Chapter 27

TWENTY-SEVEN

WILLEM

The moment Indi disappeared through the castle door, I was dragged over to where my family was huddled under the terrace by the dessert table. It wasn't until we stopped moving that I realized it was my mother who'd grabbed me. She dropped my hand, then crossed her arms over her chest. We were off to the side of the tables, nestled under the terrace where they'd stashed drinks and desserts. The Vaunteros were still all seated at the tables, as were Lexington, Carter, Ria, and Pemberley. There were a handful of other people, but I didn't recognize them. Though if I had to guess, I'd say two of them were Ria's parents, as they looked a lot like her.

" WILLEM! " my mother hissed.

I flinched. "What?"

"What? What? That's what you say to your mother?" She pointed at me. Her blue eyes narrowed. "You leave the Island without telling me, promising your brothers you will be back, then you don't answer anyone's calls or texts since."

I opened my mouth to speak but she cut me off.

"It's been three days, Willem!"

"I was just taking a break."

" From WHAT? "

Before I could stop myself, I glanced at the door Indi had gone through, then cursed and scrubbed my face with my hands. "Mom, please. Give me a break. I spoke to Archer and Dad. They knew where I was."

Mom huffed. "You know, when Archer was all heartbroken over Ivy, he was nice enough to do his sulking in his bedroom."

Ivy's head snapped in my direction, her hand frozen on a cupcake. "What?"

Archer chuckled. "Yeah, Mom, what ?"

Mom gestured between him and Ivy. "You stayed in your room for like four days?—"

"And he didn't shower." Jethro scowled. "Did you forget about the smell?"

Brian grimaced. "And he watched the same three movies back-to-back-to-back."

"And he wasted a lot of my delicious food because he was too upset to eat." Connor rolled his eyes.

Caleb scoffed. "Then he stained my cable-knit sweater with either blood or ketchup. I'm still not sure."

Bash, who was leaning against a pillar, looked down to Collins at his side. "Where were we during all of this?"

"We were in Vegas, packing up all of our stuff to move here full-time." Collins wrapped her arms around his and rested her head on his arm. "With Mom, Philip, Vic, and my brothers."

"Oh, right, right, right." Bash looked to Archer and gave a thumbs-up. "Sorry we missed your suffering."

Archer threw his hands up. "Why are we talking about me right now? The focus was on Will!"

Dad chuckled and turned to join Ivy at the dessert table.

Mom sighed. "I was trying to make the point to him that he could've sulked in his bedroom where we would've known he was safe. I mean, look at him."

They all looked me in the eye.

I groaned and held my hands up. "Stop."

"Did you even drink blood?" Mom walked up to me and started poking and pulling at my face. "You can't not drink it, Son."

"I had some last night?—"

Brian and Caleb high-fived, wearing matching shit-eating grins that sent a rush of heat to my cheeks.

"Mom, I'm sorry you were worried, but I had my location turned on?—"

"Duey, come look at him. Is he malnourished?"

"Sweets, everyone had blood Tuesday night at Torren's wedding."

Torren's wedding. The object of my torture. The ceremony had been brutal. It felt like that scene in Indiana Jones when the guy's heart was ripped out of his chest but still beating. I hadn't thought about my tropical wedding ceremony to Indi in years. Then I went and embarrassed myself in front of her because I hadn't known that girl was Daniel's sister.

I gasped. Wait. I thought Daniel and Isolda lived here?

"Isolda heard about the New York City Halloween parade and wanted to go see it," Bash said suddenly.

"Bash, dude, you can't keeping reading minds?—"

"Hey, sometimes you people think very loudly." He gestured to his head and waved. "It just pours out of you."

"Well, use your mind reading to find out what his problem is right now."

"Or use your hypnosis."

"I am not comfortable using those skills," Bash said softly.

"You just did, Bash."

"Not intentionally."

"Will, look, we're worried." Archer waved his hand in my face to get my attention. "We know you left because you were upset about seeing Indi and Daniel?—"

Oh my GOD. She had a boyfriend. I forgot about Daniel. Oh my God. Is that why she needed to get away from me today?

" —But I've been trying to call you to tell you it was fake?—"

" What? " My breath caught in my throat.

"Yeah, turns out they were never a couple and were faking it the whole time."

"More proof they belong together. They did the same thing," Caleb said with a giggle.

Connor smiled. "You did look good together holding hands."

"Yeah, why were you holding hands?" Brian scratched his head.

"To go through the portal," Collins answered softly.

Bash nodded. "Especially your first few times when you're getting used to how it works."

"Also, especially if the other person is dictating where you're going." Collins nodded her head to the table. "Lex took them, which is why he was holding Indi's hand too."

Indi.

Indi.

Indi.

She was a broken record in my mind. My thoughts were jumbled and overwhelming. I needed to sort them out, needed to talk it all out, so I pulled my phone out to message Andi only to realize Andi was Indi. My thumb froze, hovering over the screen with her thread open for me to see. Indi was Andi. Every conversation I'd ever had with Andi had secretly been with Indi. That made me want to scroll back five years and reread everything we'd ever said to each other.

" WILLEM! "

"Where is your head?"

"Talk to us."

"Stop staring at the floor like that."

"WILLEM," Archer snapped and shook my shoulder.

"Indi is Andi," I whispered and looked up to meet their eyes. "Andi is Indi. Okay? Indi is Andi ."

They gasped.

"Okay? Okay. Got it? Indi is Andi. Andi is Indi. They're one and the same person. Okay? Indi is Andi ."

"Andi?" Mom's face fell. "As in your best friend online? That Andi?"

Oh my God. Andi is Indi. Andi is my best friend. What do I do now? What if Indi doesn't want to be with me? Will I lose Andi forever too? My heart sank deep into my gut. Andi was my best friend, but there was no taking back the knowledge we'd learned. She was Indi. If I didn't fix this with Indi, then I was definitely going to lose my best friend.

Archer shook me again. "What are you thinking?"

"If I have to choose, who do I want more: Indi or Andi?" My whole body felt hot and swampy, so I took the blazer off and tossed it onto the nearby chair. "I don't know what I'm gonna do."

"You're going to talk to her."

"Gee, thanks, Archer. I hadn't thought of that." I pushed my sweater sleeves up to my elbows as sweat dripped down my spine. "I've tried talking to her?—"

"WILL!" Archer shouted my name, his yellow eyes wide.

The rest of my family all gasped at the same time.

I froze. "What?"

Their jaws dropped. Their eyes were locked on something on the ground, but when I looked, I saw nothing.

"Look-look-look!"

"Arm! Y-y-y-our arm!"

" What? "

Archer grabbed my left arm and held it up in front of me. "Will?—"

"What are you doing—" I choked on a gasp. My eyes widened and a strange, strangled scream left my mouth. "What is that!?"

There, on my left forearm, was an image that hadn't been there this morning. It looked like a tattoo, but I knew I didn't have any of those. It was in shades of red and pink. The image made up a compass with wings. My heartbeat quickened.

Lark Vauntero stood up from her seat and looked to us and shouted, "What's happening over there?"

Archer spun me around and held my arm out to show them my brand-new soulmate mark.

Indi gasped.

I looked up to find Indi staring at me with wide pink eyes. Her gaze was locked on the image on my arm. Nash frowned, then looked down and yanked her sweater sleeve up to her elbow. I swayed on my feet. The exact same image was now on her arm.

Torren shrieked and turned into a panda.

Everyone else gasped. They looked back and forth between us.

"Wait, I thought the only issue here was that Andi was Indi?" Bash looked down at my arm, then to Indi's. "But you're soulmates? Why is this a problem?"

Archer chuckled. "It's not."

My breath left me in such a rush I had to lean over and brace my hands on my knees. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

Indi's eyes were still wide as she shook her head. "What the hell? Why now? Where has this been all damn month?"

I scoffed and stood up straight. "You have to touch on the Island for it to show. Maybe if you had shaken my hand or given me a hug, we wouldn't have been in such a mess?—"

"You had a girlfriend!"

"Only because you had a boyfriend you were bragging about the second I saw you outside Bowlicious!"

"Yeah, because I watched you flirt with Zita all night!"

"A smile and a laugh are not only used for flirting."

"Well, considering you barely said a single word to me, I only had the comparison?—"

"Maybe if you had just listened to me ten years ago when I suggested we come here, then we wouldn't have wasted the last decade on people like Matt!"

"Are they actually arguing about their happily ever after?"Constantine scowled so hard his eyebrows mashed into one long one. "Am I following this right?"

Everyone laughed.

My face was hot and tingly. Indi was blushing hard.

Lex cleared his throat. Loud. "You're welcome, by the way. You didn't need to hold hands to come through the portal. I just had a suspicion." He grinned.

My jaw dropped. Indi buried her face in her hands. The Vauntero family cackled and high-fived him. My family was a silent echo behind me. Torren sat in panda form on the ground next to Indi with tears rolling down her face. Nash was holding her paw.

" Oh my God, " I whispered. " Indi ?"

She dropped her hands and met my stare. There was so much to say yet not here in front of everyone. They were all watching with bated breath like this was their own personal soap opera. Indi and I were thirty feet apart. This was awkward as hell. But I didn't know where to go or what to do. It almost felt like leaving would be even more uncomfortable. Then she was gone. Vanished. But before I could react, she reappeared right in front of me. She'd gone invisible to get to me.

" We're soulmates ," she breathed, looking up into my eyes.

I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to hold her and squeeze her. But I'd never been good at PDA.

Bash cleared his throat, then I felt his hand squeeze my shoulder as he stepped up beside me and Indi. He smiled down at her and gently placed his hand on her petite shoulder. "They won't be able to see you. When it happens, get the hell out of here. I'll wait until you're gone."

"What?"

A wall of black separated us from everyone at the tables. I glanced over my shoulder and found my family was lost to darkness. It was just me, Indi, Bash, and Collins.

Indi dove for me, gripping my sweater as she looked around. "What the hell?"

"Bash's magic." I smiled up at my newest brother. "Sensory deprivation."

He grinned at us. "Not all of us like a public affair. Get out of here."

Collins flicked her wrists and wings made of pale, aquamarine-colored crystals popped out of our backs. She winked and pointed to the sky. "Those will only last ten minutes, Cinderellas, better get out of here while you can."

I gasped and wrapped my arm around Indi's waist. Collins twisted her wrist and we shot straight into the sky. I gasped again. We were in the clouds. That fluffy, puffy stuff was clouds.

Indi giggled and tugged on my sweater. "Look at me, soulmate."

My gaze snapped down to hers. A grin spread across my face. "Forever, soulmate."

She lifted a little higher so our faces were even, then she took my face in both of her hands. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for ten years ago. I'm sorry for now. I'm sorry I freaked out this morning."

"It's okay, Indi. That's in the past now, it doesn't matter?—"

"But it does." She rubbed her thumbs over my cheeks. "I'd already chosen you, Will. I'd chosen you two days ago. I chose you last night when you turned out to be my Liam. I chose you after we got back when I was inside trying not to freak out. I'm sorry I struggle to process my emotions, but I wasn't prepared to let you go a second time . . . and I certainly won't lose you now."

Tears stung the backs of my eyes. My throat felt dry, hot, and itchy from all the suppressed emotions. I wrapped my hands around her wrists. "I love you, Indi."

"I love you, Will."

Then she pressed her lips to mine, and finally the world felt whole again.