“He’s gone. The voice. He’s gone.”
“What do you meangone?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know exactly. He was talking one moment, and then the next, he was gone. He’s no longer in me. He’s not coming back.”
Schwint’s face contorted in skepticism. “How do you know that?”
“I don’t know. I just feel it.” I looked around, taking in the Square, the few people in clusters on the sidewalks. Turning, I looked past the Square’s boundaries, out at the residential neighborhood on Forrest Street, so close, yet a world separate from the Square’s direct impact. “Come on. I’ll prove it.” Grasping Schwint’s hand, I pulled him after me and took a step toward the boundary.
“Finn, don’t. Let’s wait. It’s still too early. I don’t think you’ll survive that pain again.”
I continued to pull. “Trust me. I’m sure.”
Hesitantly, he allowed himself to be pulled the couple of feet, and we exited the Square’s perimeter.
I turned to face him in the middle of the street. “See?”
He looked over, as if to make sure he hadn’t been mistaken about the time of day. Seeing the sun only just beginning to set, he looked back at me. “You’re really okay?”
I nodded. “Of course! You think I could stand here faking it?”
He searched my eyes. “How?”
“I dunno. But it’s gone. I’m free! We’re free!” I pulled him into an excited hug and wrapped my arms around him, feeling his wings disappear when my forearm came into contact with them.
I pulled back after a moment when he didn’t return my enthusiastic embrace. “What?”
“It’s not going to be that easy.”
“You call that easy? All the voices, the headaches, the… whatever that was a little bit ago?”
He shook his head. “No. I know that wasn’t easy, but once the Vampire Cathedral claims someone, that’s all there is to it. You don’t get to choose to walk away. You can’t decide you’d rather not do whatever they’re asking.”
I stepped back, arms raised. “Well, I guess I do this time. See? No headache. No bone-crushing pain. No voice. All better.”
Schwint gave me a small smile. “I’m glad you’re not hurting, Finn. I’m just not sure we should count a victory yet.”
“Come on. Enjoy this with me.” I pulled him close again, our faces a few inches from each other. “You’re supposed to be the carefree, come-what-may one. I’m the plan everything, figure-it-all-out one.”
He grinned, and I saw his resolve fading. The worry in his large brownish-yellow eyes faded too. Not completely, but at least it was less. “Fine.”
I gave him a quick, hard kiss on his lips. “Good! There’s the fairy I know!”
He held me back before I could kiss him again. “One thing…”
“Yeah?”
“I know you think it’s over, and I hope it is, but let’s do a little more digging and see if we can find something out. Maybe go talk to Marina and Farvin. They may not know as much as Hazel did, but they seemed to know something, at least that you couldn’t be hurt. That makes sense, if the Royals had laid claim to you. Maybe they know something else that could help.”
I made a face. “Are you kidding? I just got my pardon from that place. I don’t ever want to go back to the Square again!”
“Well, then, at least let me go in. I can talk to them and see what they might know.”
“Right.” I made a face at him. “I’m sure Farvin is just dying to talk to you about anything he might know about the Royals.”
“Well, it’s worth a try.”
“Tell you what…” I gave his lips a peck once more. “Let’s go grab some dinner and then we can go over and talk to my folks. They might have some ideas. Plus, I’d like for them to meet you.”
