For a second, I just smile to myself. Sam’s one of those rare people with a heart made of gold—the kind of friend you can’t live without.
When we reach the door, faint music spills through the walls—Burning Loveby Elvis Presley—and hurried footsteps echo from inside.
Then Maggie’s voice burst out. “Nova, I swear to God, if I have to wipe my ass one more time with fairy princess toilet paper, I’m going to lose my shit! I’m done with the Winx Club staring at me while I pee!”
I double over laughing, too loud. Instantly, the footsteps inside stops. Then they pound toward the door.
It flings open. And there she is. Nova.
Her hair’s pulled back into a high ponytail, strands falling loose around her flushed face. She has Roxy perched on her shoulder like a tiny queen, and in her hands she clutches her old camera. She’s barefoot, drowning in one of my old T-shirts that hangs down to her thighs.
She doesn’t even let me get a word out. She lifts her camera, and behind her Maggie, Steven, Max, Will, Aurora, and a girl I don’t recognize—must be Holly—appear, all of them wearing amused smiles.
“Say cheeseburger!” Nova calls.
Sam and I pose, laughing, while she snaps at least a dozen pictures. “Perfect! The camera loves you.” Then she waves at the others behind her. “Come on, you too. The camera wants you!”
Maggie curses, Steven rolls his eyes, but Will and the red-haired girl dart over to join us. Aurora and Max shrug and step in too. Eventually even Steven and Maggie give in, grumbling as they join the group.
Before I can say anything, Steven, Max, Sam, and Will grab me all at once, arms locking like I’m their prisoner, and suddenly I’m being hoisted up onto their shoulders.
“Hey!” I yelp, my voice cracking as they nearly drop me.
That only sets off a chorus of laughter—Sam wheezing so hard he can barely keep his grip, Will chanting “Up! Up! Up!” like a five-year-old, and Steven snorting louder than he probably realizes.
“The legend is back home!” Max declares at the top of his lungs, throwing a fist into the air like he’s starting a revolution.
The whole group cheers like maniacs, and I nearly choke on my own laugh. What really stuns me, though, is catching Steven cracking up at Max’s stupid line instead of threatening to strangle him. For once, they’re actually... getting along? Apocalypse confirmed.
“Don’t drop him!” Maggie warns, though she’s laughing too hard to be convincing.
Nova, of course, doesn’t help. She’s doubled over with her camera in hand, taking pictures of my very undignified position.
“Marshall! Put that down!” I shout.
She just grins, eyes sparkling. “Say cheeseburger, Cooper! Oh, wait—you already look like melted cheese!”
Everyone bursts out laughing again, and before I can even process that insult, she slips her camera into her pocket and jumps right into the chaos.
“Okay, my turn!” she says, grabbing my ankle like she’s about to pull me down.
“No, no, no—” I start, but it’s too late.
The next thing I know, they’re all tossing me into the air like some kind of ragdoll. My stomach flips, my arms flail, and my laugh rips out of me so hard my chest aches. Each time I land back on their shoulders, I can’t even breathe from laughing.
“Higher!” Nova yells.
“No higher!” I manage between laughs.
But they don’t listen. They never listen. And honestly? I don’t care. For the first time in months, I feel weightless—notbecause they’re throwing me, but because I’m here, with them, surrounded by laughter that feels like home.
This is my family. We’re messy and broken, but no family is perfect. We’re just us and we work as we are. I would throw myself into a fire for each of them. I own it all to thesecrazypeople. It’s written in the stars.
When they finally set me down—my legs wobbly like I’ve just survived a rollercoaster—the first person to reach me is Steven. He doesn’t hesitate; he just pulls me into his arms, crushing me in a hug that steals the rest of my breath.
“I missed you,” he whispers, voice rougher than I expected. For a second, it’s like all the chaos fades, and it’s just the two of us. “You look...”
I smile, tightening my hold on him, refusing to let go. “Healthy?” I tease gently.
