My confusion doesn’t abate. I’m at the hospital, but sometimes I blink away into sleep and come back to a new universe, no swimming in the ocean needed. But no, wait, Iamin the ocean, off at sea, rocking in the waves of a storm. The sounds are so clear, the spray of rain against the hull, the flash of lightning illuminating my torn sail. I gasp for air, and I crawl my way across the deck and pull myself into consciousness.
I’m in a hospital bed, monitors sticky on my chest. The window curtains are drawn back to show a black city night, rain lashing the windows. Mom, Dad, and Abbi are in the room. I say something, and they all come to me, talking at once, like seagulls squawking overhead. I wince and they quiet. Mom talks first, then Dad. Abbi says something, and I ask her to repeat it.
“Luke is on his way.”
“It’s okay.” My voice is tight, every word too much effort. “I love you.”
There’s another flash of lightning, and the rain intensifies against the windows. I slip into sleep again and wake with the monitors gone. Free of obligation. Free to die if I am ready.
Am I ready?
Mom is in bed with me, her hair tickling my cheek. I feel Dad’s hand on my shoulder, Abbi sitting at my feet, her hand in mine. She’s reading from book three ofThe Soul Druid Chronicles, which means she got the binder and my half-written wishes, which means this really is the end. I’m so sorry for leaving, but I’m so glad they’re here. Time moves slowly. I sleep, and I wake to find myself surrounded by my family, though their positions have changed. Dad holding my feet. Mom brushing my hair. Abbi tucked in next to me, still reading. Her voice quiet and calming over the chaos outside. I’m too tired to talk, so I just stay, exist in the space between them for as long as I can.
EBE strains and sputters, and I tell her it’s okay. She can let go.
I sink deeper into the ocean of light around me. The crashing waves are loud, but I hear the faint sound of my name.
“Sera!”
I shoot up out of the water, looking for whoever is calling me. Luke is up on the spaceship rock. He’s wearing the new swimsuit his mom got him, the outer space one with the matching goggles we patched back together after a bully snapped them at camp yesterday. He waves a long, skinny arm at me, hurrying me along. I don’t remember the number I shouted, but I swim as fast as I can toward the shore. In between strokes I see him running to meet me. I rush out of thewaves, shells digging into my feet, my heart pounding with effort. Each one of those beats done and gone and given.
“Did I do it?” I gasp.
“So close.” He grabs my hand, and we run together back to the rock, climbing up and leaving damp hand- and footprints behind, which evaporate into the blistering sun. At the top, he reaches down to help me, and he’s no longer ten but thirteen. His braces are blue and pink, and he has a row of acne like a constellation along his chin. I grab his hand, let him help me up even though I can do it myself.
“Where should we go?” I ask. “Somewhere really far? The other side of the universe?”
“No, let’s just try the closest galaxy. I want to see what Northport looks like from there.”
“You won’t be able to see Northport, silly. Just the Milky Way,maybethe sun.”
“I’ll know it.” He shrugs and offers me his hand again. I slide mine into his and take a second to look at how we’re linked. I look up to tell him I’m glad we’ve been thrown together, that I don’t think there’s anyone else I’d want to travel the universe with, but he’s jumped ahead of me again. He’s eighteen, handsome, tall. My heart races for a different reason.
Luke smiles down at me, strong and confident and kind. He looks out over the ocean at the gathering clouds.
“We should go, before the rain comes.”
“I love you, Luke Tisdale,” I say over the wind.
He turns back to me and grins wider, scoops me up and spins me around.
“I love you, Sera Watkins. And I’ve got you,” he says, voiceclear and deep in my ear. I relax. I breathe. “I’ll keep you here,” he promises as he puts me down and places a hand against his chest where the pieces of our hearts sit entwined. His scar lights up, and I trace the line of it. He moves his hand from his chest to mine. “And you’ll keep me here, no matter where you go.”
“Let’s go together?” I ask, taking his hand again and turning to the ocean. It’s choppy and wild, waves coming from all directions capped with frothy white foam. The water is a dark blue-green, almost like Luke’s eyes as he meets my gaze and squeezes my hand tight in his.
“Together.”
We sprint off the edge of the rock and plummet into the ocean. It’s ice-cold and it tugs me down. I start to panic and pull on Luke’s hand, my anchor, my home, my last line to the surface. There’s a sudden light in the darkness, like someone’s set a firework off underwater. For a second, I can see us both suspended there in the dark, surrounded by bubbles and seaweed and specks of sand that glint like dust in the sun, making the sea look like outer space. Luke is smiling. I reach for his face and the light fades.
Then so do I.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Luke
The rain is coming down in sheets, and I’m soaked by the time I reach my truck. I told my roommate to let the organizers know I’d be gone, but not why. I couldn’t repeat the words Abbi had said through the phone when I called her after listening to Sera’s voicemail.
“We’re in Boston. Sera’s fighting, but…I think you should come.”
