Page 133 of 1001 Dark Nights: Bundle Forty-Two

She knelt and took the iron dagger out of the back of herpants.

No, Kursch said to her amicrosecond before she lifted the knife high into the air and plunged it intothe core that made him what he was. It didn’t melt like she’d hoped. Or turn todust. Or even explode. It just... disappeared, taking the weight she’d felt onher shoulders for the entire five years she’d been on this plane with it.

But she stayed glued to the spot. Unable to move. Unwillingto. What happened when you were finally able to live freely but no longerwanted to?

Artemis, upset that her arm had disappeared, licked Sia’sface, but she only stared at the place where the dark center had been. She feltthe heat of the truck at her back. The cool sprinkles of waterthat bounced off it. The searing scent of burning gasoline and plastics.

I’m so sorry.

She felt Benji beside her but didn’t bother to look.

He made me lure you to my house. Then he mademe contact you. He got a lock on your location every time I did, but he keptlosing it.

“It was the iron from Donovan’s bracelet,” she said aloudrather than mentally. He didn’t need in her thoughtsanymore.

Yes. First, it was because you were in thehaven, so he forced me to lure you out from under it. Then, yes, it was thebracelet. I’m so sorry, Zhou.

“It’s not your fault,” she said, her voice monotone. “Kurschhad a way of slowly driving us all insane and then forcing us to tip him forgiving us a ride.”

She felt rather than saw Benji sit beside her.

We all have to findnew bodies—everyone but you. But we’re free, Sia.

“I’m so sorry for your human family. I know how much theyloved you and how much you grew to love them.”

He didn’t say anything for a long while as first respondersrushed around her. Every so often, one would ask if she was injured. She onlyshook her head, and they went about their business.

They’ll find his body soon, Benjisaid, speaking about his human’s physical form. I’m sorry for them, too.

“What will you do now?”

I’m thinking about saving that man you fell inlove with.

Hope rose inside her until she realized what he meant. Hewould inhabit Donovan’s body. “Don’t you dare. It won’t be the same.”

He’s still alive.

It took a moment for his words to sink in. She turned to himand looked at the incorporeal being sitting beside her. He shone a soft blue,as all of them did in their spiritual forms.

His heartbeat is faint, but his soul is stillintact. At least, for the moment.

She whirled around and looked at the smoking, water-drenchedpickup. He was right. She felt the soft, slow beat of Donovan’s heart. Felt thewarm rush of his soul. But he could die any moment.

Stumbling to her feet, she rushed forward until a long,muscular arm wrapped around her and pulled her back into the crowd. She foughtit, trying to get to Donovan, but a woman’s voice stopped her in her tracks.

“If it isn’t Mocha Cappuccino.”

Sia twisted around until none other than the unsinkableCharley Davidson came into view. She stood with her arms crossed over herchest. Her long, chestnut hair hung over her shoulders, and her gold eyesshimmered with the mischief Sia remembered so fondly from their centurytogether in the void.

“You know who I am?”

“How could I forget? We were BFFs for, like, a hundredyears.”

“Well, technically seventy, as you were too snooty to minglewith the common folk for the first thirty.”

Charley laughed and pulled Sia out of her husband’s arms andinto hers. “I think you have that backward,” she said. “I had no idea you guysmade it onto the plane.”

“Well, you were a little busy stopping an apocalypse andprotecting the kid destined to save humanity and all. She’s incredible,by the way. And so much like you, it’s scary.”