“Jade.” Logan’s fingers dig into my skin, but he sounds muffled and far away, like I’m hearing him through glass. “Stop.”
He doesn’t understand,”T continues.None of them do. But I understand you. I’ve always understood you.
I try to shake off his iron-clad grip. Because T’s right. Logan doesn’t know what it’s like to have power you never asked for after never knowing about the supernatural world until a few weeks ago. He doesn’t understand how it feels to be a bomb that might explode at any moment, or to wonder every day if you’re a weapon or a mistake.
Then there’s another voice, cutting through T’s promises.
Jade, it’s okay.I forgive you.
“Sam.” His name tears out of me, my chest cracking open. “I tried to save you. I swear, I tried. So many times.”
I know. Just come to me. We can talk about it.
Tears are streaming down my face. When did I start crying?
Then Elizabeth’s rises above the others, softer and sweeter, and my whole body goes cold.
You didn’t mean to hurt me. Your power was out of your control. It wasn’t your fault.
“No. Itwasmy fault.” I’m sobbing now, ugly and uncontrollable.
I forgive you. Come to me and I’ll say it to your face.
I need to go. I need to hear them forgive me. I need to talk to them and know that wherever they are, they don’t blame me for what happened to them.
Jade.
A third voice.
I’m alive.
Everything inside me goes still.
The Crown’s magic healed me and brought me somewhere safe. I’ve been waiting here, hoping someone would come.Bring the boat to shore. Pick me up. Take me home.
“Oliver?” His name rips out of me.
Evie crashes through my thoughts. “You hear him too? You hear Oliver?”
“Yes.” The word comes out choked and desperate. “He’s alive. He’s actually alive.”
“I knew it.” She grabs my hands, her fingers trembling, and her eyes light up in a way they haven’t been since before the Halloween Ball. “He’s waiting for us. We have to go to him.”
I squeeze her hands back, the tightness in my chest loosening for the first time in weeks.
“We need to go left.” I look to the direction they’re coming from, to where a dark shape is rising from the gray. It’s a cliff, maybe, or land. “Callie, can you steer us there?”
“Already on it.” She’s at the wheel, smiling so big that her face lights up despite the heavy clouds overhead. “He’s so close. Therealhim. He’s been there, waiting for me, for four years.”
Kieran’s helping adjust the sails, moving with single-minded purpose, every motion steady and precise. He’s not calling out a name the way the rest of us are, but his eyes are locked on the cliffs with a desperate hunger that looks wrong on a man who’s spent years carving every soft thing out of himself.
Logan’s standing in the center of the deck, his body rigid, his eyes darting between the four of us.
“Stop,” he calls out, sharp and commanding. “Whatever you’re hearing isn’t real.”
Don’t listen to him,Oliver pleads.He’s jealous of me. He wants to keep you from me. Don’t you see that? He doesn’t want to rescue me because he doesn’t want me near you.
“Oliver’s out there.” I pull away from Evie and move to the railing, pointing to the dark shape on the horizon. “We’re going to get him.”
