I moved forward to give her a hug, suddenly overcome with the sensation I wasn’t going to see her again.
She waved me off. “Get a grip. Hurry up.”
“Finn.”
I looked over, and Brett was still staring at me.
“It’ll be fine. Between my powers, Shane’s”—he motioned toward the wolf—“Sonia, the fairies, and you and Caitlin, we’re gonna get out of here. Cynthia too. I promise.”
Another interminable pause.
Caitlin broke in again. “For fuck sake, go!”
We did. Schwint, Brett, and I rushed toward the stairs, and the other three ran along the edge of the water to reach the mouth of the cave.
At thesplit in the stairs, Schwint continued upward, saying he would make an appearance in case Gwala grew suspicious. I doubted he really felt concerned about that, but I was relieved to have him gone.
Actually, it only traded one stress for another. Instead of having to balance my worries over Brett and Schwint, now I only had Brett to focus on. It was nearly enough to make me want to rush after Schwint, leaving Brett to find his own way down.
I’d pictured finally seeing Brett again a thousand times. I knew exactly what I would say. What I would ask. What I would yell.
However, none of those scenarios had ever included my sisters’ lives in the balance, a boyfriend in a nearby vicinity, or getting ready to take on the Vampire Cathedral.
I led Brett down the other stairwell, the journey seeming to take mere seconds compared to the longer trip to the cavernous harbor.
We were in front of the huge boulder. Then, before I was even aware I’d used my power, it moved, and we stepped inside the sphere.
Thirty-Nine
BRETT WRIGHT
Finn walkedto the center of what looked like the inside of a pink globe and motioned toward a circular pool. “They’re in there. I haven’t been in, obviously, but I guess there’s some sort of passage you’ll notice once you’re under the water.”
Even as he spoke, he wouldn’t meet my eyes for more than a second or two. It was enough to tell me the man I’d known before wasn’t there anymore. Older, more stressed, a little thinner maybe, but still the beautiful man I’d fallen for all those months ago. But there were walls up that he’d never had. From the first night I’d met him, Finn had been an open book. Not so much anymore. What had I expected, anyway? Between me breaking up with him without more than a two-second good-bye and then ending up here, well, that was bound to change a guy.
Somehow, after seeing Sonia and watching her kill the monster that had haunted my nightmares, I’d forgotten to be nervous about seeing Finn. Now I wished I could hit a pause button on all this craziness and hold him. I’d not stopped thinking of him for all those months in the ocean, and now here he was, and we were alone. This might be the only chance we had before all hell broke loose. And I didn’t really believe my promise that we’d all make it out of this alive. I doubted Finn really put much stock in my promises either.
As I stepped up beside him and peered down into the water, Finn moved to head back out the door.
Turning, I watched him retreat. I should let him. Focus on what I came here for. “You’re leaving?”
He paused, back rigid, then turned stiffly. “I guess so. I should get back up to… It would be good if Gwala saw me this morning. Just in case.”
I nodded. “So, uhm, that fairy is your boyfriend?”
His cheeks flushed and his gaze darted to the floor, like he’d been caught cheating. “Yeah. Schwint.”
“Cool.”
Cool? Cool?That’s what I came up with.
Finn stared at the ground a couple more seconds, then began to turn back around.
I rushed forward, closing the distance between us, then paused less than a foot away. “Wait. Please.”
Slowly, he lifted his eyes. When they finally met mine, they didn’t look away, but they were more heavily armored than the Cathedral itself. “We don’t need to do this, Brett. We shouldn’t. You have to help the mers. I have to help Cynthia. Now that the ball is rolling, it’s not going to take long. We don’t have time to waste. What’s done is done.”
My hand shot out on its own and grasped his bicep before he could turn away again. “I have to. I’ve not stopped thinking about you. Wishing I’d handled things differently.”
