The thought was deeply upsetting. Almost as much as the thought of never seeing him again.

I swallowed hard. “Mom, Bastien and I kissed. When we went to check on the portal. And I… I think I’ve fallen in love with him.”

My mother’s eyes widened, although there was no judgment there that I could detect, just surprise. I wondered what was really going through her head, though. I had known Bastien, what, less than a week? Perhaps she was thinking that this was just a whirlwind romance. That I’d gotten attached to him due to the traumatic situation I’d been in and the kindness he’d shown me. That I had fallen for him just because he had been there for me at a time when I’d had no one.

And the same was true for him. He had already admitted to me that I had helped him at the darkest time of his life. He had been going through his own trauma and to him, I had been that hand to hold, that shoulder to lean against, as he had been to me.

Perhaps this really was nothing more than a whirlwind romance spurred on by trauma and isolation.

Perhaps if we’d had a chance to spend more time together and get to know each other better, the feelings would’ve faded. We may have realized that we weren’t meant for each other.

But all these thoughts and hypotheses did little to quell the burning in my chest now. The longing to feel his arms around me. To taste his lips once again. To have even just a brief meeting, where I could tell him what had really happened.

“I have to find him again,” I told my mother, my voice deep with resolution. “I just have to get closure.”

She nodded slightly in understanding even as she chewed on her lower lip. Of course she would not want me going anywhere near that realm again as a human. Technically, I had no excuse to return because when the League traveled back—and they would most certainly go back—they would not bring any vehicle with them. My excuse for joining the League in the first place had been to assist Kyle in manning vehicles.

But I could not be expected to need an excuse to see Bastien. It was something I just needed to do. If I did not get closure with him, I might live with regret for the rest of my life.

“I understand, Vicky.” My mother spoke finally. “I do understand. You’re nineteen now. I’m not going to tell you what you can and cannot do, and neither will your father. Though I can tell you my preference for dealing with this, and what I’m sure your father’s preference is.”

I already knew what she was about to suggest.

“Let us return, do all that we can to find him, and give the message to him,” she went on. “If he is at all capable, we will ask him to return to The Shade for a brief visit to see you, and you can talk alone. One of our witches can transport him back. But honey, you returning to that realm isn’t something he would want for you, if he truly loves you. He would want you to be safe.”

It was a hard pill to swallow. But I had not completely lost my mind. Of course it made no logical sense for me to go back there when I would only be a burden to the League and a constant worry to my parents. I had worried them enough recently. And it wasn’t like they would be able to find Bastien any faster or more efficiently with me present. If they managed to find him and he was alive, my main worry was whether he would even listen to them. Though I was sure that if he just heard the truth about what had happened with Detrius, it would all make sense to him. He would remember the earnestness in my eyes as I had pleaded my innocence before Ben had swept me away. He just needed assistance in connecting the dots.

I heaved a sigh. “I guess you’re right,” I mumbled.

My mother leaned forward to brush her lips against my forehead before rising to her feet and pulling me up with her. She led me into the living room, where my father was visible on the phone through the window pacing up and down on the veranda. As he noticed us emerge from the bathroom, he spoke into the phone. “Yes, ready. We’ll be with you.”

He hung up and entered the apartment, looking from my mother to me. He frowned slightly, probably due to my red and blotchy face. He moved up to me and brushed away a few remaining tears that had been lingering beneath my eyelashes, before kissing my head.

Then he turned to my mother and said in a low voice, “It’s time.”

Grace

I was anxious to know what my grandfather had planned. He’d just called the League to the Great Dome. I had been in the middle of a shower, scrubbing away the unbelievable amount of grime that had gotten stuck in my hair and all sorts of other unexpected crevices over the course of our trip across The Woodlands.

When my mother knocked on the door to inform me of the call and ask whether I wanted to come, I quickly hopped out, dried off and got dressed before joining my parents in the living room.

On the veranda Caleb and Rose were already waiting for us with my human cousins, twelve-year-old Benedict and fifteen-year-old Hazel. They had their school backpacks slung over their shoulders. I guessed they had wanted to see us and their parents off on their way to school.

School. What a strange concept it was, that life in The Shade continued so ordinarily. It truly felt like we lived in a parallel universe to the world around us.

My parents and I joined them on the veranda after grabbing the backpacks we had prepared in advance. As we piled into the elevator, Benedict shuffled toward me and stood right in front of me, trapping me against the elevator’s wall. He lifted his head before slanting a sly glance at me. “How are you doing, Grace?” In spite of his question, there was no innocence in his monkey eyes.