“Yes. Silas wasn’t even his real name.”
The pain in my chest is now a vicious stabbing, right beneath my sternum. Because of Silas, I’ll never master time travel. I’ll never see my mother again. My lungs are incompetent, each inhale strained.I’ll never meet Liam.
I want to scream. Break down. Doanythingto release the unbearable pain tearing at my insides, but I swallow the cry in my throat and hold back the tears burning my eyes. Liam’s spent the past six years trying to save me, and the agony of defeat is written all over his face. For him, I need to be strong. I raise my chin. “Did you kill him?”
“Yes,” he says without hesitation, his voice unrecognizably cold.
I should feel satisfaction, but the pain in my heart worsens, threatening to tear me apart. Silent tears stream down my cheeks.
Liam runs a hand through his hair, eyes glazed over as if his mind is in another place. “We couldn’t let him go. Not with the power he had to change the past. He could come back here and kill us all.” He shakes off his stupor, his golden gaze returning to mine. “Ella, I came back for two reasons. I hate to ask you for anything again but—”
“I want to help,” I say.
Liam nods. “Get rid of everything in here. Just in case he’s hidden information that will lead anyone to us.”
“I will. And the second thing?”
Liam is silent, his shoulders slumping as he pulls something from his pocket, his knuckles white.
I stare at the syringe in his hand, and my heart drops. “You know?”
“Matthews.” Liam’s brows crease. “A lot of what he said didn’t make sense, but he made it clear he was threatened by you. His plan was always to take away your powers and keep you contained.” His lips press together, and he stares down at me, the light behind his eyes dim. “I don’t want you to take this, Ella. The only consistent information we got out of Matthews is if you don’t go to Neurovida, you’ll live.” He takes a step toward me. “As long as you pretend to know nothing, Neurovida will leave you alone. You can have a normal life.”
A normal life.The words ring in my ears.
I’ve spent so long chasing normality. Afraid of being the weird girl or being singled out. I let it take over my life.
But standing before Liam, knowing I’ve already missed out onsix years—that he wants to make it longer.Forever.
I don’t want a normal life.
The realization knocks the breath from my lungs. Not if it means a life without him.
“If I don’t go to Neurovida, we’ll never meet,” I whisper, and as the words leave my mouth more tears fall, no matter how much I try to stop them.
Liam tenses, but he doesn’t reach out to touch or comfort me. His shoulders are slumped, his eyes dim. The past six years have broken something within him. “I don’t want you to meet me,” he says. “Not if it means your death. I want you to live a long, safe life. This is the only way I can ensure that happens. But I don’t want to be another person inyour life making choices for you.” He releases a breath and extends the syringe toward me. “I told you I’d never keep anything from you again. It’s not a promise I’ve kept, but at least this way you can decide for yourself.”
Hand shaking, I reach out and take the antidote. “And if I don’t take it, what does that mean for us?”
“I can’t—” He pauses, pressing his lips together. “I need to go back, but Rose and I won’t stop trying. I promised you I never would.”
“It’s been six years. Stop searching. Stay here with me. I can take the antidote, and you can teach me how to time travel. We can go somewhere safe.”
“I don’t want to hide in the past forever. You saw what being here did to Rose. The painkillers and the unstable behavior are only a glimpse of what happens if we stay too long in the wrong time. Plus, Neurovida will be watching you now, getting ready to recruit you. The only way I can guarantee your safety is by staying away.”
“Can’t you visit me at Neurovida and tell me when it’s time to leave? Before anything happens to me?”
“Once you set foot in Neurovida, you never leave. You die no matter what.”
I grip the syringe in my hand. I’m not ready to say goodbye. I’m not ready to accept I’ll never go to Neurovida, never meet him, never live the life I was destined to live. “What if I find you before either of us gets recruited?”
Liam shakes his head. “It’s too dangerous.”
My heart’s racing, as if it senses how unbearably close it is to breaking. “No. I’ll find you in this time. I’ll—”
“Ella,no!” he yells. He points to the syringe in my hand. “Throw that away and move on with your life. Finish your studies and become a psychologist like you always wanted.Don’t waste your life waiting for me.” He’s shaking, body half turned away as if he can’t bear to look at me. “There’s no future for us anymore.”
His words hit me with such force that the air expels from my lungs. I clutch the charm on my necklace, fighting to stay upright. This can’t be the end. I move toward him, needing to close the distance between us. I’m desperate for him to take me into his arms and promise me it will be okay, but he steps backward, and my feet come to a halt.
