“Everything between us is real.” Logan reaches for me, and I try to slap his hand away, but he gets a stronghold on my wrist again, putting me back into the same place where we started. “Everything I do is to protect you and keep you alive.”
“How would I even know?” Rain’s streaming down my face, mixing with tears I didn’t realize I was crying. “You could have done it a hundred times, and I’d never remember. That’s the whole point, isn’t it? You get to try again and again, and I have to live with whatever version of me you decide to keep.”
The hurt on his face is almost enough to make me stop.
But Oliver’s waiting. Sam and Elizabeth, too. Tempest is promising answers.
I lunge for the railing, but Logan’s arms wrap around me from behind again, pinning my arms to my sides. Electricitycrackles along my skin, but no matter how much I pour into him, he doesn’t let go. His whole body just shudders, a low, guttural sound escaping him as he holds me in place.
Behind me, there’s a grunt of pain as Kieran falls from the rigging.
“I’m not letting you die,” Logan says, fierce and desperate. “Hate me if you want. Blame me for everything. But I’m not letting you throw yourself into the sea for a ghost.”
I can barely hear him anymore, because the cliffs are close enough that I can see rocks jutting up from the water and figures standing on the ledge.
Oliver’s right there, his carefree grin splitting his face. It’s the same way he looked at me when he first saw me in my Persephone costume on the night of the ball.
Sam’s beside him with a book in hand, bouncing on his heels the way he always does when he’s excited.
Elizabeth’s standing a little apart from them, wearing the same oversized sweater from the cave. The fabric is free of bloodstains, as if the hellhound attack didn’t happen at all.
Then there’s T, waving at me like she always did when she saw me and my family on the jetway, excited to take us on our next adventure.
“They’re all there.” The words tumble out of me, and I’m not fighting Logan anymore. I’m just begging him to understand. “Oliver, Sam, Elizabeth, and T. They’re right there, and we need to go to them.”
“That’s not them.” Logan tightens his hold around me so much I can barely breathe.
But he’s wrong. Oliver’s waving, Sam’s laughing, Elizabeth’s beckoning me forward, and T’s smiling like she’s ready for our next grand adventure.
Just a little closer. Just a few more feet?—
Before I can finish the thought, fire erupts around us, orange lined with black, encasing the ship inside a giant dome and cutting off the voices.
JADE
One secondI’m reaching for Oliver, desperate to touch him, to prove he’s real. The next, there’s nothing. No melody, no whispered promises, and no one calling my name.
There’s just the crackle of Logan’s black-edged fire encasing the boat.
I blink, trying to clear my head. It feels like I’m waking from a dream, or surfacing from deep water.
Evie’s on her knees near the helm, her hands pressed to her temples. Callie’s slumped against the wheel, her chest heaving. Kieran’s sprawled near the rigging, pushing himself up on shaking arms.
“I heard Oliver,” Evie says, her voice hoarse. “I swear I heard Oliver.”
“You heard sirens,” Logan says, his focus locked on maintaining the fire barrier. “I created a barrier to block their song, but their voices are strong and I can’t hold it much longer. We need to move.”
Evie sniffs, wiping at the tears streaking her cheeks. “I saw him. He was waving at me.”
The grief in her voice makes my chest ache.
Callie’s stumbling to the helm, her eyes bloodshot, although she looks more focused than Evie. “It’s hard to see through the fire, but I have a general idea about where to go.”
The wheel spins, the boat lurching hard enough that I have to grab the mast.
Evie raises her hands, and heat slams into the air. It’s not fire, but a crushing, suffocating warmth that presses against Logan’s flames and refuses to yield. I know that heat. It almost killed me a few days ago.
“Drop your fire,” she says to Logan. “My heat shield’s translucent, and I want to see what’s out there. If I don’t, I’ll never stop wondering if Oliver was standing on those cliffs waiting for me, and I’ll never forgive myself for not doing everything I could to look for myself.”
