Chapter 72

CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO

TAM

I see stars. I’m transcendent, and I can go anywhere, be or do anything. Dying is like being born. You’re here, and then you’re somewhere else. That’s all there is to it: movement. I think I’m dead. No, I’m sure of it.

My hand reaches out for Joules, for Joe. They’re somewhere around me; I can feel them. But I can’t talk to them. It’s not like that here—wherever here is. I can feel something uncoiling inside of me, an energy that permeates my entire heart and soul.

“This is my last chance to say goodbye.” It’s Joe, whispering to me. “I don’t want to leave you guys, but I have to. You’ll be okay now, Joules. You’ll be just fine, Canoe. I love you so much. So, so much. Drink some sunshine in a cup for me, alright?”

There’s just a strong sense of being loved, and then there’s a falling.

I see the sky, and I see myself, hand reaching up for the stars, for Joe.

I tumble downward until I hit something that hurts.

I wake up, dragging in a breath at the same time that everyone else in my family does. Coming back to life. Choking and clawing at Tam’s arms, feeling his hot tears on my face.

“Oh my fucking God,” Tam is saying over and over again, holding me, dragging me into his chest, squeezing me too hard. He seems to realize that, so he releases me, helping me to catch my breath. He rubs my shoulders, whispers encouragement into my ear.

My fingers are curled into a blanket of brown petals, and I look up with bleary eyes to see that the tree that bloomed so beautifully just a second ago is now dead.

“It’s dead,” I whisper, horrified.

“You were dead. For eleven minutes,” Tam whispers, like he doesn’t dare speak any louder than that. “You were dead, Lake.” He’s grabbing at me, holding onto me, loving me through the chaos.

“You’ll be okay now, Joules.” That’s what Joe said. Joe. Not a figment of a dying brain, but Joe.

I don’t want to leave the safety and warmth of Tam’s arms, but I have to see. I have to know. I turn and then I find him there, looking right back at me.

It’s Joules.

Joules is sitting up and Kaycee is hugging him with her arms around his neck. He’s breathing hard and staring at me. I’m breathing hard and staring back at him.

I can’t help it. My eyes spill over again, and I taste salt and grass and Tam’s essence when I lick my lips.

My Match helps me over to my brother, and then we’re just putting hands on each other’s faces.

“Joe,” I whisper, and Joules nods because he can’t speak. Because he’s alive when has no right to be. He holds out his wrist, and we both see that the mark is gone.

“The curse is broken,” Maria is calling out in a rough scratch. “I don’t have my mark.”

“I don’t have my mark either,” Lynn is breathing, and there are paramedics who look really confused, honestly freaked all the way out. Daniel is … stoic. Jacob is ashen and swaying on his feet.

I turn back to Joules again as my dad holds my mom in his arms and Uncle Rob sits in the grass, staring up at Joe’s tree.

“I just witnessed magic in real life,” Kaycee whispers, but more like she’s talking to herself than to anyone else. She snatches my brother’s face in her shaking hands, and he just gapes at her with wide, blue eyes. Blinks. Inhales. “I just saw magic. Joules, I love you. Oh my God, I love you.”

And we did see magic. We got to experience it before it was gone. Like maybe the curse wasn’t a curse after all, but a blessing. Joe traded the family’s blessing for Joules’ life. I felt it there in that space, an accident in the universe that maybe we were never meant to know. Matched to someone we could love, but burning down a fast, hot wick.

I put my arms around Joules, and he hugs me back, rocking me. He’s not even trying to pretend that he isn’t crying this time. Tam rubs my back, and I’m pretty sure that he’s crying, too.

“I don’t understand, but I owe Joe fucking everything.” Joules sounds both awed and upset, like we couldn’t save Joe, but Joe could save us. He’s laughing, but he’s also crying.

That’s life, laughing whilecrying. Crying while laughing.

I’d say it was love that broke the curse, but that’s not fair. Joe was loved. We could not have possibly loved him anymore. My Aunt Clara was loved. Great Grandma Louise was loved. People don’t die because you don’t love them enough. Sometimes, they just die.

But not today.

So, maybe it was love in a way because I believe it was Joe. Joe saved Joules and Joules saved me.

“It was Joe,” Joules repeats when the Frost family descends on him, people crying and talking over each other. “It was Joe, Lisa. I saw Joe.”

Joules kisses everyone, and then he kisses his little sister twice.

“You are worth every sacrifice.” My brother stands up and moves over to where Kaycee is standing, trying her best not to be intrusive. He scoops her into his arms and kisses her in an entirely different way than he kissed me.

“Be my girlfriend, Kaycee Quinn,” he murmurs, and she shakes her head at him.

“I’d rather be your wife,” she whispers, and Joules laughs. He laughs, and then he fists a hand in her hair and kisses her again.

“Wife it is,” he growls, and then I can’t take it.

I turn and I find Tam, standing there and staring at me with such reverence that I could survive the rest of a very long life on that one look alone.

“I love you, Tam Eyre,” I tell him, but he just laughs and closes the short distance between us, capturing my face in his big, warm hands.

“I love you so damn much, Lakelynn Frost.” Tam is kissing me again, and I can hear Joules laughing, and … somewhere out there, Joe is waving goodbye.