Page 105 of Walking in Darkness
“Do you want to leave your car here or drive it back?” I asked.
“I’ll drive it back. I’ll follow you guys.”
“Okay.”
She pulled the latch to the double doors. A cold blast of air gushed in, cut off just as quickly when she jumped out, then secured the doors.
I met Timothy’s eyes through the rearview mirror. His expression was both sharp and soft. Overwhelmed and staunch. A silent promise that we were all in this together.
A second later, he put the van into gear and slowly pulled back onto the road. I remained at Aria’s side, touching her in every place I could, hand still splayed wide over the quiet but steady thud of her heart. Still on my knees, I leaned forward and rested my cheek on her shoulder while Jill’s stare burned into the side of my face.
“What’s happening?” she finally asked, her voice held on a tremulous whisper.
My chest knotted with trepidation over what had transpired tonight.
I was utterly unable to wrap my head around the fact that Kruen had been here. Part of me wanted to ascribe it to some sort of hallucination. That all of it had been a fabrication of our minds.
Some kind of fucking sorcery Ambrose had cast, which I was sure was the case, but I was also pretty sure it had become a thread in this reality. That he’d brought them here. How, I didn’t fucking know.
I breathed out a sigh riddled with a boatload of uncertainty. “Think this already fucked-up world is about to completely go to shit. It seems our two worlds are merging.”
“Two worlds.” It wasn’t a question. It was a deliberation. A pondering of transience and death and things everlasting.
Her brow pinched as she turned her soft gaze to Aria. “What are you?”
“Did you read her chart?” I asked.
She gave me a clipped nod. “I did.”
She said it like she hadn’t given herself permission to believe what was written in it.
“Then you know.”
She blinked through the disbelief she was grappling with before she whispered, in a tone that sounded like acceptance, “Laven. I saw that word written in her chart, along with ...”
She slightly shook her head through the riot of doubt and wonder. “That when you sleep, Aria believed that you fought a war to keep us safe. A war that none of us know is happening.”
It was why Aria had been institutionalized. Because she hadn’t been able to keep that truth from flooding out.
“It’s true. Everything she said, it’s true.” I swallowed hard. “And I’m afraid that war has come here.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Pax
Aria was wrapped in the blanket from the van as I carried her into Dani’s house. She was still limp. Still unconscious. But her chest lifted and fell with each breath. Breaths I inhaled like they sustained my own life as I held her close.
Even though it was dampened, I could sense Aria’s aura all around me.
Coconut and the most extreme sort of goodness.
Pure and right.
This woman who was so powerful. So strong. Clinging to life. A life I tried to cling to with the surety of my arms.
Timothy had already scoped out the inside of Dani’s house, ensuring it was clear. That, for the moment, it was safe and we could rest.
“Take her into my bedroom,” Dani instructed. “Timothy and I are going to sleep on the couch.”
