I already knew Max was coming. That was a feeling I couldn’t ignore. And just how did you fix it?
Before I could get an answer, there was a distant scream. Jane jumped, dropping the champagne bottle on the ground with a thud. “Oh my gosh. What was that?”
I wanted to ask the same thing, but turning back to Greg, I saw he was gone.
Jane stood, a thick billowing smell of adrenaline seeping from her skin. “Should we go look?” Her eyes met mine, nervous.
I shrugged, disliking the fact that I’d lost control of this game. I no longer knew what was happening. “Maybe it’s someone to save,” I stood slowly, trying to play along.
“Um…” Jane was faltering.
“Come on, you know you want to do this.” I paused, looking in the direction the scream had come from. “Let’s just go check it out. It might not be anything at all. Could just be a group of kids like you and I, out in the woods goofing around.” I gave her a nudge on the arm, plucking the bottle out of the mud and placing it in her hands.
She took one last big gulp, properly placed under my spell. Her mind was malleable and confused, and I would mold it.
Jane:
Something about that scream was not innocent, and something about it felt familiar, like the way chocolate tastes. I lowered the bottle of champagne from my lips, letting the last bit of sweet, perfumed liquid trickle down my throat. My heart began to pound.
“Okay,” I agreed. “I’ll do it.” It felt like a detached part of me had been the one to say it, not me. My insides were screaming for me to listen, to stay put, but for whatever reason this new part made me ignore all that. I shook my head, trying to straighten myself out.
Navia took my hand, yanking me forward before I got the chance.
I stumbled over logs and brush behind her. “Can we slow down?”
She shook her head, her ringlets shaking off a cloud of glittery cinnamon. “No. We might miss the opportunity! We have to hurry.”
My heart felt like lead, but my body kept moving. What if this really was it? What if this was my chance to get out of the spell Max and I shared and rise as an equal. This could change everything for me. I would live as long as Max did. I could be as strong as Max was.
We could be together.
My arms tingled with the thought, practically feeling the way his skin had felt against mine, the intoxicating cloud of love that locked us together. Then the cloud grew dark, and that other part of me sent out one last warning.
What if this would ruin that?
What if Max’s love for me was just because I was his to guard? I hadn’t thought of this in great detail. I dug my heels into the dirt, but Avery was stronger than me. Instead of stopping, I toppled over onto the muddy forest floor.
I heard her gasp as she let go of my hand. “Jane!” She knelt, hooking her arms under mine. “What in the world are you doing?”
I forced myself to my knees, mud slopping from my arms. “Just wait, okay?”
“Wait for what? This is what you want, Jane. Trust me.” She let go of me.
There was another scream then, louder this time as we’d gotten closer. It was a woman’s scream, and something about it ripped into my soul.
Avery’s once pleasant demeanor fell sour. “Get up, Jane. I’m not giving you a choice. You need this.”
Max:
I flew as fast as I could, but something in my gut told me it wasn’t fast enough. The spot where Emily had managed to free herself from Greg had long since been abandoned, his trail leading farther up the mountain. It twisted and wound, confusing me, stalling me.
What was he doing?
Then there was the scream, and I knew what he’d done.
Jane:
I was confused by Navia’s sudden change. “What?” I gaped, knees sinking into earth.
“I’m not giving you a choice,” she repeated, this time with a smile. “I know this is what you need, even if you don’t see it.”
I’d sworn that the first time she’d said it she hadn’t said it with the same wash of friendliness. No part of her first statement had felt like she was looking after my best interests, but rather commanding me. I looked to the ground, wondering what I was doing here, wondering who I was.
“Come on.” Navia offered me her hand.
I didn’t want to take it. I didn’t want to touch her, but that something inside me that was controlling me against my will felt too warm to ignore. Taken by the tone in her voice, I saw my arm reach up like a puppet until my hand was placed in hers. She hoisted me off the ground with little effort.
“That’s right. You can do it.” She smoothed my tangled hair from my face. “Now let’s hurry.”
Navia pulled me after her once more, dodging trees and bushes, until finally, the forest opened up. The smell of wet moss was in the air, and just then, a cool mist hit my face. The rushing noise I was hearing became the recognizable sound of water, and I knew we’d made our way to the river.
Navia halted, and I ran into her.
A voice welcomed us. “There you are.”
I didn’t have to see the person to know who it was. My back steeled, and I cowardly hid behind Navia.
“Who are you?” Navia commanded.
I shook.
“Let that woman go,” she added.
There was the distinct sound of someone struggling. Knowing Greg, I also knew he was about to kill them. That’s what he did.
Greg laughed. “Not your concern, pixie. Besides, I wasn’t talking to you.”
My breathing stopped all together, my hand clasping onto the blue silk of Navia’s bustle.
“Come out, Jane,” Greg teased.
I slowly peered over Navia’s shoulder, eyes cresting the arc of her neck.
“There you are!” he announced, hands in the air.
My throat closed up. He had a rope in his hand, and as my eyes followed it to the cliff behind him, my heart sank when I saw who it was attached to. The woman I had heard screaming, the woman whose voice struck my soul, and the woman that was my mother. She was his prey. I was hit with a wall of déjà vu, taken back to the vision I’d had in the kitchen the other week—Mother falling from a cliff.
Greg walked to the ledge where he had her lying on the ground. He picked her up, holding her with one arm as her feet dangled over the edge. The rushing sound of water reminded me of the assuredly sharp rocks below, nature cursing at itself as water carved through the earth.
That déjà vu had felt so real, and now I knew why. What I’d seen in her future death was coming true, but how? It had always been a silly thing, but this was exact, right down to the minor details of what my mother was wearing. How had I seen this? How could it have come true?
“Jane!” My mother screamed. “Jane, get out of here!”
A chill ran down my spine, finding my visions suddenly more than a game, but reality. I stepped around Navia. “Mom!”
I felt a hand on my arm, stopping me. “Jane, wait. That’s dangerous,” Navia warned.
I looked back at her, confused. Since when had she changed her mind?
She shrugged.
I shook my head. “You were right. I have to do this. That’s my mother.”
Navia gasped, her delicate hand covering her lips and releasing from my arm. “It is?”
I narrowed my gaze, sensing a fake energy from Navia, but I didn’t have the time to question it.
I turned back to Greg. He was watching Navia with a look in his eye, a look I couldn’t decipher. “Greg.” I got his attention.
He coolly looked away from Navia, sighing dramatically. “Well, darling, are you going to save your mother?”
“What do you want?” I demanded.
He began to laugh. “I want you dead. I want my brother back, and as long as you’re here, that won’t happen.” He jostled my mother in his arms.
Mother released another scream, one that resonated deep within the pit of my stomach.
He spun my mother into him,
clasping a hand over her mouth. “You’re a virus that won’t go away, Jane. For sixty years you’ve plagued me. Sixty.” He spun my mother away from him, swinging her toward the cliff.
I screamed a scream that was so loud it should have been in a dream, only to clasp my hand over my mouth as Greg halted, saving my mother from going over the edge. “Mom,” I whispered painfully to myself, reaching my arm out toward her and taking another step closer.
“Don’t,” she stammered, her eyes watering with tears. “Your father wouldn’t… He wouldn’t w—want this. Let him kill me.”
I froze, dropping my hand. Everyone was silent. Everyone was staring at me.
My mother slowly began to sob, hands muddied and covering her eyes. Mother had known about us, about father, about everything. I could see that now. For whatever reason, I saw a lot. Flashes of time sprinkled across my mind: The way my father looked at my mother, the way she always seemed careful, hindered. Most of all, it was in the way she looked at Max, as though my mother knew who he was. Her innocence was just a disguise.
With Mother whimpering, Greg once again teased me as he lifted her, toes dragging across the ground until there was no ground at all. My gaze was fixed on her feet, dangling above a final expanse that would be her end. I saw her future death, repeating over and over in my head, the same way it had in the kitchen that day. I had already seen her die a million times. Since I was seven, her deaths had played out to me in many forms, with many endings, but this was the one that had mattered. I could not bear to see her die again, even if it meant my own death to achieve that.
“You won’t die,” Navia whispered behind me. “Remember, Jane. You can be the angel this time. You can become strong enough to defeat Greg. Just think.”
I gritted my teeth; she was right. Though I could never kill Greg, having the ability to stand against him meant a lot. There was this possibility, and that’s all I needed.
Greg’s smirk grew then, his hand around my mother’s waist slackening. “I’m tired of waiting for an answer from you. One way or another, someone’s got to die.”
My mother began to squirm, hands grasping at anything they could.
A spark ignited inside me, a spark I hadn’t expected. I lurched forward, seeing the world pass by me in slow motion. Greg’s arms released from my mother’s waist all together, his laugh following in a slow succession, like the beat of my heart. My feet barely touched the ground as I ran, kicking up dirt of an Earth I was about to leave, but only for a moment. Seeing my mother begin to fall, I knew I wasn’t nearly fast enough to make it. Speeding up, I also knew I was running too fast to ever stop myself before reaching the cliff. There was no turning back now. I had already made my choice.
Greg stepped out of my way, my mother’s arms unable to grab hold of his leather jacket. Falling, falling, the cliff’s edge began to swallow her. Taking one last deep breath, I leapt, closing my eyes as I saw the last death I would ever see: my own. I smiled as I felt my hand touch my mother’s skin. I clutched tightly, my whole human life leading up to this singular end. With the force of my forward movement, I pulled her back like a basketball player keeping the ball in play. I felt her breath as it passed my ear, imagining her heart beating for years to come. She was thrust behind me where I knew she would be able to grasp onto the edge of the cliff. I leapt, eyes still shut, but seeing all I needed to within the pictures of my mind. I felt suddenly free, and the world stopped turning. Air caressed my skin like a hundred fingers, silent, silent…
…silent.
: : :
Silence gave way to ambient noise. I opened my eyes, feeling as though no time had passed. I hadn’t felt a thing.
Looking around, I was no place new. This was the In-between I’d visited every night for ten years. This was like home. I smiled, letting out a yelp of accomplishment and jumping in the air. I knew how to get home from here, and I would.
Facing a field, I turned and was met with a long meandering river that cut through the middle of everything. This was new, but I knew what it was all the same. This was the edge of the In-between where the world met the Ever After. I smiled again, the free feeling I’d felt jumping off the cliff remaining with me. I felt refreshed, in love, and alive in a way I hadn’t felt since my father’s death.
“Jane!”
A bridge appeared over the river, or had it been there before? It was arched, long, inviting. My eyes traced the enticing curve of it, and on the other side stood my father.
“Daddy!” I screamed, voice cracking with years of pent-up emotion. Unable to resist, I ran toward the bridge, halting just where the grass met the planking.
“Jane, darling. I never thought I’d see you again.”
I felt as though I were floating. “I’ve missed you so much.” I shook my head. “Why did you have to go?”
He simply smiled at me, tilting his head. “Come, I want to give you a hug.” He opened his arms before him, the way he used to. There was a strong tug to go to him, but a part of me wanted to resist, a big part of me.
“I don’t think I can,” I whispered, unconvincingly.
“Please, Jane. I’ve missed you so much.” His face became pained. “I’ve been so alone here.”
My heart strings tugged. I took a step forward.
Daddy smiled. “I won’t make you stay. Just a hug.” He took a step toward me, but stopped.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He frowned, his mouth curling in such a familiar way. “I can’t go any farther.”
I felt a horrifying need to help him flow through me. I took another step, and then another. Before I knew it, my father was only a few feet away. My senses washed in and out of consciousness like the water below the bridge. “Why didn’t you tell us about any of this?” Wind from the Ever After blew across my face, smelling not like death, but something far better.
“I couldn’t. It would have put you in danger. Besides, it was not you that had the gift of magick, but your sister.” He tried to reach for me, but some invisible force held his arm at bay.
“I deserved to know.” The words felt wrong—selfish.
Father did not reply.
“I’m sorry.” I bowed my head.
He nodded in acceptance of my apology. “It’s all right, my darling. You’re here now.”
I looked up at him, his brownish red hair looking just like Emily’s, his eyes like mine.
“I’ve missed you so much.” He sighed, backing away. “And I shouldn’t tempt you like this.” He turned his back to me. “You should go.”
I felt angered by his cold shoulder. How could he turn his back on me again? “No, Dad.”
His head lifted and he looked over his shoulder. Tears stained his face.
I couldn’t bear to see him this way. He had been all I’d ever cared about. He was my best friend. I wanted to be with him. I no longer wanted to go back to a life where he would not be there.
He turned once more, offering me one last chance at a hug.
I took a deep breath, taking the final few steps until I was welcomed into his outstretched arms. He held me tight, his embrace warm, real, safe—
“My pet,” his voice changed, hand circling my back. “My dear pet.” I lurched away, tumbling backward onto my heels. Horror struck me, deceit and lies. Navia was standing in my father’s place. Her eyes were black, like ink in a vial with no bottom. Her face was twisted into an unmistakably evil grin, and all sense of courtesy had vanished.
I turned to run, but the bridge was gone. I stood on the water’s edge, pulled back and away from it by an unseen force. I bowed back to Navia, scared. “Navia? What is this?”
She sighed long and hard. “Avery,” she began. “My name is Avery.”
“Avery?” I narrowed my eyes.
She sighed long and hard. “I know. I hate it, but it’s my name.” She shook her head, eyes locking once again with mine and spearing my heart. “I almost didn’t do this, my pet. You’re so much fun after all, but like mos
t good things, they have to end. I had to remember what my goals were.”
“I don’t understand.” My mind was a blur, looking for the bridge. Was I still in the In-between, or the Ever After?
“You were in my way, plain and simple. You don’t think I could just let you waltz into my life and tear it apart without my eventual revenge, did you? No, no, no. No. You have to pay, just as I did.” She walked up to me, pushing me with her finger, strong enough to knock me off balance. “You do not deserve what was to be mine. You deserve what I got instead: a broken heart.”
I steadied myself and swung at her, but my hand was like smoke, passing right through her.
She laughed. “Nice try, darling, but I’m not the dead one here. You are.”
“You touched me,” I challenged childishly.
She shook her head. “Pixie magick. Nothing but a trick. I can come in and out of the Ever After at my leisure because I’m the Shade. Where do you think I’ve been hiding for so long?” She snapped her fingers and my father suddenly appeared. “I guess you can have him now, though. Consider it a consolation.” She shoved him toward me and our two ghostlike clouds passed through each other. I stumbled to the ground.
“Jane,” my father gasped, my real father.
I sat up to look at him. “Daddy, is that really you?”
He crawled toward me and tried to grasp me but couldn’t.
“Ah!” Avery screamed dramatically. “So touching, and yet so tragic! Finally you get your daddy back but you can’t even touch him!”
I scrambled to my feet, or what could be considered feet. Standing still, the cloud around me concentrated once more, making me appear whole. “You tricked me!” I screamed.
Avery chuckled. “You’re finally realizing that?”
I clenched my jaw, running at her once more, but again, my ghostly cloud crashed right through her, splitting into a billion particles of dust. I struggled to put myself back together as she stood over me, arms crossed.
“I better get going, my pet. I have a life with a fiancé to rekindle.” Her grin already haunted me. “Happy Ever After.” She backed away, beginning to disappear with her hand in the air, fingers dancing. “Ta ta!”