I squeezed my eyes shut and let go.
My scream reverberated, unleashing me. It burned in my chest, tore through my throat, and filled the woods. I screamed, expelling the fire until I could no more. I screamed until darkness engulfed me, silenced me. All that lighted my way was the will to lay here because I couldn’t lay with her. And the trees answered as they always did, the whispers of the woods telling me it would all be okay. The Norse woods hadn’t left me, though my heart had left the Norse woods.
And nothing would ever be the same.
Fallon
Townspeople crowded around, their faces blurred. Carrie Driscoll had pulled me to a bench outside of The Bean and had her hand on my shoulder as Monday, Kane, and strangers talked all around me, cursing the Heathen. Outrage multiplied, and I was coming down from shock as it turned to a boiling turmoil.
“No,” I kept repeating, “It wasn’t like that, it wasn’t! You have it all wrong.”
I didn’t know if they could hear me, as they twisted my words, filled the spaces between. My head shook, clouded, and I couldn’t breathe.
I stood, looking for air, for space. “I need space,” I chanted as pressure pressed piled on top of me, their chatter not ceasing! “Why won’t anyone listen to me!”
“Fallon,” Jolie said, coming through the crowd of people. “Fallon, come with me. Let’s get you some water.”
She grabbed my hand and led me toward the apothecary, and with every step, the flustering heat lifted. My mind was lost. My eyes darted for Julian, but all I saw were people and tents and worried, watchful eyes of Weeping Hollow.
The store bell rang as we entered the apothecary, and Jolie guided me toward the back and through a swinging door.
“Sit down,” she insisted, then turned toward the sink to fill a cup. “What happened in the alley? What happened to my brother?”
My fingers gripped the edge of the plastic chair, and I looked up at her. “I don’t know. He just took off.” I thought of Julian and all the things they could do to him. “Oh, my god, this is all my fault, isn’t it? What are they going to do? Could he get in trouble? Did I screw everything up?”
Jolie turned to me with a paper cup of water, offering it to me before sitting over the tile. “It won’t get that far. Nothing happened. It’s all speculation unless something happened, and there is no proof. If anything, the Order will question you, but that’s it. I have no doubt Jai is in the woods. He’s safe there, and they’ll make this go away.”
They’ll make this go away. She meant Norse Woods, Jonah even. Or both, if Jonah was a part of Norse Woods.
But hearing Jolie’s steady voice brought me comfort.
“This can’t happen again,” she continued, laying her hand over mine, “I’m happy he has you, Fallon. Really, I am, but I can’t lose him. You two have to be more careful. No one can see him with you again. Once, maybe it was a fluke, but twice?” she shook her head, “It just can’t happen again.”
“It won’t,” I promised.
“Fallon?” a voice called out, and both of our heads jerked toward the doorway to see Agatha Blackwell. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes,” I quickly said, rising to my feet. Jolie followed suit, and I felt her eyes on me as I brushed my hair from my face and stood tall. “Everything’s okay. I just got a little light-headed.”
Agatha squinted her eyes, studying the two of us. “What is going on outside, this talk about a Hollow Heathen?”
“It was nothing,” I assured her. “I was walking in the alleyway alone, and I’d crossed paths with one. Someone thought they lured me into the dark, but it was all just a misunderstanding. He hardly said anything to me, let alone touched me.” Lies,they’re all liars, even me. “Carrie screamed, and he took off, but he didn’t do anything wrong,” I reiterated. Agatha Blackwell was part of the Order. She had to know her son didn’t hurt me.Truth.
“Oh, good,” she nodded, “People like to get carried away. It’s not like this hasn’t happened before.” Her eyes lingered a moment longer, and Jolie stood silent, but I felt every fragment of energy radiating off of her as if it were a struggle to keep her thoughts at bay. “I’m sorry for all the drama.”
“It’s okay,” I waved off the incident as everyone else should have, “I have to get back to the booth. I doubt Monday returned, and someone should be there in case someone is dying to pick out a coffin. Or a grave. You know, the things that put the fun in funeral,” I rambled, then stopped before rambling myself into more trouble.
I thanked Jolie and Agatha, rushed out of the apothecary, and back to the fall festival, forcing myself not to run to Norse woods to find Julian. It would only make it worse. This was the way it had to be, and I hated this.
It shouldn’t have to be like this.
Chapter 31
Julian
“I burned the body last night,”Jonah said, leaning against the doorway separating the garage from my office. “That was your responsibility. Where were you?”
Sitting over the blue crate in front of Phoenix’s motorcycle, I turned the key to see if the engine would start. The engine sputtered, a horrible coughing sound, and a cloud of smoke blasted through the exhaust pipe. Sweat dripped from my brow into my eye, and the fumes mixed in the air caused my eyes to burn. I squeezed my eyes shut. When I went to lift my hand, my arm grazed the pipe, and the hot steel seared my skin.
