Page 109 of Anomalies

I turn to face the mirror and let the towel fall. Silently, I step into the dress, and with each breath, more of me comes back to life. An awareness snaps my spine straight as if I’ve been locked outside of my body, and I’m finally able to breathe through my lungs again. I can do this. One night.

I slide the silky material over my shoulders, then zip it up along the side. The dress is cut in a babydoll style, and the deep red fabric falls about halfway down my thighs. It’s the perfect dress for dancing since only the short scrap of red across my chest is tight, while everything else is free to move.

Selene and Gemma insisted I buy it even though it was the most expensive thing I got that day; they said the color complements my skin, and I agree. I look…alive and healthy, with newly tanned and toned skin that has that Solian glow about it. But it feels like deception to walk around this way; it’s not at all reflective of what’s inside.

I run product through my hair and twist some of the curls around my fingers, but I leave all of it draped down my back, the long chaotic waves as tamed as they’ll ever be. I add color to my cheeks and lips, and I’m just finishing with a dark shadow around my eyes when Gemma calls for me.

“Two more minutes,” I tell her, shoving the backs onto some gold earrings, then I reach for my boots.

“Cin!” she calls again, and I huff as I force my feet into my boots. I give my appearance one final glance, not that it matters all that much, but I rarely see myself put together in this way.

Deciding this is the best it’s going to get as far as appearance goes, I reach for the doorknob just as Gemma calls my name for a third time.

“Chiaros, G.” I throw the door open with a vengeance. “What’s the rush⁠—”

“That’s the rush.” A slow smile creeps over her face, tears slipping down her cheeks as she points a trembling finger to the doorway.

To the tall figure leaning against the frame.

“Chaos.”

27

CALLAN

Lucina stumbles forward one step. Then another. But I have no patience for a third, so I snatch her off the ground. I’ve waited almost three weeks for this. I’ve had dreams about it.

I wrap her up so tight that there is no escaping and there is no letting her go.

Never again.

“I’ve missed you,” I tell her, and my eyes fall shut when she exhales heavily, the beat of her heart frantic against my chest. I’ve felt many pounding hearts, I’ve felt many die off, too, but the rhythm of hers is unrivaled.

There are tears in Gemma’s eyes as she stands, but there’s a bright smile on her face too. “I’ll wait on the porch,” she says, “but I just got her to agree to a party, Cal, I won’t let you hoard her all night.”

I give her the same wild look I gave her when we were twelve and I climbed the Banyan even though Aunt May told me she’d punish me into oblivion for it. That’s what this felt like, making it to the top.

“I’m glad you're back,” Gemma whispers, gently squeezing my arm as she steps out and into the hall.

Lucina flinches in my arms when I kick the door shut, then she’s on the cusp of laughter when I hastily clear off the bench at the end of the bed and pull her into my lap.

There are tears in her hazel eyes, magnifying the tiny flecks of gold that swim in her irises, and there is a rosiness to her cheeks and the tip of her nose that matches the color she’s painted on her lips.

“You’re alive,” she breathes.

Chiaros, her voice. I hadn’t realized how badly I needed to hear it. “I am now.”

“I thought you were⁠—”

“I did too.”

It’s taking everything that I have not to kiss her, but I want that decision to be entirely hers. I know how I feel about Lucina, I’ve known it for some time, but before I left, I don’t think she knew how she felt about me. Whatever she decides is more than okay. I’ll have her in any capacity; a friend, an enemy… anything, but it’s her decision.

When her watery eyes dip to my mouth, I shiver, but when her gaze snaps back up to mine, it’s serious and…borderline frightening. “Where the fuck were you?”

Oh, she missed me…a lot more than she thought she would. I know she won’t appreciate a taunting smile, but it slips past before I can stop it.

“I’ll kill you,” she snaps, and the sincerity in her words is utterly devastating.