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I hear Boris gasp behind me. He places his hands on my shoulders in an attempt to bring me comfort, I think.
“I assumed you would choose, Damon,” Agatha says. “Why Boris?”
“Because he knows me better than anyone. He’s my dad. I don’t want him to forget me saying my first word or taking my first step. We’ve built a lifetime of memories together, and I don’t think my heart could take it if he looked at me like I’m a stranger to him. If Damon and I are meant to be together, we will be in this new world. He and I can build new memories. Please, I’m begging you Agatha, give me one person who knows who I am. Give me Boris.”
Agatha looks between me and Boris. “I too have a father. My creator. So, I understand what you’re asking, but I’m afraid I can’t give you anyone. The whole point of this trial is to demonstrate your ability to give up everything for the greater good. If I give you one person, that negates your sacrifice.”
Fresh tears spill down my cheeks as despair envelopes me. Boris turns me around so I can cry against his chest.
“I’ll find a way to remember you,” he says through his own tears. “I swear it.”
“Please, remember me,” I beg him. “I can’t live in a world where you don’t know who I am.”
“I don’t care what this thing says,” he says with conviction. “No one is going to take my memories of you away. No one!”
Those in the room give us a moment to grieve over our imminent loss, but time can’t stand still.
“Do you know where Damon and the others are?” Margaret asks. “Can you bring them to us?”
“No,” Agatha says, “but I can take us to them and then return you to Midnight and Dawn, respectively, so you can start out your new lives in your own cities.”
“Then take us to Damon,” Margaret says, “so I can spend what time we have left together.”
“Wait,” I say, turning out of Boris’s arms to address Agatha, “you need to let the people we left outside in first.”
“Of course,” Margaret says shaking her head, “I completely forgot about them. Thank you for remembering.”
Agatha bows her head. “I will open the door for your companions and then I will fly this ship to where the others in your party are at the moment.”
A door that was invisible to us slides open in the wall behind her. She disappears down its dark corridor.
A few seconds after Jack and the others join us, we feel the ship move.
Boris keeps an arm around my shoulders and holds Margaret’s hand with his other one while he tells Jack what happened. I’m grateful he took charge. I simply don’t have the strength to tell them about the bargain I struck with Agatha.
“I’m so sorry, Ivy.” Jack’s expression is one of sorrow over my pain, and it’s clear he doesn’t know what else to say.
I can’t blame him. What else do you say to a person who is about to lose everything she values in the world? Words won’t be able to fix things, only time.
Simon warily casts a glance my way. As if sensing his father’s needs, Tripp wiggles so much in his father’s arms that Simon is forced to put him down on the floor. Tripp runs over and jumps into my arms. He’s lucky I have quick reflexes to catch him.
“See,” I say, rubbing him between the ears, “your father does love you. He would rather see the world destroyed than lose you.”
Tripp lavishes my face with warm licks before snuggling his soft furry head against my neck. I think it’s his way of saying thank you.
“I don’t know what to say to you,” Simon says as he stands in front of me.
“You don’t have to say anything.” I hug Tripp one more time before returning him to his father’s arms, being careful not to touch Simon. “You did the right thing saving Tripp. No matter what Agatha says, you won your trial.”
“Thank you,” he says, holding his son close.
“Don’t lose hope that Tripp can be helped,” I say. “I know someone in the real world who is doing her best to find a permanent solution to the wolf problem. If anyone can help all of you, she can.”
“Do you mean we won’t have to live these half-lives anymore?” he asks with true hope for a brighter future in his eyes.
“Yes.”
Simon looks at the floor for a second, absorbing this news before looking back at me.
