Julian chuckled. “No, he’s still an asshole, but for some reason, it’s not as terrible with you.” He raised his drink and pointed his pinky in Beck’s direction. “Baby Beck is the youngest—a heart of gold, quiet. If you ever need emotional support or a listening ear, he’s your man.
“Phoenix has been the life of the four-man show and is down for just about anything. He’ll also be the first one to tell you how it is—all the things you don’t want to hear—and nine times out of ten, he’s right. But he never takes his own advice. An honest hypocrite.”
He nudged his chin to Zephyr. “Zeph Goody, the egocentric shit-sack, as you say, has to be the smartest man in every room.” He laughed. “The only thing he loves is the sound of his own voice and comes across as not giving a damn about anything, but he will be the first to show up if you need him. Because he hates being alone,” he said. “But if he ever lets you in, you’ll find he actually is the smartest guy in the room.” Julian shrugged. “There’s something inside him. He just doesn’t want anyone to see it.”
“What about you?” I asked.
“Me?” Julian grinned. “I’m the handsome one.”
Beck, who was walking behind us, hit the back of Julian’s head. “Don’t let him fool you. Julian is the brooding hero.”
Julian raised a brow. “Brooding?”
“Brooding,” Beck confirmed.
“I’m not brooding. Romeo here is brooding,” Julian said, slapping the side of my thigh with the back of his hand. “Just look at him. Eternal RBF.”
The two chuckled. It was strange to be sitting here surrounded by them.
They accepted me, but vile things had accepted me as well. A murderous tribe. A coffin. A curse. Accepted didn’t mean family.
“But I want to know about you,” Julian continued. “How long have you known you could resurrect the dead?”
“A long time. If I’m honest, sometimes I wish I couldn’t,” I admitted. “Each time I’ve done it, it felt as though I’ve pulled darkness from somewhere, and when it’s over, not all of it truly leaves me. Something tells me it cannot be good.”
“There’s always a consequence. A balance,” Julian said upon a breath, looking up at the graying sky. “Look, we don’t have much time left, but before we do this, you need to know something,” Julian said, seeming on edge, and uneasiness crept between us. “I’m the one who killed your mother.”
My jaw tightened as I studied him.
I thought back to Mother’s plan written in the journal I’d found at the lighthouse. It made sense why Julian was the one to do it. “Because she would’ve hurt Fallon.”
Julian’s brow jumped. “She would havekilledFallon,” he corrected. “How did you know?”
“That’s not important.” I leaned in to catch his silvery eyes. “But my question is, how long did you know I was frozen somewhere in a box before you decided to come search for me?”
Julian’s mouth parted, not expecting it.
He adjusted in his chair, watching his hands rub together as he thought. “A few weeks,” he finally said, his silver eyes meeting mine again. “I didn’t tell the others because, unlike them, I’m loyal to Fallon. If I brought you back and you thought you knew how to break the curse, it would have put her life at risk.” He shook his head. “I would rather have lived in this curse and taken my secret to the grave if it meant keeping her alive.” He grabbed my shoulder. “As soon as the curse broke, I wanted to come for you, but the Shadows took us all by surprise. We didn’t know what we were up against.”
“You realize that if you and Fallon didn’t break the curse, you would have eventually died,taking your secret to the grave, and I would have been trapped in the Atlantic for eternity.”
“Let’s just be grateful it never had to come to that,” he said, squeezing my shoulder upon standing. “Now, c’mon. Let’s get this over with.”
The five of us stood around the fire, and Phoenix blew against it, the flames lurching up into the air and towering over us.
We looked around the circle, seeing no empty spaces.
I couldn’t see it, but I felt misery melting from the Heathens. Like fighting against something for a lifetime, then finally being granted peace.
Julian stepped forward and walked around the fire. “Twelve years ago, after Johnny died, the four of us stood here in this spot, scarred our palms, and made a pact, swearing to one another and ourselves that we would do whatever it took to break the curse. Then we sealed it with our blood.” He looked inside his hand. “Today we stand here, curse broken—”
Zephyr cleared his throat. “A half-ass job, if I do say so myself.”
Julian side-eyed him, then stopped in front of Phoenix, taking his palm.
The two looked at each other before Julian sliced down the center of it. Phoenix did not make a face of agony, and blood pooled in his palm and dripped from his wrist.
“Today, we make a new pact,” Julian said, moving on to Zephyr. “Most people in this town will hold on to the bad we and our ancestors have caused, and not be so quick to forgive because pain and grief are all they know. If it bleeds, it suffers, we have to remind ourselves. We are human. And like them, we are not perfect. Like them, we make mistakes, and no matter how hard we try, we won’t always get it right. As long as we continue moving forward with compassion and good intentions, these mistakes cannot define us, as they do not define them.
