start a circus as their new profession. Filigree hops over the grass as a rabbit and joins us. I scoop him up and snuggle against his soft white hair, whispering thank you over and over again. He’s the reason I’m still here. He’s the reason the curse was broken.
As the afternoon sun sinks toward the horizon and the mirror in my pocket lights up with a familiar mischievous face, I stand and say goodbye to Ryn and Vi.
“Come back later,” Vi says, sniffing and wiping away yet more tears. “We can have dinner together. Bring Chase.” Ryn looks at her with raised eyebrows. “What? I sense many family dinners together in our future. We should start getting used to it.”
I nod, appreciating that she’s making an effort when it would be so much easier for her to curl into a depressed ball and stay that way. “I think dinner time here lines up around about lunchtime at the mountain, so we can make that work.”
I leave the lake house and head through the paths to the old Guild ruins. I step out to find Perry already there. “You called?” I say to him with a smile.
“Holy moly.” He pushes away from a vine-encircled tree trunk. “That was one heck of a fight last night. I thought you were dead after that witch threw you down on the monument. Then I thought your brother was dead. Then Draven … well, thank goodness he’s gone for real now.”
“Yeah.” I smile down at my feet, knowing I can’t tell Perry the truth about that last bit. “I heard you teamed up with the gargoyles and helped my brother and his wife get away. She didn’t know who you were, but when she explained what happened and what this mysterious young gargoyle rider looked like, I knew it was you.”
“Yeah, people always tend to remember my good looks.”
I smile and, since Gemma isn’t here to do it, smack his arm. “Seriously, though,” I add. “I’m very grateful, and so are they.”
“Well, what else was I gonna do? Number one, I recognized him as your brother. Obviously. Since everyone knows Ryn Larkenwood. Number two, I don’t think Griffin Gifted should be discriminated against. And number three … I guess I just have the special touch when it comes to gargoyles. They loved me.”
I laugh. “Well, thank you. Were Gemma and Ned there?”
“Gemma wasn’t. She’s been avoiding me, so … I didn’t tell her. And, you know …” He rolls his eyes. “Probably also for the same reasons you told me not to go: I didn’t want her getting hurt. Ned was already at the Guild when I got there, so he heard what was happening and decided to come with. The Councilors already knew, actually, so you needn’t have asked me to pass on the message. I’m glad you did, though. Just in case.”
“Did Ned join you and the gargoyles?”
“Oh, no, he didn’t want to go near ‘thos
e Unseelie creatures.’ Probably thought he’d wind up in trouble with the Guild. He’s actually …” Perry scratches his head. “Yeah, he’s not too pleased with me. Said I should have been catching Gifted faeries, not helping them get away. Told me I need to think about where my true loyalties lie.”
“I’m sorry. That’s tough.”
“Yeah. Not tough figuring my loyalties out, of course. I know exactly what I believe to be right and what I believe to be wrong. It’s just tough trying to have that kind of conversation with a friend who only sees in black and white and thinks the law is never wrong, you know? Anyway,” he continues loudly before I can answer him, “how was that giant-ass tear in the sky last night?”
I give him a knowing smile. “You don’t like it when the conversation takes a serious turn, do you?”
He shrugs, looking down at his shoes. “It’s not my favorite conversation territory.” Peeking up at me with a grin, he adds, “You know me well by now.”
“I do,” I say with a laugh. “But I’ll happily go along with your change in subject. Tell me what’s happening with the veil. Now that my brother’s not welcome at the Guild, you’re my only source.” Gaius has his own Guild source, but it can sometimes take a while to hear back from him.
“Yeah, it’s been a chaotic Sunday, I can tell you that.” Perry leans against the tree and crosses his arms. “Not for me, obviously. I was just kinda hanging around listening to everything. So far, every attempt to seal the tear or pull the edges back together has been unsuccessful. Guardians are stationed there permanently, keeping a glamour in place and making sure no one touches the monument. Spells are being prepared to root the monument to the island and keep it from being moved. Right now, it looks like the only solution may be to guard that thing forever. Well, until someone intelligent enough comes up with a way to seal the gap.”
“And the prison?”
“It’s being repaired, but they’re still figuring out what to do about it once the repairs are complete. All the escaped prisoners who survived have been rounded up, but no one wants to keep the world’s most dangerous criminals right next to a gap into the human realm. I heard talk of them slicing right through the island, leaving the prison to move around as it did before and just a little piece of floating land for the monument to stand on.”
“I suppose that could work,” I say. “It’s probably easier than building a new prison.”
“And then there’s the tower,” Perry says with a long sigh.
“Ugh, it makes me sick every time I think of it,” I say, covering my face with my hands. “All those people. All those lives, ended for nothing.”
“Yeah. We’re having a huge ceremony tomorrow for everyone who was killed. Probably the biggest ceremony since—”
“Since Draven’s reign ended,” I murmur.
“Yeah.”
“And what about Angelica and the witch who survived?”
“Some are calling for the death sentence. They’re saying none of this would have happened if Princess Angelica and every other close follower of Draven’s had been sentenced to death ten years ago instead of life in prison. Oh, and a whole bunch of people are demanding that Head Councilor Bouchard resign. They want to know how he could ever have freed Princess Angelica from prison. He, of course, says the decision was purely the Queen’s and that he had no choice. Oh, and,” Perry adds, “everyone’s now talking about the coronation of the new king, Princess Audra’s son. Told you it was a chaotic Sunday.”
“Yeah, I can imagine. And you were probably totally chilled in a corner somewhere absorbing all the information flying back and forth.”
“Mostly, yes,” Perry says with a grin. “But I also took advantage of the chaos and did some snooping around the Seer level. I discovered which senior Seers the visions are sent to. The Seers who decide which visions are urgent and which aren’t. They send the not-so-urgent visions to Councilor Merrydale’s office, and that—” Perry removes a rolled up wad of papers from his back pocket “—is where I found these.” He hands the papers to me. “I had plenty of time to copy them while everyone else was hurrying about.”
“This is brilliant, Perry,” I say, shuffling through the papers. “I can’t tell you how, but I can promise you that any non-expired visions here will be taken care of.”
“Awesome,” Perry says. “I don’t need to know how. Like I said, I know what I believe to be right and wrong, and if giving you those ‘surplus’ visions is going to help people, then it’s the right thing to do.”
I nod. And then I almost ask if he knows about the drakoni club owner. Zed’s friend. I almost ask if he knows whether the drakoni was questioned with truth potion, and if he revealed Zed’s whereabouts. But I stop myself. I force the question out of my mind. I don’t need to know that information. I don’t need to go after Zed. I need to move on with my life, just as Ryn and Vi are attempting to do.
I open my mouth to thank Perry again, but I pause as a faerie paths doorway opens nearby. I conceal myself quickly, relishing the fact that I can do it without having to worry about any curse. It’s Gemma who steps out of the paths and looks around. I’m about to pull my projection back, but she yells “What the hell, Perry?” and I decide it might be better to remain invisible.
Perry glances at the empty space where I was standing a moment ago, then back at Gemma. “Um …”
“Ned just visited,” Gemma says as she stomps across the ruins toward Perry. “He told me all about last night. You two were there! And you didn’t tell me it was happening or that you were going!”
“Well … it was dangerous.”
“I KNOW!” she shouts as I take a few quiet steps backward. “That’s my point. You could have died!”
“You know we’re training to be guardians, right? The possibility of death is always—”
He doesn’t get to finish his sentence because she closes the final distance between them and throws her arms around him, pressing her lips to his. Perry stands there frozen while I try to keep from clapping my hands in glee and crying out, Finally! Then Perry wakes up, slides his hands into her hair, and pulls her closer, deepening their kiss.
I roll up the papers and turn away with a smile. Something tells me Perry won’t be surfacing to finish our conversation for a while.
* * *
Later, when it’s almost evening at the lake house in the human realm, I sit on the grass beneath a tree and watch the reflection of the setting sun as I wait for Chase. He doesn’t announce his arrival, but I hear quiet footsteps before he sits with his legs on either side of me and wraps both arms around me. I lean back against him, just about glowing with happiness that we can have simple moments like this without having to worry about the urgent, impending end of our world. Well, aside from the tear in the sky over Velazar Island, but it sounds like the Guild has that under control for now.
“I didn’t think,” Chase says quietly, “that I would ever feel at peace like this. I’ve always felt like I was playing catch-up, trying to do more good, save more people, but it was never enough to make up for all the wrong. It still isn’t enough, and it never will be, but now that I know that, I can stop trying to reach the point where it suddenly is enough. I can protect and help people because it’s something I want to do, not because I’m constantly trying to cancel out a debt.” He kisses my neck. “Thank you for helping me realize that.”
My laugh is small, quiet. “How on earth did I manage to do that if I couldn’t see it when it was my turn? When I was the one who kept thinking I had to do something to get Ryn to forgive me.”
“I suppose it’s easier to see the truth when you’re not the one weighed down by the burden of guilt.”
“Yes. It is. And now neither one of us has to be weighed down any longer.” My gaze moves to his arms wrapped around me. I trace part of the twisting vine tattooed on his left arm, raising a few unintentional sparks across his skin. “Why did you choose this pattern to permanently mark your skin?”
He
rests his chin on my shoulder. “It’s … a little silly, perhaps. I wanted something to represent who I was then and who I am now. The past with the present. Death with life. There are so many symbols I could have used, but in the end I chose this. The thorns are pain and death. A reminder of who I was and what I did. The vine is life. A reminder to keep doing good, to keep living this second-chance life the right way.”
“I like it,” I say, continuing to trace the pattern as he falls silent. “Mine have almost faded completely,” I add, “except for the flower. I’ll have to think of something else to try out next. Lace gloves going up my arms, perhaps. That would be pretty.”
“Don’t forget about the phoenix,” he says, removing one arm from around me, then pulling my hair aside and tracing a finger up my spine.
A pleasant shiver spreads out across my skin. “Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten.” I tilt my head back as he moves to kiss the side of my neck. “Oh, look at the sky!” I exclaim, straightening and staring out in wonder at the colors streaked across the evening sky. Peach, pink and purple swirled together and melting into orange-gold and yellow. “Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?” I breathe.
Chase’s arms tighten around me. “I’m glad you like it.”
Something in the way he says those words makes me shift around to face him and ask, “Did you do that?”
He smiles. “Painted especially for you, Miss Goldilocks.”
I lift one hand and trail my fingers across his cheek. “How many girls get to be with a guy who literally paints the sunset for them?”
“Hopefully just you, Calla,” he says, and the way he looks at me, the way he says my name, ignites flames inside me and sends a shiver along my skin. I move closer to him, feeling my gaze drawn down to his lips before I let my eyes slide closed. I kiss him softly, slowly, knowing there’s no whirlpool to interrupt us and we can take our time. Tentative, touching, tasting. His arms around me are firm but gentle, slowly lowering me to the ground as he leans over me. I sense sparkles zipping across my lips as our tongues touch. My hands slide around his waist, my fingers press into his back, and I yearn for him to be closer still. My pulse races dizzyingly. Our lips move more hungrily, more desperately, and beyond my closed eyelids, light explodes. My fingers fist in his T-shirt. He breathes my name in between kisses, and my blood rushes even faster. I don’t know which way around the world is anymore, and it doesn’t matter, because all I want is for this moment to last forever.