Aurum glanced at Cael and Tate. He was so large that even on all fours he was almost as tall as Cael. Dipping, he closed his eyes as he nudged the crown of Tate’s head and then stepped back.
“We can ask the Creator,” he said, addressing Cael. “For her. For her sacrifice, the least we can do is ask.”
I didn’t know what Aurum meant, or who the Creator was, but it gave me hope.
Cael nodded. “Yes. It’s out of our hands, but we could ask.”
“So you’ll try?” I said, my voice pathetically weak.
Cael looked down at me and gestured with his chin that I should get to my feet, so I did.
“You need to understand that there is nothing Aurum or I can do for her anymore. We aren’t the most powerful beings in the universe. All we can do is petition to the greater power that she be brought back.”
I opened my mouth to thank them, but Aurum cut me off.
“This is not something that’s done often. Throughout the history of time, the gift of a renewed life has rarely been granted, so don’t get your hopes up,” he warned, but it was too late. Tate and I had a history of defying the odds. How could I not have hope she would do it again?
“I’ll return her either way,” Cael promised. “Either restored fully, or so you can say your goodbyes and bury her body.”
With that, Cael spread his wings and jumped into the sky, taking Tate with him. The other angels and Aurum followed in his wake. A gold-ringed portal opened above and they flew through it. The moment Cael disappeared from view, the pain of separation from Tate tore through my chest.
When all of the angels had flown through the portal back to Avalon and it collapsed behind them, I finally looked around to realize the war was over and we’d been victorious, but in my heart it still felt like we’d lost.
There was no victory without Tate.
* * *
I stared at the envelope in my hand in shock as I stroked my name written in Tate’s pretty handwriting. It had been twenty-four hours since I’d handed her limp body off to Cael in Tartarus. I’d stayed in Tartarus for the first twelve hours not doing much except staring at the sky, but Cael hadn’t returned.
Eventually, Harley had woken up and then had a breakdown because she realized she’d lost all of her Shade powers when Apollyon died. So we all returned back to Lumen Academy to help her. It’s what Tate would have wanted.
Harley wasn’t physically injured, so rather than taking her to the healing center—which was overrun with wounded Lumens—we brought her back to Dash and my shared dorm room.
I looked over at Harley’s sleeping form and made eye contact with Dash, who sat vigil at her bedside. When she’d realized that not only had all Shades lost their powers and were basically as weak as humans now, but that she’d lost her sister as well, she’d fallen into a catatonic state of shock. I didn’t blame her. I wanted to stare at the wall and leave reality too, but the hope that Tate might come back alive and need me kept me sane. For now.
A few minutes ago, a teary-eyed Drea had walked in and handed Dash and me sealed envelopes, saying Tate had written notes and left them for us before she died.
“I’m going for a walk,” I told Dash and he nodded, unfolding his note. I hadn’t been able to bring myself to unseal the envelope yet.
How would Tate know to leave all of us notes? Was it on a whim in the event she died? Or did she know something and not share it with me?
I left our dorm room and walked down the hall toward the elevator. When I passed a little library alcove I spotted Marlow smiling as tears ran down her face while she read her letter.
Tate, you knew?
Anger welled up inside of me for a split second, but then I let it go. Even if she took the time to write us these letters because she’d known she was going to die, I couldn’t be mad. I was grateful to have something left of her.
Stroking the lettering on the front of the envelope, I slipped into an empty storage closet and flicked on the lights. Spotting a stack of gym mats, I walked over and sat down. This was as good a place as any to have a nervous breakdown over the letter my dead girlfriend left me.
Don’t say that. She’s not dead,I scolded myself, feeling like I was going insane.
I sat there for a full minute staring at my name.
Gage
Even her handwriting was perfect. Everything about that woman was perfect and now she was gone and I hadn’t kissed her nearly enough or told her how much she meant to me. Not really. “I love you,” wasn’t even strong enough for how Tate Powers affected me.
I adore you. I want to marry you one day. I worship you. You’re the only thing I never knew I needed. Maybe I should have said that.
