A dull laugh pumps from me.Only because you’ve harmed every person in this room one way or another. Trust needs to be earned, and I think you can do it.
Chloe makes a retching noise.If this is the part where you saystick with me, kid, I’d rather vomit—thank you very much.
“I’m not sayingstick with me, kid,” I whisper, and all eyes land on me, each face with its own quizzical expression.
Logan nods my way. “Go ahead. I don’t think there’s an easy way to do this. Just dive right in.”
Brody groans. “What now, Chloe? How many more disasters am I going to have to save you from?”
Tears dampen my eyes.
Aw, come on, Messenger. Do not make me look like a pussy. Buck up.
“That’s the thing, Brody. I’m not quite feeling like myself these days. Everything is sort of a disaster. But I’m afraid you can’t save me from this one.” I glance to Marshall, and he nods as if encouraging me to go on. “I’m not sure who can save me, in fact.”
Cooper lifts a brow. “You dragged us out here because you’re having an identity crisis?”
“Knew it.” Ellis’ chest bucks. “You’re not really for Celestra, are you?” His brows dive into a sharp V. “That does surprise me, though. You were sort of a diehard.”
“I’m still for Celestra,” I say. “And so is Chloe.” I watch as the whites of their eyes widen. “And you’re right, Coop. This is an identity crisis, one for the ages. You see I’m not actually Chloe Bishop. I’m just in her body.” I hold a hand out to Brody. “She’s in here, too, and she’s fine. But it’s me, Skyla.”
Laken gasps as if I just sprouted a third eye, and come to think of it, that might have been less shocking.
“A few weeks back on my birthday—me as inSkyla,my birthday”—I shrug, willing to go with a moment—“after we got Laken settled at Coop’s place, I went back to your house, Ellis. I found Gage in the theater room where that nasty X-rated movie Rory blew us all out of the water with was playing on a loop. And he was saying things to me.” I shake my head, not wanting to remember a word from his lying lips. “Anyway, he pulled me close in a firm embrace and pressed his lips to mine. He was thinking about me, and the boys, and his twisted love for us.” Silent tears run down my face as I look to Gage Oliver’s head bobbing in the glass box before me. It breaks my heart all over again, just the way it did that night he died. I’m not sure why the recounting of my own death at his hands has me feeling melancholy for who we were but—
Because you’re a fool, Skyla. Get on with it.
I nod.
Chloe is right on so many levels.
“And he smothered me.” I look to Laken, Coop, Ellis, and Brody—even Wes as their eyes remain enlarged. “No sooner did I breathe my last and floated outside of my body than I witnessed my own eyes opening, my body suddenly filled with life once again.”
“Oh my God.” Laken covers her mouth as if she were going to be sick.
“It’s Rory,” I say. “She’s in my body. She’s in my bed, in my house, infiltrating my family.”
“Oh, Skyla.” Laken shakes her head before leaning my way and falling over in with a tight embrace. “I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine what you’re going through. How do we fix this?” She pulls back, her face streaked with tears of her own.
“I don’t know,” I say, wiping down my cheeks.
Brody strums his fingers over the table and squints my way. “Chloe?”
“She’s in here.” I nod. “I can hear her. She can hear you. And believe me, she’s just as pithy as ever. You see, when Marshall escorted me to Ahava, I told my mother I flat out refused my fate. I’m not sure that had any impact on anything, but she said without a body I couldn’t remain on Earth. After some supernatural groveling, she agreed to grant me one possession. The participant had to be willing.”
“I would have done it.” Laken doesn’t miss a beat.
“But I couldn’t do it,” I counter. “Laken, you have your children who need you, the real you. Cooper and you are in your honeymoon phase.”
Wes groans.
Logan catches my eye. “I would have done it.”
“I know.” I shake my head. “But you were detained in Eversor, and I couldn’t get to you.” I give a simple shrug. “Anyway, I asked Chloe and she agreed.”
Brody shakes his head. “I don’t know. My sister is not exactly what you would call the agreeable type.”
Wes tosses up a hand. “Amen to that.”
