“You’re askingthe wrong questions, Kat. The question isn’t who I am. It’s who you are.”
I blink at her, confused. I told her who I am. What else does she want to know?
“What happened to you? How did you die? Are you the first Avid?” The questions tumble out before I can stop them, and I mentally remind myself to keep it to one at a time. Spirits get overwhelmed easily.
The room distorts around us, the white walls rippling like water before snapping back into focus. I venture a step closer to her, my bare feet silent on the cold floor.
“Avid is not a word of my time.” Her voice carries a strange sadness, like she’s speaking from somewhere very far away. “You’ll see. Your gifts are only beginning to surface.”
I don’t know what she means. What did her folder say again? Oh yes, Project Viridian.
“Is your name Viridian? Does that mean anything to you?”
The change is instant and devastating. Her anxiety tears through my chest like a physical blow, followed by grief so crushing and raw that I have to consciously remind myself to breathe. My lungs seize up, my chest threatening to cave in on itself under the weight of emotions that aren’t mine.
“What’s wrong?” I stutter, gasping for air. “I can feel you so strongly.”
The room wobbles violently, reality fracturing at the edges. Through the distorting white walls, I catch glimpses of midnight-blue shower tiles bleeding through like watercolors in rain.
“The cage is beautiful?—”
She keeps speaking, but all I see are her lips moving in silent desperation. The sound of water rushes back, the shower drowning out her voice like a roaring tide.
No. Not now.
I stare at her, stepping closer, my heart hammering as I focus on her mouth, willing her to stay with me—or me to stay with her. I don’t know who’s anchoring who in this dissolving space between the Veil.
“The eyes never lie, even when everything else does.”
The room starts to shake violently, the white walls cracking and splintering like broken glass.
Her eyes widen with something that looks like panic, like she has so much more to tell me, but time is running out. As she begins to fade, becoming translucent against the fracturing room, I hear her again.
“Find the door.”
Then she’s gone. The white room collapses like a house of cards, and I’m left gasping and disoriented, staring at nothing but midnight-blue shower tiles and my own reflection in the steamed glasswall.
I turn off the water and towel myself dry, but I still feel unsettled and chilled despite the scalding heat. Find the door, my gifts are beginning to surface, and a bunch of other cryptic nonsense. I’m more confused now than I was before I contacted her.
Maybe my connection was poor because I’m so exhausted. I’ll have to try again soon, when my mind is clearer.
I slip into the shorts and matching button-up pajama top Aurora gave me—soft black cotton scattered with tiny blue and white flowers that remind me of my garden, the one I first met Malachi in. I miss that garden. It’s probably the only thing I’ll ever miss about that life. I turn off the light and tiptoe to the bed, sliding carefully under the covers. She was right about the heated blankets, which feel like pure luxury as I ease into the warm embrace of the comforter.
“That was a long shower,” Aurora says, rolling onto her back in the dark.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“I’m a light sleeper.” I can sense her smiling. “So, that Malachi is pretty hot up close. You think it’s serious?” Her tone shifts, becoming conspiratorial. “Did you see the way Cade was eye-fucking you during that kiss?”
I have to clap my hand over my mouth to stifle my laugh. “Aurora!”
“What? I’m saying what we were all thinking.” She sounds completely unrepentant.
“Cade is a friend now, nothing more. And Malachi…” I pause, my chest tightening at the thought of him. “I fear I’m falling hard for him. I try to rein it in, to remind myself I haven’t known him that long and need to be careful, but the way my stomach does flips when he’s near… The way my pulse quickens…”
“Oh, Kat, you have it bad,” she says, her laughter warm and knowing in the darkness.
“I know I do, and I feel bad because Cade went through so much to find me. All these years of searching, it’s tragic and romantic, like the ultimate gesture of love.”
