Page 123 of Semblance

He drew his hand back.

“What are you doing?” I cried. “Don’t give up.”

He shook his head and smiled at me sadly.

“I’d never hurt you Aria,” Shadow said. “Never in a million years.”

He was referring to the moment when he had the knife in his hands and I thought I was a goner. Had Sinister waited for the full three seconds, would I still be alive?

A loud creek came from the scaffolding. Any second, it was ready to give.

“Shadow, please,” I said, reaching out to him again.

“Just tell me you love me,” he said. “That’s all I need from you.” His face was red from strain, his voice hoarse.

“I love you,” I said without hesitation.

I saw peace on Shadow’s face as he closed his eyes, accepting that this was the end. If he was going to die, I wanted to join him.

“I love you too Shadow,” came a third voice. The sight of Lincoln lying down next to me, reaching out for Shadow made my heart sing. “Now come on, hold my hand damn it.”

A smile crept across Shadow’s face as he nodded and extended his hand upwards. I was relieved to see that he was able to grab Lincoln’s hand, and just in time too. A split-second after Shadow released his grip on the loose scaffolding, it came crashing down, plummeting to the ground below.

“And to think, I used to get teased for my gorilla-long arms,” Lincoln said. He clenched his teeth and using both hands, pulled Shadow up and back onto solid ground.

Shadow collapsed onto his back and sucked in a heavy breath of air.

“Remind me to fire the construction crew for installing such shitty scaffolding,” he said. “No more cash deals, ever again.”

I dove on top of Shadow and pelted him with a hundred butterfly kisses.

“Maybe you two should wait until the hotel is finished and then get a room,” Lincoln said, wiping sweat off his brow. The right side of his face was swollen and his lip was fat and bloodied.

“You look like shit,” Shadow said.

“My abilities to stay beautiful seemed to have deteriorated with each subsequent attempt on my life,” Lincoln replied.

Above, the sounds of the helicopter blades were growing louder. The chopper was fast approaching.

“The helicopter,” I said, pointing out the obvious.

“Well ahead of you,” Lincoln acknowledged as they both rose to their feet and bolted for the stairwell that led back to the helipad.

“Sinister’s mine,” Shadow said.

“Leave a piece for me,” Lincoln added. “I want the softest and fleshiest piece.”

By the time we reached the helipad, the chopper was already on the ground and Sinister was entering into it.

“No you don’t,” Shadow said as he began sprinting for the chopper, leaping over the unconscious bodies of the two guards that Lincoln had dispatched.

Shadow was fast, but when it came down to man versus machine, the latter always won. By the time Shadow reached the helicopter, it was already fifteen feet up in the air.

“This isn’t over,” Shadow cried out to him.

“Of course not,” Sinister shouted over the noise of the spinning blades. “This has been too much fun. I’m glad you survived all of this Shadow, I really am. You may not believe me, but I still do love you…brother.”

And then the chopper was gone. Sinister’s final words reverberated in my ears.

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