To May’s credit, she doesn’t interrupt, though I can see the effort it costs her.She sits there, her wine glass held very still and her eyes growing wider by the second.
“It’s a magical bar full of fantasy creatures,” I finish.“Monsters.And Theron is one of them.He’s a kraken.”
Crickets.
“A kraken,” she repeats.
“Yeah.”
Her gaze flicks to my wine glass.“I’d say you’re drunk, but you’ve hardly touched yours.”
“I know how it sounds.”
“Does it?Because it sounds like you wandered into a bar populated by mythological sea monsters and then slept with the biggest one.”She sets her glass down.“Lilith.I love you.I need you to hear me when I say that I am worried.”
“I’m not delusional, May.”
“I didn’t say you were delusional.”She reaches out and takes my hand, and I can tell the moment she sees the faint blue along my veins because her eyes grow wider and her grip tightens.“What the hell is that?”
“That’s part of what I’m trying to explain.Theron marked me.When we bonded, something changed in my blood.I have seventy-two hours before the veil, that’s the barrier between his world and mine, closes permanently.If I go back and accept the bond properly, I can bridge both worlds.If I don’t, then…” I trail off.
“If you don’t, then what?”
I swallow.“I don’t know exactly.But I know I can’t stay here and be okay.I already feel things are shifting, as if the whole world is slightly out of focus.”
May stares at me for a long moment.Then she says, “Should I take you to the hospital?”
“The hospital?”
“Yes, something’s clearly wrong and infecting your common sense.”
I bite my bottom lip.What did I expect?That she’d believe me straight away?
“I don’t need medical attention.”I squeeze her hand before she can reach for her phone.“What I need is to get back to Theron before I lose him forever.”
She opens her mouth to speak, but I cut her off instantly.
“May, I know how crazy this sounds.If you told me this story, I would be doing exactly what you’re doing right now.I’d be Googling urgent care clinics.I get it.But I’m not confused, I’m not sick, and I’m not being manipulated.I’m finally in the right place for the first time in my life, and I’m running out of time to get back to it.”
“You actually believe this,” she says.
“No, I actually know it’s true.”
She lets out a slow breath.“I can’t believe you.I can’t.It’s not possible for me to look at you and the thing happening to your hands and go, ‘yeah, sure, it’s because of her kraken boyfriend, totally fine.’ I’m not buying it.I still think something is medically wrong.”
“I know.”
“But I can also see that you really believe this is real.And you’re one of the least delusional people I know.You never romanticize things and always see them for what they are.”She sighs.“So either something has gone very wrong with your brain, or something very strange and impossible is actually happening to you.”
“It’s option two,” I say.
“Are you safe?”
“Yes.”
“Are you happy?”
The question catches me off guard.I think about waking up wrapped in tentacles with the light filtering blue-green through the window like we were underwater.I think about feeling, for the first time in my adult life, like having found the part of my life that was missing.And it’s all because of Theron.Because of my kraken.
