Page 29 of Bonded Ever After

The council members look in my direction, and they all seem relieved. Like they feel the chess pieces they needed have all fallen into place. Unfortunately for them, I’m not controlled by anyone.

“Well, well, well, pretty little Elora. I’m going to enjoy visiting you in the lab each day,” Vyn says, a sickening pleasure in his voice.

Callum looks back at me with horror. I know what he’s thinking, but he’ll understand soon.

I smile at Vyn. “That’s if you survive long enough.”

Flipping the top open on the chest, I set it down on the ground and watch as the effect of the goldarium ripples over all of them. Callum yanks me back as everyone comes running. As they get in each other’s ways, they scratch, claw, bite, and fight. A Security guard manages to touch the goldarium, and his fingers burn off, turning to ash as he screams, and yet he continues to try to get to it still.

They’re all trying their best. Councilman Vyn falls on the goldarium, and it eats away part of his face before he’s pulled back. The Security officers start shooting wildly, and Callum yanks me behind a tree along with him. He presses his body around me as screams fill the air.

We stay that way for a long time, until it grows quiet. Then we step out from behind the tree. Callum’s mom has tied herself to a tree, and blood is running down her face. She’s fighting the rope, but she’s unable to escape. Councilman Vyn is crawling toward the chest, and as we watch, Callum’s mom pulls a gun out of her waist and shoots him dead.

Callum closes the lid, and the silence around us is deafening. Unfortunately, it looks like the majority of them were simply tranqed rather than having died, but it’s the same to us now. As long as we escape.

“Mom?” Callum says.

Tears run down her face. “I need you to know… I helped Elora’s mom in secret to burn down that building the first time. I tried everything in my power to stop it the second time, but it wasn’t enough. I’m sorry, son. You deserve so much better than me.”

Callum looks at her, his expression cold. “I do, but I’m not going to go into Neverwood hating you. The last thing I’m going to do is bring hatred and anger into my new family. So, I forgive you.”

She starts weeping in earnest now, the deep scratches on her face bleeding enough that blood drips from her jaw. I want to feel sorry for her, but I just can’t. Not after what she helped plan for us, even if she wasn’t fully on board.

Callum picks up the box of goldarium and takes my hand.

“You know that with you gone, there is no Paradise Falls, right? There’s no perfect place,” his mom says softly.

“There never really was,” Callum tells her, and then we step through the doorway to our new home.

TWELVE

Elora

The fire crackles near us, and we lay together in my family cabin, holding each other. We haven’t spoken. We’d just crawled into bed, shaking together like leaves, trying to let the adrenaline fade from what we’d just been through.

But my mind can’t seem to quiet.

Too much had happened, more than my brain could possibly process.

“We can never go home,” I say, my voice breaking a little.

He holds me tighter. “Home is anywhere the two of you are.”

His words make me smile as his hand strays to my stomach. “You know what I mean. Callum, what are we going to do?”

“It’s simple,” he says, kissing the top of my head. “We’re going to choose a place to make our own.”

A place to make our own?“What, in the woods where our child can be eaten by ogres? Or we can live constantly terrified of a storm? Or in the Mist Realm, where one wrong step could have our child splattered on the ground? Or maybe whatever the hell is in an Ash Realm?”

Callum chuckles. “Take deep breaths. Let’s figure this out.”

I take a few deep breaths, but I don’t feel any calmer. I have a baby growing inside of me. A baby that will soon be walking and talking. A baby who will never have a friend or a partner. A baby who will one day be left here alone, after we pass.

“We have a lot of goldarium. We could build an epic home here. Then, we could build large walls to surround it, start a garden, and build a whole little farm.”

I think, then shake my head. “This place can’t be where we raise our child. There’s nothing here for them. What will they do if something happens to us?”

He’s quieter for another long minute. “How about the mist realm? That tree guy was pretty friendly, and it sounds like he has more people, even if there’s not a lot of them. Didn’t he offer to build us a home in a tree? As far as we know, these are the only people in Neverwood. We can stick close to them.”

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