Finn spreads his hands. “Then you can’t prove me wrong.”
The shadow at his foot warbles again.
Finn looks down at it, then back at me.
“See? Ed approves.”
I stare at him. At the shadow. At the absolute absurdity of this moment.
“There aremultipleEds now, actually. I’ve been counting.”
Survival Tip #23: Never let Finn name anything. Ever again.
I press my hand over my mouth, shoulders shaking.
And then I laugh.
Really laugh — for the first time since before the village. It bubbles up from somewhere deep and broken, cracking through the heaviness in my chest like sunlight through storm clouds.
Finn’s composure cracks too — his mouth betrays him first, then his eyes. It’s the closest he’s come to smiling since the village.
“You’re ridiculous,” I manage between laughs.
“Ed doesn’t think so.”
“There is no Ed!”
“There are multiple Eds. I just told you. Keep up.”
Darian glances back at the sound — startled, relieved, and something like grateful.
The shadows drift around us, and I swear some of them are preening.
Bob looks deeply offended.
Patricia’s notebook flickers, definitely amused, probably documenting this travesty for the permanent record.
Finnick does a delighted flip, clearly thrilled by the chaos.
After a while, the laughter fades.
Finn’s smile softens, then dims. He glances at me — just for a second — with something uncertain in his eyes. Like he’s not sure he deserves this moment after everything that happened.
I see it. I don’t push.
But that moment of laughter cracked something open in both of us. Something that needed air.
We keep walking.
The shadows drift around us like fireflies.
I take a breath that isn’t all pain for the first time in hours.
The group ahead keeps moving toward Sorrow’s Keep. Torric’s heat. Aspen’s frost. Malrik’s steady presence. Kieran’s grief. Darian’s quiet struggle.
And Finn, walking beside me now, not quite smiling but not quite drowning either.
Up ahead, Kieran doesn’t turn, but his shoulders ease the smallest amount at the sound of my laugh.
