“Youhaven’t died. Not really.”
“How is that possible? I’m not them. I feel their memories, but I’m Fable. I was born and raised in America. My mom is—”
He was shaking his head, dread crossing his dark features. “You’re not Fable, not really. You go by that name, but you’ve been…like the rest of them. Stuck inside Leith’s walls.”
“S-stuck?” I stammered. “How?”
“How it always happens. Wandering through life, missing the legends and lessons, so many people fail to perceive theirwhy.”
“Theirwhy?”
“You needed to find yourwhy.”
“Mywhy?”
“Youare your why, Fable. I’ll call you whatever you want—it’s you who matter. Your purpose was to find your way back to you, to remember all of it. It took you time.” His hands were cupped at my throat, thumbs smoothing my cheekbones. “Didn’t you ever wonder why Heathcliff and Tennyson never responded to you? They could sense your presence, sense you were safe, but to them, your age had already faded.”
“No.” I shook my head, one lasting realization dawning that hit harder than every nightmare had before. “I-I’m likethem?”
He nodded, pain lacing his features. “Locked in the in-between, afraid to take the next leap.”
“No, I’m American. I came to Skye to study abroad for the summer—”
“That’s all a figment of your imagination. You conjured a new reality in the madness as you tried to understand yourself and learn lessons from a new perspective. I’ve been with you always. I’ve been whatever you needed when I could be. I always will be, but you needed to do this on your own.”
“How?”
“The mind is powerful.”
“And crazy.”
“It was the only way…”
I glanced over the loch to Leith. “A new reality… So…Harris and Keats… Were the conversations we had… Was any of it real?”
“They are real, Fable. But as you begin to close in on the answers, your energy in that realm fades. Your form transitions, the energetic fields shift. Sometimes, when there’s plenty of static electricity in the air, it’s easy for someone on our side to break the barrier to the other realm. But on peaceful days, the energy doesn’t transfer as clearly. That’s why Harris went looking for you. Suddenly, you were on different wavelengths.”
“That’s why it was always misting when you were around.” My eyes grew wide. “You need the energy.”
He hummed a soft affirmation at my neck. “I vibrate high. It’s all about conduction.”
As the moonbeams danced above us, I began to think over all the interactions I’d had this time on Skye. Had I conjured all of it? My mind playing tricks to trip me into a heightened awareness? I didn’t think it was possible, but then, I couldn’t deny my ability to communicate over the previous days, the way Keats and Harris had seemed to look through me, why the stories of my ancestors kept me awake and pacing the halls of Leith all hours of the night. Sustaining life at Leith felt impossible, while being in Alder’s arms felt like the most life-giving force on the planet.
My thoughts shifted to my great-aunt, the years of mystery removed when I realized the memory of her last moments was hidden in the recesses of my mind. I could no longer blame my family for not talking about the tragic vanishing; some stories were better left buried.
Alder’s warm palms caressed my waist, nudging me closer to his side and away from the foaming waves that were closing in on our little platform. The moonlight shifted and highlighted Alder’s broad shoulders, giving him the illusion of nearly sparkling in the light, the pure goodness rolling off him like the wings of an archangel. My archangel. All of my lessons learned had been with the help and guidance of his deft hand, through every lifetime.
I owed him my life, for it was he who brought me here. Our memories were shared, split only by different perspectives. There had always been two sides to our love story, and woven down the middle was our truth. I thought about Keats, how his 33rd Infantry badge shimmered with the memory of Roderick, my other childhood friend. We were friends in the most profoundly platonic ways, and while I didn’t return his proclamation of love that day at the fairy pools, it was only because I knew, even then, a piece of my soul belonged to his brother.
Alder grazed his lips at my ear. “The sun will singe the horizon soon.”
Tears burned at my eyelids, though the ball in my throat didn’t hurt as it normally would. “It’s just you and me for an eternity, then? Immortality is the only path to my happiness?”
He crooked a grin that tugged at my heart. “Everyone picks their poison. Might as well make it count.” He crooked a grin that tugged at my heart.
“I love you as only I could—” he placed a kiss on my forehead “—in the darkest corners of my heart, holding all of the secrets to my soul. As long as forever lasts, I’m yours.”
“Forever,” I whispered, locking our hands together with the amethyst gems crushed between the hearts of our palms. As the sun began to splash the horizon in soft shades of amber, Alder and I were connected fully, his chant on our attached lips like a prayer as we slipped into the rising Atlantic tide.From ash to dust, from salt to Skye, may the souls be entwined of her and I…
