I closed my eyes and blew out a breath, releasing the last of my frustration.
In its place, an image of Haley flickered through my mind, her once-glossy ponytail now dull and frizzy, her face smudged with dirt. She sat on a stone floor, huddled in the corner with a blonde woman I didn’t recognize. They weren’t crying, though. They seemed to be… strategizing? The blonde was sketching something on the floor with a sharp rock. A map?
“Gray?” Emilio touched my shoulder again. “You okay?”
I blinked away the vision, not sure that’s what it even was. It wasn’t as clear or strong as the one I’d seen in the flames, and it hadn’t really yielded any new information.
Just another little spark of hope. I tucked it away in my heart, keeping it close.
Hang in there, Hay. We’re coming.
“Just thinking about Haley,” I said softly.
“We’ll find her,querida. All of them.”
“Then we’ll neutralize the sonofabitch and finally put this nightmare behind us,” Asher said.
“Nightmares,” a voice echoed eerily from the living room, “are neither behind nor ahead. They are non-linear and immeasurable.”
Liam stepped out from behind the other side of the fireplace.
“They are within you,” he continued, “rooted in a scorched yet sacred place that lies beneath your deepest secrets, your darkest fears, your own eternal emptiness, a barren wasteland revisited endlessly despite every feeble attempt at escape.”
“Um.” I rose from my chair, forcing a grin. “How about some coffee, Liam? Sounds like you might need a little pick-me-up today.”
“I was merely attempting to expand the collective consciousness by—”
“Dial it down, Spooky.” Asher rolled his eyes. “Your people skills are even worse than mine.”
“Perhaps we could address that at the next vote?” Liam deadpanned. “However, I understand you don’t get one. Will you be naming a proxy to vote me off the island instead?”
Asher cocked an eyebrow. “Was that… Was that another joke?”
“Indeed, demon.”
“Two jokes in less than twenty-four hours? Whatever you’re smoking, I’ll take two.”
There was an awkward pause, and then Liam cracked up, the skin around his bright blue eyes crinkling.
It was the first time I’d ever really seen him let loose like that, and when his blond hair flopped in front of his eyes, it was easy to forget that inside that vessel, he was still Death. Chaotic neutral. The Great Equalizer.
The unknown quantity.
But then he turned to me, his smile dropping away as if I’d only imagined it, and I rememberedexactlywho I was dealing with.
“Gray.” He held out his hand, and I could tell by the ice in his eyes he wouldn’t be taking no for an answer today. “Come. It is time.”
Eleven
GRAY
As much as I’d initially feared it, my realm was finally starting to feel familiar again. Lush and wild, different than it had been when I was a child, but still mine. Stillme.
“This way,” I said, reaching for Liam’s black-gloved hand. He’d assumed his Death form here—something that seemed much more comfortable for him, especially this close to the Shadowrealm—but just like this place, his non-humanness no longer unnerved me.
The path that led to the meadow was crowded with new growth, forcing us to walk single file, carefully stepping over the flowers and ferns that clogged our way.
When the tangle of vines thinned and the clearing finally came into view, I released his hand and rushed ahead, eager to reach the white stone pedestal, its indigo light pulsing warm and bright in my memory.
