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Slowly, I take the phone from his hands. Part of me expects it to be a cryptic threat from Yasha. Or maybe a message from Stefan, telling us about some attack somewhere. Wrong on both counts.
“It’s from your dad.”
“Delightful. What does he have to say now?”
I scroll down to the message and read it. When I see my own name, I gasp.
“What is it?” Adrik snaps.
I read the message again before I speak. “My dad’s memorial service is tomorrow.”
Adrik frowns. “My father sent that?”
I feel like I’m floating above the conversation. Like I’m out of my own body, watching myself process this information.
“Yeah. He thinks we should make an appearance. Says it will lessen suspicion around us and keep it from looking like we’re hiding after Malcolm’s disappearance.” I drop the phone in my lap and sigh. “I can’t believe my dad is having a funeral.”
“He died,” Adrik drawls. “That’s what dead people do.”
“I know. I mean, I get it. I understand that he is dead. But still… a funeral. My dad’s funeral. Can you imagine?”
“I’ve been to my mother’s,” he says. “And soon enough, my father will have one of his own. So, yes, I can imagine.”
I reach over and touch his leg. “I’m sorry.”
He waves me off. “Death is part of life.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I guess so.”
I turn and stare out at the landscape around us. At the trees whizzing past, morphing into a pure wall of green.
“I didn’t realize how much of an escape being out at the cabin was,” I murmur. “I mean, Yasha and Rurik found us. But still, it was nice to get away. I’m not ready to go back.”
“You can’t hide forever.”
“I know.”
“And you don’t need to,” he says. “You haven’t done anything wrong. Your family lost you because of their own choices. You have nothing to apologize for or be sorry about.”
I turn to him, stunned. “How did you know I was worried about seeing my family again?
“Because you aren’t as mysterious as you think you are,” he says.
Suddenly, the dark cloud over me begins to part. The dread that hung from me like weights grows lighter.
I can do this.
With Adrik by my side, I can do anything.
