“Thank god we found you.” Her gaze lands on the lighter and blade. “What are you doing here? What’s the knife for? Are you hurt?”
“I… I had to know.”
“Know what?” Her face is red and flushed with worry. Tightening her jaw, she settles, sitting down beside me. “We might have a few minutes before your parents arrive. Earlier, what were you trying to tell me? Does this have to do with John?”
I swallow, put on the spot. “That guy, the one I was seeing?”
“Yes?”
I flick my gaze at the statue. “That’s him.”
She stares at him. “What? The gargoyle statue?”
“Yes.”
“Is it the same statue the townsfolk claim they saw?”
I nod. “Nearly two months ago, I learned his name in a dream, and he came to life, except only at night. But this demon wanted his name too—he called himself Adrien, my parents evenmethim, though his real name was Adrial. We delayed him, for a time, and then all hell broke loose. The night of this earthquake must have been when Zuriel defeated him. I was prepared to die.”
I look up at Zuriel, memories streaming through me. The way he crouched on my balcony. Our nights of research, of desperate preparations. The way I laid in the crook of his arms each morning as we waited for the sun to rise.
“I had to see him. I thought if I survived, maybe he did too.”
Her mouth gapes. “Summer…”
I can’t blame her if she doesn’t believe me.
Her gaze flicks over my face and she sighs. “You’ve been crying.”
“I loved him, Ella. And I barely told him that—only at the end.”
Ella hugs me to her, rubbing soothing hands against my back. “Shhh, it’s okay. But you’re not making a lot of sense. We need to get you back to the hospital.”
“It doesn’t make sense,” I blubber into her shoulder. “It’s insane. I was afraid to tell you, to tell anyone.”
She holds me at arm’s length, making me meet her gaze. “Thank you for telling me. And, yes, I’m worried about you, but I also believe you’re in shock. I’m not going to abandon you.”
My chest loosens. I don’t think she’s going to tell anyone, and it felt good to confess, even if she doesn’t believe me. Strangely, I feel saner saying it aloud. I’ll stay sane if I accept it was real. Maybe nobody will believe me, but slowly, I decide to trust my mind. Thereisevidence, fragments I can cling to. My parents met Adrien, and others saw Zuriel that night—there was an earthquake.
Except accepting everything was real also means facing this loss. I stare up at my gargoyle’s cold, distant gaze.
Ella settles beside me, looking up too. “Tell me more about him.”
“He was wonderful.”
She wraps her arm around my shoulder, and for the moment, the pain of losing Zuriel is no longer mine alone. We sit in silence, and when Ginny purrs, we pet her until my parents come through the front door.
They insist on taking me back to the hospital, and I don’t resist. When Mom asks how I got here, I shrug, though Ella and Dad eye the bicycle abandoned on the sidewalk. There’s no point explaining—I’m one day out of a mysterious coma, and I shouldn’t be able to ride a bike.
Chalk it up to adrenaline.
Or otherworldly forces.
Zuriel’s gone. It’s over. I’m done coming up with bullshit excuses.
The rest of that first night, my parents take shifts watching me. Now that I’ve been identified as a flight risk, the nurses stop by more often. They’re wasting their time. I’m not leaving again. I have no reason to.
The dawn light filters through the window when I finally fall asleep. And less than an hour later, I’m woken up.
