Chapter 28

28

ROMAN

I n a few minutes, Teen Me would come down the stairs to pull the dagger from me. And I was shitting a brick thinking about it.

After more chatting, and no new ideas, we decided wishing for the time jar would be the best action to take. Once the dagger was out, I'd hop on Xavier's back again, if I became corporeal, and hope hard to get things back on track.

I paced the kitchen, preparing, centering myself. Drew on my Shadow vibes.

I've got this. I've got this. I've got this.

A car pulled up outside the house, instantly throwing me off.

"Who the hell's out there?"

It'd been too quiet. No demons, no nothing. We'd had it easy while formulating this plan. Now was the time for a shit storm.

"It's Queen Margarite," Liza said. "She wanted to meet you."

My blood boiled. "We don't have time for this."

"Too late," she answered indifferently.

Fucking ADU and their crappy attitudes. "I'm not talking to her."

Thunder boomed overhead, scaring the shit out of me. It shook the house, a mouse scurrying out from a dark corner in panic.

"What was that?" Teen Me called from upstairs.

I ran to the front door, passing through it to see. "Oh my God."

There were pixels in the sky. That whole broken TV look from the desert level of the demon realm. They spread quickly, a flash of golden lightning forking across the night.

Queen Margarite's people whisked her away from the house, back to the waiting convoy of black cars. They bundled her inside, slamming the door.

Her window slid down, showing me the face of a queen long gone. The car sped away without a single word from her.

Thank God for that. One less complication to deal with.

The door behind me tore open and Xavier stepped out onto the porch with me. "She's gone?"

"Yeah."

"Good." I watched him look up at the sky. "The sky is falling again." He sounded so cool about it.

"Great."

"Now we move."

"Agreed."

Here goes nothing…

Teen Me's footsteps hurried down the stairs. As usual, the dagger went wild. I steeled myself against the pain as best I could. Hands balled into fists, biting down on my lip so hard I drew blood. But when the boy jumped off the last step, the agony buckled my knees, sending me to the floor.

"Pull it!" I yelled.

With wide, terrified eyes, the younger me sprung into action, wrapped his hands around the handle and pulled. For fleeting moments, I considered the possibility of this not working, of the dagger never come out. Doomed to be by Xavier's side without ever getting to touch him again. A fake ghost until I became a real one.

But the dagger came free, a pop going off as it left me. Instantly, the pain vanished, my body becoming solid again with several punches of confirmation to my chest. They knocked the air right out of my lungs. I fell forward onto my hands, panting, recalibrating. My glittery skin returned, the device whirring back to life.

It worked. It actually worked.

But something had changed…

Xavier's hand connected to my spine. His touch sent ferocious pulses of electricity across my epidermis, tears brimming in my eyes.

"Oh my God…" I breathed. "I can feel you…"

He was touching me, stroking my back, right there and solid and awaiting my body to join with his.

"Can you stand?" he asked.

"Y-Yeah."

Thunder shook the house again.

The stupid tears dried up, my inner strength slapping me into action. I got to my feet, stretching out, ready to take on the world.

No wishing. No wishing. No wishing.

"I'm ready," I said.

"Here." Darcy shoved a half-empty bottle of water in my face. "Drink."

I downed the tepid liquid in seconds, my body thankful for the moisture.

Now I just need a steak and chips…

Xavier offered his back to me. "Climb on."

I did, beyond elated to have him under me. "What about the towers?"

"Don't worry about me." He turned to plant a kiss on my cheek.

I wriggled against him, dying to climb inside his sexy skin.

Later…

"Get somewhere safe," I told the others. "Find shelter."

How could I leave them to a falling sky?

"I'm coming with you," Darcy countered.

"You—"

"Don't argue with me. I'm coming. And before you say I can't keep up with your boyfriend's speed, I'm well aware."

"But—"

"Don't worry about me. Just go. I'll follow shortly."

Grandma blew me a kiss.

I resisted a rising wish, returning her kiss instead.

Young Me took her hand. "Come on. We can't stay here."

"Look after her," I told him.

"Always."

With that, Xavier charged out of the house, his speed exhilarating, his solidity the best security blanket in the world. I'd wrap myself in it forever, embracing every inch of him, every breath, every beat of his hearts.

He loved me, and I loved him.

Wow.

The pixels brightened overhead, invisible talons gouging slices out of the sky. I held my breath, dismissing the dark imagery forming in my brain. I'd seen enough death in my time, I didn't need to conjure more of it.

Sky collapses… Sky crushes that house and the ones you love…

Fuck off!

I concentrated on the blurring city around me, working with the rush of air in my face to empty my mind. No wishes, no imagining, I crushed everything down into one compact ball that I'd toss into the glass house of Ismael's bullshit on the other side of the time door. Bring it all crashing down.

Thunder boomed directly above us, the pixels blinking like crazy. A jagged chunk of sky slid out of the sky, not quite ready to fall. Pixelated threads clung to it, straining under its weight. Flecks of golden dust fell through the cracks, landing on the rooftops of the houses around us.

Houses on an occupied street.

Oh, shit.

Xavier sped up, making a beeline for my grandma's street. I saw the lights of the ADU, the blockade closing off the north entrance to it.

Almost there. Almost there.

Xavier leaped over a car, taking out the final corner of this road, aiming straight for the blockade.

The piece of sky broke free with a deafening crack. I couldn't help but look back, watching in horror as it came down on the street, crushing everything within seconds like something out of a cartoon.

Explosions went off, fire and smoke and debris rushing up and out, an avalanche of it coming right at us. Xavier dove into the front garden of a house close to the blockade, knocked over a bird bath, shifted into his spinneret form, spun me around so I faced him, and wrapped us in a silky cocoon.

I held onto him for dear life, pressing my face into his chest as the devastation roared around us. It battered the steely silk, vibrating deep in the soles of my feet, a terrifying rage of destruction inches away from us.

"Those people…" I whispered.

Xavier kissed the top of my head without a word.

Wrapping my arms tighter around his torso, I sent a million prayers to spare as many lives as possible.