I incline my head once, then turn to stare out the window again. “We’re getting closer.”
“How close?” Gabriel sits up a little straighter. “Do we need to contact Sinclair and arrange for cars at the next stop?”
“No. Not yet.” Awareness prickles along the back of my neck. “She’s here, isn’t she?”
“In the corner behind you. She appears fascinated by Kunchin.”
“Of course she is. But shouldn’t she know what I know?”
“To follow that logic, you would also know what she knows,” Gabriel points out. “And she seems to know quite a bit about the grimoire and the Blade that we do not. “
He has a point.
My whisper glides over to us. Her gauzy hand brushes my shoulder. A swirling vortex of emotion threatens to pull me under. My eyes burn. No. This isn’t the time.
“Willow.” Gabriel takes my hand. “What is it?”
I nod at my whisper. “She’s sad.Reallysad.Distractinglysad.” To keep myself from sinking into the depths of her despair, I start peeling the label off my water bottle in long strips.
Gabriel crosses his arms and glares at her. “I will not allow you to keep hurting her. You have done enough.”
She huffs, blowing one of the strips of damp paper onto the floor.
Anger prickles over my skin. This emotion is all mine. “Do you even know what you’re doing to me? How powerless it makes me feel when you rip me out of my own body? I was happy. I had a job I loved, great students…a wholelife. Now, I’m about to lose it all. So unless you can figure out a way we can communicate—reallycommunicate—leave me alone until we find the Blade. I’m done. Just…done.”
Dropping my head into my hands, I squeeze my eyes shut. I won’t cry. I can’t mourn everything I’m about to lose in the middle of the dining car.
Her regret stings the back of my throat, and I can feel her retreating, slowly. “And stop staring at Kunchin,” I add before our tenuous connection fades into nothing. “It’s rude.”
Gabriel
I have been so fucking selfish. Willow held me for an hour after I confessed my sins. Yet even though I can sense her emotions as if they were my own, I did not truly understand until now.
My phone buzzes on the table. I would crush it into dust if I could. But until we know we are safe, it is a necessary evil.
Kunchin: What was that all about? Everything okay?
We are not supposed to know one another in case AURA has eyes on this train. I return my gaze to Willow, nod once, and shove the phone into my pocket.
The uniformed server sets plates of food in front of us. Willow is so mired in her grief, I am not sure she notices. With a single, withering glance, I send the man running for the kitchen. “You must eat something,deliciae.”
Her shoulders heave in a heavy sigh, and she lifts her gaze to the sandwich in front of her. “My mom always says there isn’t a single thing a grilled cheese can’t cure.”
I frown. That makes no sense. “I do very much enjoy cheese, but it cannot work miracles.”
She laughs, and though I have no idea what I said that was so funny, I don’t care. I will say it a hundred times if I must. “Cheese cannot work?—”
“Just try a bite.” She slides the plate across the table. The scent is delicious. Perhaps better than pizza. Buttery, almost glistening, with the perfect crunch as my teeth sink into the bread.
“Fuck. This is…” I have no words. Of all the foods I have tried in the earthen realm, grilled cheese is my new favorite.
“Give it back,” she teases. “You have your own lunch.”
Her earlier sorrow is fading quickly now. Maybe her mother is right. If so, I will order a grilled cheese for every meal until she is safe and I must return to the celestial realm.
For now, I pick up my burger. The first taste is strange. “There is something wrong with this. Meat should not have this…texture.”
Another laugh, and her cheeks tinge pink. “You didn’t pay much attention to the menu, did you? That’s the veggie burger.”
