I used to think August was my first everything. Maybe not. So many things I thought I knew about myself, but now…
There are pieces of me I don’t recognise, flashes of instincts I can’t explain.
A century of memories forgotten.
“You okay, J?”
Kacey’s never held anything back from me, always speaking the full truth with her chest—every time. True friends don’t need to hold back or lie.
So, after a deep exhale, I tell her. Everything.
The last five years. The Inferno and the family I thought I had. How I’m bonded, how we always have been. And then, I end it with a kicker.
“They think I’m about a hundred.”
“Shut the fuck up,” she gasps. I’ll never get over hearing Kacey curse, it’ll always make me smile. “You don’t look that old.”
My smile fades. “Thanks, K. Really appreciate that.”
“Sorry, right, that’s obviously not the right thing to say when you reveal such a live-altering piece of information.” She trails off, eyes sweeping the grass between us.
I give her a moment to focus, because I’m still reeling too.
A hundred years. A whole life I can’t remember. How much have I lost? And what if… what if I don’t want it back?
When Kacey’s gaze lifts back to mine, her shoulders are set. “I got my new beginning when I came here. If someone offered me the chance to forget my old life, even if it meant forgetting whatever good there was… I think I would’ve taken it.”
“Really?”
She nods. “I know it must be scary, not knowing who you were. But J… this is your new beginning.” She gives me a small, but firm smile. “And as selfish as it sounds, I’m really glad I get to be a part of it.”
She holds out her hand, her whole hand. Not her pinkie in a glove, just... bare skin.
I stare at it, then slowly raise my eyes to hers. “Erm… Kacey?”
She nods at it. “Go on,” she says encouragingly. Still smiling as she waits.
Cautiously, I lift my hand, hesitating just before our fingers touch—
She clasps it.
There’s a thin shimmer of Kacey’s power around her skin, and a flicker of shadow clings to mine, but that’s it.
We’re holding hands. With no gloves.
Wisps of our powers curl around each other as I glance around, almost expecting something to go wrong—ghostly creatures, a pull of pain—but there’s nothing.
“Amon’s been helping me,” she explains, eyes on our joined hands, her smile never fading. “I was so scared of touching anyone, of losing control or hurting them. But he made me realise… it’s just my power protecting me, reacting based on my past. It only hurts people I don’t trust.”
I stare at our hands, at the soft purple glow of her magic wrapping gently around mine.
“Hey, Kace.” She glances up at me, and I squeeze her hand.“Just don’t bond to me, okay?”
A laugh bursts out of her, startled but bright, and I join in.
We sit for a while, our fingers still laced, resting gently on the grass between us. Everything is quiet and peaceful as we talk. Like nothing could touch us here, beneath the glass-blown sky of this fragile sanctuary.
Until something does.
