45

OPHELIA IS CURLED UP on the ground, the purple ball gown splayed around her. In the light, it shimmers with a haze of silver and gold.

"Atlas, please…" Ophelia whimpers.

His voice is clearly audible in the dome. But until he truly listens, he won't hear her.

"Ophelia, please say something," he calls.

I roll my eyes. How has she given him another chance?

Ophelia closes her eyes. "Atlas, I am saying something. You never hear me."

"I heard that. Barely. I'm sorry, Ophelia. I know you feel like I never truly hear you. I'm trying."

I straighten up on the ledge. If he's finally getting it, maybe this will get interesting.

She rises to her feet with difficulty. I hop off the ledge.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" I demand.

Ophelia turns back to look at me. "I don't want someone who would rather keep me in this gilded cage. Atlas is showing me what it is to open up again."

"I never said you'd stay in this cage. But I had to create it as part of your lesson, now, didn't I?"

She looks at me silently for a moment. "You didn't tell me much about how you ended up like this, Milo. How am I supposed to let you back in? I'm sorry we didn't work. I truly am. You're a wonderful person—"

I snort. "So wonderful I got stuck like this. Do you know how many souls I've eaten? Lives I've taken? Can you look me in the eyes and tell me I'm such a great human being?"

It's a bluff. I've never personally taken anyone's life. I've only eaten the souls and the auras provided by the other shadows. But I've still eaten. Still fed upon the innocent.

Ophelia steps close to me, her green eyes meeting my gray ones. Reya pulls at her hand, but Ophelia doesn't stop. "You are wracked with guilt and regret. You never wanted this to happen. You didn't want the darkness to consume you. And if you could go back, you'd change everything. I know you would. You're the guy who took me on the Ferris wheel at the summer carnival to help me forget about the boy who was breaking my heart. You're the guy who shared your funnel cake with me, even though you don't like to share your food. You're the one who let people expect the worse of you because you didn't care about what they thought. Milo, you're better than a lot of people. This curse… it doesn't define you."

Something shifts inside of me, coming undone. If I had the ability to cry, I probably would.

Ophelia steps back. "I'm only sorry that I can't be the one to break your curse."

"I thought it would be you," I say softly. "I really did."

"I can't be the one for you. I… I think I'm in love Atlas. And I'm not denying myself again. I'm sorry."

I nod my understanding, although I am filled with sorrow. "If you both figure out how to conquer this nightmare, you'll wake from your coma. But I will be stuck in this form. Halfway between shadow and human."

"Then maybe the one who can heal you is in the human world, not the Shadow Realm," she says gently.

I hold her gaze for a long moment. I hadn't considered that to be a possibility, that there could be someone for me other than Ophelia. Someone who could touch what is left of my heart and save me from this. Could someone like that really exist, someone who would even want to save me?

Ophelia studies me now, her heat tilted. "You use your shadows to conceal what you don't want the world to see."

I cross my arms. "So?"

"So why not try to expel them from yourself?"

I shake my head. "It doesn't work that way."

Ophelia nods, slowly. Her expression downcast, as though she wished she could change things for me. But it's too late."Let someone else in," she says softly. "Let someone close enough to heal you."

I shake my head. "Someone like that does not exist in this lifetime. No one is going to want to save me. Look at me, Ophelia. I'm a monster."

"You're not a monster. You're scared of what might happen if you let someone else love you. We were everything we needed in high school. You took care of me, and for that I thank you. I am forever thankful for you. But you have to let me go and let someone else carry the pieces of your heart that are broken. You may deny a heart exists beneath the shadows, but I can see it plainly."

I'm speechless, my mind reeling with possibility.

Ophelia walks to the wall and rests the palms of her hands against them. "Atlas, do you hear me?"

"Faintly."

"I want to trust you."

Wanting to trust someone and actually trusting someone are two different things. But I don't say that out loud. I can't. There are some aspects of the shadow magic that I cannot breach.

Atlas doesn't respond to Ophelia at first. Then he says, "So what can I do to make you feel safe? I know I've messed up in the past. But I regret everything I've ever done to hurt you. And I won't hurt you again."

Ophelia is silent for what feels like many bitter minutes. I know every moment of their past together is racing through her head. But she wants to let him in.

"I believe you," she says softly.

And then Atlas appears inside the dome.