Page 69

Tonight, I’d made a pact with myself that I would leave her alone, for good—no late-night hallway visits, no watching her while she watched the stars. I’d even set up a daybed on the roof where she could rest comfortably, undisturbed. It was a bit ostentatious, something I was sure she’d find annoying, but I couldn’t go another night knowing she was up here on the hard stone without so much as a blanket for comfort. Knowing she would be more comfortable tonight gave me the strength I needed to leave her be.

Or so I had hoped.

A noise echoed from the stairwell, and I immediately hid myself as I watched Bryn step onto the roof, briefly pausing when her eyes landed on the bed.

She was early tonight, and she looked different. Her face lit with a lightness I hadn’t seen before.

I watched while she absentmindedly touched the two crossed pins that pulled her hair half up at the back, her eyes darting around the open space.

“I know you’re up here,” she called out to me, trying to spot where I was hiding.

I stopped breathing. My heart might have stopped beating, too.

“And I know you’ve been watching me. Your chill is hard to miss mixed with the warm breeze.”

I dropped my cover, and she smiled.

“Do you plan to stab me on this bed with those?” She nodded to the daggers I was gripping so tightly my knuckles had gone white.

I’d forgotten I was holding them.

“There are many things I would like to do to you on that bed, but stabbing you isn’t one of them.”

Her breath hitched as I returned the daggers to their resting place and passed her to leave.

But her hand caught my arm, stopping me.

“I came to find you,” she whispered, resting her hand on me.

“Is that so?” My voice was gravelly. Foreign to my ears.

“Mm-hmm.” She turned her body, so we were face-to-face. “I figured it out,” she said quietly, staring patiently at me.

I swallowed, not sure what she meant. Had she made her decision?

She ran her hands up along the underside of my arms. “The day I nearly drowned . . . it wasn’t night, and it wasn’t a full moon. I went back and counted the days, ten times.”

The suspense of her words stilled me.

“But I remembered something,” she continued, shaking her head. “No, not something . . . someone . . . pulling me out of the water and setting me on the pool’s ledge.” She tilted her head back so that her lips were only inches from my chin. “How did you get to me, Leo?”

I realized now what the light about her was. Clarity. She had put it all together.

I found my voice. “I feel that pull you feel, too. Even when you were on Six, I’ve always felt it. My magic enhances it. Like a soft humming in my chest. But it’s stronger the nearer I am to you, almost unbearable to resist when we’re this close.” I gritted my teeth as shadows darkened my eyesight, the hair on my arms lifting slightly from the touch of her fingertips. “That day, I’d sensed something was wrong, all the way here on One . . . I just knew you were in trouble.”

She nodded knowingly. “But how?”

I bowed my head in shame. How many lies had I told her? Lies I continued to tell. “It doesn’t need to be a full moon for me to access the portals. The Earths don’t have to align for me. It’s my powers, something specific to me and my ancestors.” I took her hands in mine, slipping my fingers between hers. “Space is made up of similar matter as night. Matter made of complete expansive darkness, dense like a fog. I can shift through it, shift through the portals, moving along their pathways like a zigzag at any time. I only need to place my hand on the marking at one of the entrances, and I can go anywhere. I can even . . .” I paused. I could do this. I could share this truth with her. “I can even portal on my own. Without touching the markings. I can create a rift . . . and step through.”

Her eyes were kind as they pierced mine. “Are you saying you could’ve taken me back to Six the entire time I’ve been here?”

“Yes. But I didn’t want to. Not until I could explain myself. Explain the situation.” I squeezed her hands, wanting, no, needing her to understand. “I wasn’t able to let you go.”

She nodded in what I hoped was understanding. “If I asked you to take me back now, would you?”

Adrenaline shot through my veins at the thought of taking her back. More of the darkness bleeding into the corner of my eyes. “Yes,” I said, my body in pain. “If that is what you wished, then yes.”

“And could you have saved him . . . Aaron? Could you have gotten him out of the water, too?”