Page 33 of Nyx
My eyes widen as I continue to pet the tree… theMaple. “There is sweet inside?”
“There is. One day we’ll bring some rope and mark the maples we find. If it gets cold enough to tap them this year, we can do it together.”
“I like together,” I say, then blush and duck my head as I sense his eyes on me.
“I like together, too, Nyx.”
Avoiding his gaze, I wander a few steps deeper into the trees and crouch beside a green leafy plant. A deep burgundy flower blooms from its center, and I run my fingers over the petals. “What is this one?”
Footsteps approach, and Reyes squats so close, our knees nearly touch. “Trilium,” he answers, then smiles as I test the word out loud. “Some of them have white or yellow flowers, too, but this color is my favorite.”
It’s my favorite, too. The color reminds me of the sunlight shining through his dark curls, and that’s what drew me to this flower. I want to tell him that, and let him know how often I think of him. But my words refuse to work right now, and my mind is too cloudy to share this secret. It seems like it needs to be shared, because I think it would make him happy.
In the end, I only nod.
Soon enough, Reyes stands and puts more distance between us, and I want to say something about that, too. Ask him not to go, and tell him I like it when he’s closer. That I’m empty when he’s too far.
But I can’t.
So I don’t.
We continue to walk through the woods, and he shows me Oak and Tulip Poplar, and Black-Eyed-Susan in a sunny opening. He shares every name he knows, and even stops me from touching an Ivy he says will hurt me. The vibrant green, three-pronged leaves flutter in the wind. They don’t look so dangerous to me, but I allow him to steer me away.
I tell him how Birch reminds me of the Aadlan trees I climbed as a child, with their silvery smooth bark, and how Fern is like the Eivlonna that chased the riverbanks. He listens, rapt, and asks me questions that prove what he said to me weeks ago.
My words are important to him.
We’ve been climbing in elevation as we walk, but I don’t realize how far we’ve gone until we step out onto a rocky overlook. It balconies a ridged valley, and the trees are endless on the horizon. The sun’s rays are harsh, but aheavy breeze surges from the vale and blows over my skin. Leaves flutter and the wind whispers as it cuts through the forest. My ears twitch at the faint rush of water—a finger of the creek, perhaps, or a small waterfall within these hills.
Reyes takes a seat on the rocks, and I follow, perching on a flat surface nearby. “Do you think anyone has ever sat here before?” His quiet question breaks the silence, and I glance over to find him staring off into the distance. “It’s strange to think about, isn’t it? The difference between the world a hundred years ago and now. My ancestors could’ve hiked in these same hills. They could’ve sat right here with the same breeze blowing through these same trees, but everything is so different.”
“Life changes. We cannot stop it, even if we want to.” His focused attention turns to me, and it’s my turn to gaze off into the distance. If I’m looking at him, I won’t be able to say what I want to say. “My life is three worlds. Thebeforethat I barely remember. My life… there.” A deep sorrow fills his eyes as I meet them for a fleeting second. “And here, with you.” He swallows, his fingers flexing against his shorts, but he doesn’t need words to show me he understands. The churning in my stomach makes me hesitate, but I push through, drawing my bravery from the open world surrounding us. “I think… everything else wasn’t real. But this is… you are real. Life starts now.”
“Your past doesn’t have to be real if you don’t want it to be, Nyx.”
“I don’t,” I whisper, closing my eyes against the sun. “I wish I could pretend it never happened.”
Reyes pauses for a moment, his voice thick as he says, “If only I could do that for you. Take away the memoriesof everything that hurt you.” He shifts, and I open my eyes to stare at the stretch of rock between us, where his hand inches closer to mine. “But only you get to decide when your life begins, Nyx. Don’t give them that power.”
“I do not even remember my birthday.”
“Then we’ll give you a new one. We’ll figure out the date they freed you from that cage, or if you don’t want that day, we’ll make one up. Any day you want. That will be your birthday.”
“Okay,” I whisper, tears stinging my eyes. “You will be with me for my birthday?”
“Of course I will be,” he breathes, and my chest feels like it might split open wide with the way my heart pounds.
“What will we do?”
Reyes’s laugh is choked, and another of these tiny smiles tugs at my lips. The first time I felt one, I didn’t understand what it was. Muscles that had been dormant for decades were confused at the slivers of happiness, but I welcomed it all the same. “We’ll eat cake, obviously.”
“My peanut butter cakes?” I ask, wiggling my feet against the mossy stone.
“Oh, no. We’ll make something even better. It’ll be so sweet, your teeth will hurt from the sugar and your stomach will ache later.”
I wrinkle my nose as he chuckles. “That sounds awful.”
“It does, but I promise you, it’ll be amazing.”
