Wait…do I love them?
The thought evaporates all the doubts, leaving me reeling.
I stretch out my hand and rest it on the window. It’s cold, and that icy feeling seeps into my body.
Love? Is this love?
That thought makes me smile. Have I found love? Me? A monster who has been running for so long finally finds happiness?
I bite my lower lip, hiding my smile.
I can hear them moving in the house, talking and just doing normal people things. It could be our future. Kisses and soft touches, surrounded by the shiver. With an ocean at our front door and a city at our back. We could be happy here. We could have it all.
Kit lets out a soft hiss, and I smile wider.
I wouldn’t be alone, and that would be everything. It’s worth the risk. They are worth the risk.
They have changed me so much from when I met them again. All of these wants and hopes and desires are things I buried. I thought I was dead. They have resurrected me. I am alive for the first time since the day I first saved Lirin.
My fierce song.
“Will you sing for me, Lirin?” I murmur.
There’s a beat of silence. The room gets cold, so cold. Lirin stands up, I can just hear the whisper of his movement.
“Mei,” Lirin breathes softly.
It isn’t my name but the tone he’s using that fills me with icy dread.
“What’s wrong?” I murmur, but it comes out strangled.
The room pulses, and my breathing gets shallow as I try to feel the danger but come up blind. Again.
What is it? Where is it?
“Mei, step back away from the window.” Lirin sounds panicked.
The scent of his dragon fruit fear spears through the house, bitter, almost acrid. I flinch but still I don’t move. I’m not sure where to go or what to do, I need more information.
Suddenly, I know what’s on the other side of the glass. Suddenly, I know what evil has befallen us.
“Lirin,” I whisper.
“Strega! Move!” he shouts.
I try to move, but there’s a laugh that freezes my movements, a sound I recognise, one that comes straight from my deepest, darkest nightmares. It’s so close. Just a pane of glass away from me.
My knees get weak, but my senses fire up. Why can’t I feel him?
Walls, glass, a house, a home. The shiver.
All of the things I have come to appreciate most have stopped me sensing his approach. I was stupid. So stupid.
If we survive this, I won’t be stupid again.
“STREGA!” Lirin roars.
My hand is still pressed to the glass, but in my mind, I can see him smiling back at me from the other side. His fingers will be pressed to mine because that would amuse him.
