46

"A brOKEN HEART ISN'T something that's easy to piece together."

Atlas kneels down to be next to me. His hands cup my face, his thumbs wiping away my tears.

His voice is soft. "I know. I've really screwed up. But I want to show you I can be different. I wasn't there for you when you needed me, even before Moriah died. And then I let her death become the excuse. There was never an excuse for leaving you behind."

I reach a hand up to hold one of his. "I want to let you in again, Atlas. Please make sure I don't regret it."

"I am going to piece together every part of your heart that I broke."

We rise together, and he pulls me to his chest. His heart beats against my cheek; his arms hold me protectively close.

In this moment, I feel safer than I ever have.

He presses a kiss to the top of my head, a gesture he's never done before.

Many old emotions flood back—fear, sadness, jealousy, loss—and I step away, looking over towards Milo. Atlas follows my gaze, then tenses.

"Milo? You're the Mastermind?"

Milo lazily leans against the wall. "Surprise. Did you miss me, Attie?"

Atlas's fists clench at his sides, but I grab one of his hands and gently open it, lacing my fingers with his. To Milo, I say, "We won, which means you won't eat our souls, right?"

To my horror, Milo smiles and shakes his head. "You haven't won yet, love. You'd be awake if your fear had been faced. But, yes, as soon as you figure out what you need to face in order to wake, you won't see me again in your nightmares. Unless someday my spell is broken and I can go where I please. I'd love to visit home."

Facing my fears means letting Atlas in. And to prove that I am really, truly willing to let my walls down, I know what I have to do.

"Atlas…"

He turns, his blue eyes taking me in. "Yeah?"

I lean up, my lips meeting his. Some part of me expects him to be shocked, to push me away. But his arms pull me closer. All around, I feel the walls crumbling. My senses are filled with Atlas. The taste of his lips and the feel of his hands pulling me closer and closer. The smell of his cologne and the forest around us.

My hands hold onto his shoulders as everything else fades away. I don't think about the things that once stood between us.

We're here, in this moment.

And this moment is one I've dreamed of since I was fourteen. Maybe not quite this way, after so much hurt and so many broken hearts…

But as Atlas threads his fingers into my hair and the kiss becomes fiercer, stronger, full of longing and wishes, as we fall headlong into this moment between us, I finally allow myself to get lost in all the fairy tale endings I dreamed would happen.

And then I wake up.