Page 84 of In Your Light

Fyn. I know it was you.

The darkness pressed harder, but now he pushed back.

What happened, Fyn?

Panic began to claw at his chest.

Was Fyn hurt? Had he collapsed from exhaustion? Had he given up? A thousand horrors raced through Hadeom’s mind, each worse than the last.

Fyn, please!

His shout tore through the abyss, echoing in the silence. His desperation became something fiercer than despair.

If the music had reached him, then there had always been a path. If Fyn had found him once, then Hadeom could find him too.

I am coming. I will find you.

His shadows gathered and began to thrum, pushing him forward. Anxious, desperate.

I heard you.

The darkness cracked beneath his feet, freeing its hold. The flute had fallen silent, but Hadeom no longer needed the sound to remember the way home.

He carried its final note inside his heart, and for the first time in an age, he walked not toward his guilt but toward the one who had refused to stop looking for him.

And then he began to run.

KELLAN

Hadeom sat bolt upright with a gasp, which made both Kellan and Otis jump.

“Fyn,” Hadeom murmured, and then he groaned as if his body ached.

“You’re okay,” Kellan said quietly.

Hadeom startled, looking at them both, and only then seemed to take in the room around him. “Fyn.”

“He’s not here⁠—”

“Where is he? Is he hurt? Why do I feel like this?” He put his hand to his chest.

Otis put his hands up, palms forward. “Easy there, big guy. He’s not hurt. He’s gone with Ciaran and Sawyer. He sat with you, day and night. He didn’t want to leave you.”

Hadeom shook his head, wincing. “He played his flute for me.”

“Yes,” Kellan said.

Hadeom’s eyes met his, dark and troubled. “I need to find him.”

He shoved off the blanket and got to his feet, wincing again.

“You should give your body a moment to adjust,” Kellan tried. “You’ve been immobile for quite some time.”

Hadeom looked at him as if he’d spoken in tongues, and his body seemed to shiver with darkness. His shadows, Kellan realised.

Otis moved in closer, but Kellan put a hand on his arm to stop him. “It’s okay,” Kellan murmured. “He’s anxious. He needs to find Fyn, that’s all.”

Hadeom gave a nod and shot out the front door and down the steps.