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I sigh, wishing to God I could say yes. “No. I didn’t make it that far. It felt like a limbo, a resting spot until I chose to move on or go back.”
She continues staring without so much as a blink.
“Scarlett wasn’t there. She moved on to a better place.”
She tries to mask the emotion that I just triggered. But she fails. God, she fails miserably. Her eyes glisten with relief and heartache.
“I’m sorry you didn’t get to see Sophia and Arthur again.”
Me too,I hear Kane mutter close to the front. His voice sounds like my own, as do all of the other alters. But there are unique traits that always help me pinpoint who’s speaking. When Kane comes close, I feel the pang of guilt in my chest, anxiety, and humility. And unfortunately, he stays very close to the front when Skylenna is around. She has always been his anchor. Without her, even as a child, he would have buried himself deep in the inner world. Never choosing to resurface again.
Skylenna rolls over onto her other side, facing me now.
“I saw you in the asylum… I died, I think. From the simulated drowning. And I saw you there. Was that real? Or was it a dream?”
A tendon in my jaw tics. Shediddie. I wasn’t sure if it was real either when I saw her in that hallway. I thought maybe it was my own thoughts manifesting. But it did happen. They fucking killed her. Acid swims angrily in my veins, and I clench my fists until my knuckles turn white.
“That was real.”
“You were… not just you, Dessin. You were Kane, and Greystone, and all of your alters. How is that possible?”
It’s true. When we died, it was as if the trauma we endured to split us had never happened at all. “We fused, I think. Became whole again. One soul.”
Her eyes flare. “Why didn’t you tell me about faking your death then?”
“Because I was still dead, baby. I didn’t know if it would work or for how long I was dead. And you looked—tortured. I couldn’t put you through losing me all over again.”
She looked worse than tortured. That innocent, moral light that usually sparkles in her emerald eyes was extinguished. There was a murderous shadow seeping out of her pupils, a new perspective on life that lacked happiness.
“Why didn’t you come find me when you woke up? Why did I have to put myself in danger, like I did when I was a girl, just to get you to reveal yourself to me?” she asks in her best attempt not to sound frustrated.
Tell her the truth. We were afraid it didn’t work. We—
I know, I bark at Kane.
I rub my temples. “We did go looking, but… if the plan didn’t work, if you didn’t become like me, if your mind didn’t achieve the level of complexity that other female subjects had—this would have all been for nothing.” My heart knocks around my chest, and I swallow. “You would have had to grieve my death for nothing. You would have suffered for nothing. And I was… afraid to face you if you didn’t remember. We all were.”
Skylenna’s face is unreadable. I wish I knew what she was thinking.
“Kane knew that if you touched the cross, saw how we always found you when you were in danger, you’d do it again in hopes we’d come back to you. And that’s how we’d know for sure if the plan worked.” Christ, saying it out loud makes me sound like a coward.
The meadow is still and waiting for her response, with the exception of a couple of purple wisteria petals drifting over us in the wind.
“And… Vexamen has sent more squadrons. They’ve invaded Hangman’s Valley. It’s only a matter of time before they make it to the city line.”
Skylenna furrows her brow. “What would you have done if it didn’t work?”
“Found you with my tail tucked between my legs.”
She snorts. My cock jolts at the sound.
“Can you explain how you seem to know when I’m in danger?” she asks, and her brow softens from the slight diffusion of tension.
I shrug. “It defies logic, but I’ll try. It’s like a sixth sense, I suppose. We noticed it when you and Kane were children. The first time it happened, you twisted your ankle jumping down a tree while Kane was hunting for food. We knew it immediately. His heart pumped fiercely like he was being attacked. And his only instinct, thought, and focus was to find you.”
Her eyes glaze over, and I can tell she’s seeing it happen now. I’m eager to learn all of the ways her mind works.
“We knew it wasn’t a coincidence when we felt that panic every time Jack locked you in the basement. That’s how he was always there to let you out. I’d get us in trouble, and the punishment was the isolation tank. What my instructor didn’t know was that I knew how to escape it. He thought he was leaving me in for a day or two and had no idea I’d use that time to break us out so Kane could be with you.”
