I kiss him greedily, desperately. Devlin responds instantly, but he staggers back, his arms hovering around me as if he’s afraid that touching me will make me shatter.
I catch his hands and press them against my body to show him I’m solid, and that’s when I feel it.
He’s vibrating with a raw, violent energy. When I reach for his hands, they’re trembling so hard it’s terrifying, like an arctic chill has settled deep into his bones and he can’t find his way back to the heat.
“Devlin,” I whisper against his lips.
He captures my mouth again, his touch reverent, his fingers smoothing my hair with a terrifying gentleness. “Fucking shit, Val,” he wheezes. “I can’t see you like this. For fuck’s sake.”
“I’m okay, Devlin. Stop it. The only thing that’s ‘for fuck’s sake’ is that Gerald is missing. I’m going to find him.”
“No.”
“What do you mean, no?” I pull away. “He’s scared! He needs his medicine! I have to find him before it gets dark.”
“I said no. You’re going to get better.”
I stare at him, seeing the wall he’s built up.
Without a word, I turn and stomp out of the tent, heading straight for my room. I grab the turtle’s medication and head back out to the ruins of the East Annex.
Devlin is there. He doesn’t speak. He just follows me, a silent, brooding shadow as the sky turns grey.
A light drizzle begins, then a downpour.
Then the thunder starts to roll, shaking the very ground.
I search for hours, calling Gerald’s name into the mud and the ash, my clothes soaked through, my bandages peeling off in the rain.
I can hear Devlin behind me, his teeth grinding so loud it rivals the thunder.
Finally, exhausted and shivering, I turn to him. “Fine. You win. I’m knackered. You go rest after your game, and I’m going to bed.”
He sees me to my door, silent and grim. I slam it in his face. I don’t care if he knows how to get in. I need to collapse.
I fall onto my bed fully clothed and let the darkness take me.
A crack of thunder shakes the windowpane, jolting me awake.
The door creaks open.
The sound of the rain outside intensifies, pouring into the room.
A silhouette stands in the doorway, illuminated by a sudden, jagged flash of lightning.
Devlin.
He’s soaking wet, his clothes clinging to his frame, water dripping from his chin.
And in his hands, he’s holding a small, wet, shell-shocked Gerald.
“Have you been looking for him all this time?” I ask, my voice barely a whisper. “In the storm?”
Devlin doesn’t move. He stands like a statue in the middle of my room.
When he finally speaks, his voice is a guttural vibration that makes the hair on my arms stand up.
“I should have known I was doomed from the moment I first saw you, that day in the rain,” he says. “I didn’t even know what the feeling meant. It was incomprehensible, this fever I couldn’t break. Not a day has gone by since where the thought of you hasn’t been tearing me apart. Your eyes… they haunt me. Always.”
