Page 117 of The Last De Loughrey Dynasty

“Kane doesn’t have the Book of Shadows yet,” Maisie said confidently, squeezing Nathaniel’s hand, who looked from the girl beside him to me and Archer.

“I saw a glimpse of your future.”

Archer’s body stiffened by my side, and my mouth fell open. “I could have a future?”

I could live.

“It’s not sealed yet?” Anwir asked in the same surprise as I did. This changed everything. From the things I had forced Maisie to tell me about what she saw of my future, I was sure there was little to no hope.

Nathaniel cleared his throat. “I believe not. This has happened only once or twice before that our visions overlapped with two different outcomes,” he explained, stroking the back of Maisie’s hand with his thumb. “I saw a glimpse of our graduation next year. All of us were there. You and Archer too.”

My heart started racing in my chest, and for the first time in months, I actually felt like I could breathe. I wasn’t surviving on low oxygen; I was breathing all the air that fit in my lungs. “So it’s only a fifty percent chance that Kane could succeed tomorrow?”

Maisie nodded slowly in answer. “Yes, I believe so. I think something has shifted fate. Nathaniel has seen this outcome only a few hours ago, and if his vision grows more potent over the next while, it could be that the outcome I saw won’t happen at all.”

Anwir made a thoughtful sound from where he leaned against the door of Archer's room. He had joined us only a few minutes ago and informed us that he couldn’t stay for long, since he was on call tonight in his office for the children who might struggle the night before their families joined them here. It happens more often than you think that some didn’t want to go home at all. But the school would be closed over the summer.

“From my research on your grandmother and from what you told us, I was assuming that the fate showing itself to you would happen one way or the other,” he told her, rubbing his jaw. He was thrown off by this sudden change of things.

Over the weeks he had spent in the hideaway with us and even before that, I had learned that he despised getting things wrong. It bothered him way deeper than he would probably ever confess.

Maisie shrugged innocently. “It usually did. But the sight is as unpredictable as the weather in April.”

Anwir smiled slowly before he clapped and pushed off the door. “That’s splendid! I guess hope isn’t leaving us at its fullest.” He turned his wrist to look at his watch. “Now, please do get some rest before tomorrow and don’t stay up all night. I need to get back to my office, wish me luck that nobody is already waiting. Good night.”

“Good night,” we all said in unison as he left again.

I turned to look at Archer, whose eyes were already on me. His pretty lips wore a smile, and before I could say anything, he pulled me into a hug, pressing a kiss on my temple. “We’ll spend the summer together, I hope you know that,” he whispered foronly me to hear, causing me to laugh. It felt strange; I don’t think I laughed this purely heartedly in forever.

“The question is stillif,” I reminded him. As much as I wanted Nathaniel’s version of my future to be true, I didn’t want to get my hopes up too high. Archer, however, saw that differently as he buried his face in my hair.

“No ifs. Because if there’s one path where you’re destined to be at my side forevermore, all the other paths are simply nonexistent to me, my beautiful fallen star,” he breathed against the skin of my throat, before he lifted his head to rest his forehead against mine. “One last night. Then never again.”

“Never again,” I agreed, closing my eyes as the smile tugging on my mouth grew.

“A summer with you sounds like countless nights beneath the stars.” Archer snorted softly at what I said.

“You can count on that. However, I’ll prefer the star sent to walk with me on the earth side over any shining beauty in the sky.” I opened my eyes when he pulled back. As my gaze roamed over his painfully pretty face, it felt like I was looking at him for the first time. Where I first saw an arrogant arsehole, then a friend, a boy I could never call mine, I now saw a future.

“Jesper, it’s your turn. Finally, move the figure, you can repair it later, or I’m out,” Naomi muttered in annoyance. I looked over to them sitting on the round carpet near Archer’s closet. Naomi rubbed her eyes waiting, while Jesse stared at the board in… terror. His thumb softly brushed over one of the game figures, looking like the stature of a fallen angel.

“Are you okay, Jesper?” The girl across from him asked worriedly a moment before I could ask him myself.

“I—I—oh my—” Jesse stuttered.

“Are you having a stroke or something? Jesper?” Her concern turned to panic, and suddenly all of us were on our feetmoving toward our friend, who jumped up and threw open the French window, hurrying to the balcony.

I shared a look with Maisie as we ran after him. Jesse was clinging to the railing, staring down at the maze that lay behind the school.

“It’s there.”

Archer placed a hand at the centre of his friend’s back. “What’s there, Jesse?”

Jesse began to smile, pushing past us to hurry back inside. I frowned after him.

“I swear to God, Jesper Berkshire, if you run away one more time without telling us what’s going on with you, I’ll kick your arse!” Naomi warned him when all of us were back inside, and Archer placed himself in front of the big French window to prevent our friend from running back outside once more.

Jesse came to a halt in front of his grandfather’s game, splayed out on the ground. He opened his fist where the game’s figure lay. “Ante oculos tuos,” he said, looking at the broken figure. I stepped closer, noticing that he had read those words off the broken-off bottom from the square foot the angel was standing on. At first glance, it looked like the foot was broken, but it was just the bottom that had come off, revealing the Latin words written on the inside.

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