“Emma,” Kate shifted forward in her seat, her expression open and patient. “I saw you.”
Everything in Emma went still. “What?”
“In a dream,” Kate continued. Her voice was soft, matter-of-fact, the way someone might describe where they had left their keys. “Last night. I saw you standing in the middle of a storm.”
Emma’s throat went dry.
“You weren’t running from it,” Kate said. “You weren’t hiding. You were just… standing there. In the center of it all, but untouched by it.” She paused. “And then?—”
“It stopped,” Emma whispered.
Kate nodded slowly. “You weren’t in the storm. You were?—”
“Controlling it.”
Silence filled the room.
Lena went still, her usual playful expression replaced by something sharper, more focused. “Okay. So we’re adding ‘storm control’ to the skill set? Right next to ‘excellent organizational skills’ and ‘proficiency in Microsoft Office?’”
Despite herself, Emma huffed a small laugh. “It wasn’t like that.”
“What was it like?” Lena asked, tone curious.
Emma stood and moved to the window. Outside, the island continued its recovery. Staff moved with purpose, debris disappeared, order reasserted itself.
How did she explain this?
“Ana-Luz gave me something,” she said finally. “A coin. She called it a memory. Told me the tale of an ancient island artifact that could control the air. The Windstone.”
Behind her, she heard Kate draw in a sharp breath.
“You used it,” Kate said. Not a question.
“I didn’t mean to. I didn’t even know what it was, only that it might help.” Emma turned back to face them. “When the storm came—when everything went wrong—I just… held it. And asked for help.”
“Asked who?” Lena said.
“I don’t know. The wind? The storm? The island?” Emma shook her head. “It sounds insane.”
“The wind answered you,” Lena said.
“Something like that.” Emma reached into her pocket, brushing the folded note. “When it was over, the Windstone… dissolved. It turned to dust in my hand.”
They quieted for a moment, the weight of it settling over all three of them.
“So,” Lena said eventually. “To summarize: you stopped a supernatural storm with a magic rock, saved everyone on the island, and got the guy. Solid week.”
Despite everything, Emma laughed, releasing some of the tension knotted in her shoulders.
“Something like that,” she agreed.
Lena’s smirk softened into something more genuine. “I’m glad you’re okay. Both of you.”
Emma thought of Zach’s fingers on her wrist. Of the way he’d looked at her in the cottage, like she was the only stable thing in a shifting world. “Yeah, me too.”
“Have you guys talked?” Kate asked. “About what happens now?”
Emma shook her head. “There hasn’t been time.”
