He told me I’d have years before I started noticing the lights.Years.But I hadn’t mistaken the blue flare.
Sid Vicious screamed in my ears. I bit back my own urge to scream.
I grabbed my phone to text Morrie. I started typing a message. I got as far as, “I just saw a weird light in my eyes. Think I’m going blind. Need to talk to someone.”
I stopped. My finger hovered over the SEND button.
Morrie wasn’t the person to talk to about this. He was good for forgetting. But I needed… I didn’t know what I needed. I flicked through my address book, my finger hovering over Quoth’s name. I sent him a message.Can you call me?
I stared at the screen, willing the phone to ring. But it remained silent.He’s probably out, flying around the village. He can’t exactly carry a phone under his wing—
Something rapped at the window.
I threw myself off the bed, my heart pounding. I peered through the frosted glass. A black bird sat on the ledge, peering in at me with dark, soulful eyes.
My heart soared. I stood up and flung open the window. “Quoth?”
“Croak!” The bird fluttered inside and hopped across the bed. He nudged my hand with the top of his head. I stroked his soft feathers, and he swiveled his head and stared up at me with brown eyes filled with pain.
“You didn’t have to come,” I whispered.
He shifted, the black feathers retracting into his skin. A pair of muscular legs slid over the side of my bed, and a moment later a pale-skinned man with hair like a waterfall of midnight sat beside me.
He threw my bed sheet over his naked crotch and flashed me his brilliant smile. “Of course I came. You’re upset.”
“Have you been listening to my thoughts?”
Quoth shook his head. “I was painting and I saw your message. I thought… you needed me.”
I turned away. Looking at his perfect face and his soft eyes and knowing that after everything he endured every day, he was still there for me, made shame bubble inside me. Losing my sight was nothing compared to what Quoth had gone through, was still going through – no memory of his past beyond a shadowed chamber and a dreary night, a body that betrayed him, a lonely and confined existence. A fat tear rolled down my cheek.
The corner of the room, where the light didn’t reach, collapsed into a black hole of darkness. I’d been ignoring it lately, but my night blindness was getting worse, too.I’m a mess. My whole life is a mess.
“I feel so stupid,” I said to the wall.
“You’re not stupid.”
“I can’t ask you to come running every time…”
“Mina, tell me what happened.”
In deep, halting breaths, I explained about the light, and what it meant. “I’m scared, so scared, Quoth. I thought I was getting better. After meeting you guys, I haven’t been feeling so depressed and hopeless. But I’d convinced myself it was still years away, and now…”
Warm fingers brushed my hand. Quoth knitted his fingers into mine, squeezing tight. I squeezed back. “I’m not going to say that it will be okay,” he said.
“Thank you.”
“To quote some writer I’ve never heard of, your soul is ‘with sorrow laden.’ You’re allowed to cry, or scream, or punch things. You will mourn your eyes the same way we all mourn things we’ve lost. But there will come a time when you don’t want to mourn any longer. You will have other things to do. You are strong, Mina.”
“I don’t feel strong,” I sniffed.
“You made me believe that there is more to this life than surviving. I don’t doubt you’ll believe that yourself again.”
My heart did a squeezing, fluttering thing. Quoth’s words hurt so good – with that velvet voice of his, he sung the stars and the rain. I leaned my head against his bare shoulder. The tear rolled out of my eye and fell on his chest, rolling over his alabaster skin to leave a salty slug trail.
“What happens now?” Quoth whispered, his voice tight. His lips brushed my forehead, sending flutters through my skin.
“I have to go to an ophthalmologist – that’s a specialist eye doctor. They’ll do some tests and tell me what’s changed in my eyes. They’ll give me an idea of how long I have and what I can expect next.”
