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“A part of it.”
Weariness in his voice and knowledge of where it came from sparks more tenderness toward him. When he drops onto his back again, I nestle my head into the crook of his shoulder. He’s stiff with surprise at our initial contact, but soon his tension eases, giving me a softer pillow.
“More please.”
He groans softly without conviction.
“Man of few words doesn’t cut it with me anymore, partner.”
Sion chuckles. “I suppose not.”
“The tower? The souls? Where are we?” I point to the shifting clouds. “It isn’t frozen here, the way it was when you first took me inside the Veil.”
“This is a waiting place.”
I nudge him to continue.
“The Veil creates these pockets like, ah, annexes.”
“For soulfalls?”
Sion sits up, carrying me with him. He flattens his hand and then bends his thumb and pinkie over his palm so three fingers stick up. “Put your fist in the middle of my hand.”
I rest my fist over his curled fingers. “Your fist is the Veil. Think of it as a hub. We can either pass through it, or what do you Amerrrricans say? ‘Hang out,’ inside it.”
“Oh, like we did in the forest of glowing balls.”
Sion spits out a laugh. “The Veil might not take kindly to being called the forest of glowing balls.”
I laugh with him. While Sion continues my Veil lesson, I take a closer look at him. One eye is slightly larger than the other, but they’re so round and cute it doesn’t matter. In moonlight, their green is the color of blown glass. The curls and waves of his hair are scattered with russet and gold, fall leaves not fully turned.
For him, is our cuddle here in the grass born only of a shared victory and survival? I can’t deny the pull I feel toward him. No matter how appealing I find his touch, Sion hasn't given any sign of personal interest in me beyond my usefulness of problem solving. Then again, there was that kiss against the castle wall. I know he initiated it to protect me, but then it shifted into something more intimate—more confusing. So much has happened tonight, my emotions are in freefall. Rational thinking, my old friend, suggests we aren’t meant to kindle a Colleen and Charlie spark. Sion and I are business partners of a sort with a cosmic deadline.
Jeremy Olk is the right match for me.
Interesting how very little the steady, academic Jeremy has come to mind on this strange evening.
Sion smirks. “We’ll leave off the balls and call it the place that smells of lemongrass and spearmint.”
“And soap bubbles to you.”
“Besides moving through the Veil itself, we’re offered three destinations we can travel to.” He wiggles his index finger. “Anywhere we intend to be in the present.” Switching to his middle finger, he says, “Other times and places.” His ring finger waves up and down like it's doing squats. “Soulfalls.”
“No zips into the future or other planets?”
“The whole of history don’t satisfy yaaaaa—” Sion’s last word stretches into a groan. He smacks a hand to his chest. Pain splatters across his face, and he chokes out his words. “We’ve got to go. Break day is coming fast.”
In the distance, a thin gray line sketching the horizon widens.
I put my hand over his. “What’s wrong?”
The moment our fingers touch, a painful jolt rockets through my chest, knocking me back onto my side. The Veil cinches around us like a giant elastic band, swallowing our yelps of pain into its wavering prism.
Moments later, we’re flat out underneath the leaning stone, clutching our chests and panting for breath. Sion’s skin is gray.
Dawn birdsong erupts around us. The flashlight I dropped rests on the path nearby. We’re back in the forest where I unwittingly chased a fox and shattered my reality. He drags himself next to me, laying one hand on my heart and one on his own. Every heartbeat is agony as it presses against the pressure of his palm. I try to speak but only manage a drawn-out moan.
The Veil has decided to kill me, and judging from his condition, Sion too. For a second, I wonder what celestial rule we broke to earn a death sentence after saving Alaina Kennedy’s soul. I close my eyes. Is it an afterlife for me or a soulfall? I wish I’d had a chance to say goodbye to Colleen.
