The air was fresh. The redwoods were sullen giants with lush and heavy canopies. As strange and as unexpected as it was, there was life in this world: the ill-colored greenery, the insects and the birds, the deer, and every other creature that still inhabited the island. “It kind of grows on you after a while, doesn’t it?” Brandon’s voice behind me nearly made me jump.
“Oh. It’s you,” I mumbled, turning to face him.
He was tall and a few inches too close to me. Something warm began to unfurl in the pit of my stomach. “I see the color has returned to your cheeks,” Brandon said. “I take it the family reunion made you happy.”
“Our fight is just getting started,” I replied, trying to focus on the complicated journey still ahead of us, but he took another step and brought his hand up, knuckles gently brushing my cheek.
“Put that out of your head, if only for a minute,” he said, a smile stretching his lips. Wisps of darkness danced off his broad shoulders. The black of his hair was almost hypnotizing. Would a minute do any harm?
A minute spent solely in Brandon’s company didn’t sound like the worst of ideas. He’d proven himself to us. He’d fought for us. He’d gotten himself and his Aesir in trouble for us. For me… He’d mentioned his soft spot for pink-haired girls. My cheeks burned from the memory.
Brandon wasn’t the oversharing type. On the contrary. He was full of mysteries I was dying to unravel, yet whenever he looked my way, he seemed so warm and strangely open. Like a book. All mine to flip through and savor. “Astra, I’m sorry things didn’t work out better for you and your people, and that you’re stuck here. For what it’s worth, I’m stuck here with you. Whatever travel privileges Haldor and I had were canceled the moment Hrista left.”
“I’m sorry you don’t get to go back to Purgatory anytime soon,” I replied, though I wasn’t sure I meant it. Brandon going back to Purgatory was the last thing I wanted. It would mean I’d never see him again, and the thought didn’t sit well with me.
“Well, I’m sure I’ll make some new friends here. Your dad seemed pretty fun,” he chuckled, and I softened a little bit more under his gaze. For the first time since we’d met, we were completely alone—and no one was trying to kill me.
A low growl emerged from the underbrush. I turned around to see flaming blue dots peering into my very soul. Ice clotted my veins as the beast emerged from the bushes. “Holy crap,” I heard myself whimper.
It was a wolf. An enormous beast, black as the night, with a thick back and long legs. It reminded me of the ancient direwolf, taller than a man and definitely deadly, judging by the sheer length of its fangs. For a moment, I lost my breath and completely forgot about Brandon and everything else around me. I could only see the beast with its flaming blue eyes.
“Hammer!” Brandon exclaimed, taking the words right out of my mouth.
He bolted from my side just as the wolf leapt in the air, throwing up a cloud of dirt and pebbles in his haste. The Berserker and the Aesir met each other halfway, jumping into a tackle that turned into a growling hug as the two rolled around on the ground. Hammer was overjoyed to see Brandon again. He ended up on top of the Berserker, lovingly licking every inch of his face. And the look on Brandon’s face…
That was pure happiness, and it made my heart swell. In this dark madness, he had found a silver lining worth holding on to. Yeah, we were stranded in the fake Shade with every real Shadian, at least until I figured out how to open a shimmering portal. Yeah, Hrista had kicked us out of our home and probably had all kinds of sick plans. And yeah, we had no idea how to stop her.
But this moment I wanted to enjoy.
Unending
Sleeping was truly something wonderful.
I was molten butter, spreading and thinning in the land of dreams, where every single memory of mine hung from an endless ceiling in tear-shaped crystal bottles. I only had to uncork them, and I’d get to remember what I had done five hundred or five thousand or five million years ago. In the land of dreams, I was the master of my being and I knew exactly who I was and what I had done, just like Anunit had said.
But as lovely as this was, I needed to get back to the real world.
Oh, a conscious dream. Odd.
Anunit had given me a body of my own, yes. I felt warm. Someone was holding me. Suddenly, I became aware of my surroundings. The heavy silence, with the exception of the occasional wind whispering. The heat on my face… I’ve never felt it like this before. The hardness beneath me. It’s the ground. I’m on the ground.
My eyes opened slowly, and the dimensional aspect of everything hit me. I could see like a living being. I could smell the powdery dust in the air, tickling the back of my throat. Tristan held me close, and his smile made my whole world shine with pure joy and a renewed sense of love.
“I love you so much,” I said.
“I was looking forward to hearing you say that,” he replied, and our lips met.
Our first true kiss. It felt incredible, like… petals pressed against one another. He tasted of sweetness and blood, and it lingered on the tip of my tongue. My senses were incredibly amplified. As a Reaper, I had felt everything with my spirit, and that was the deepest way to experience anything. But as a living being, I was feeling everything with my body, with the nerve receptors that came with
