One more trip to her world. I can make it.
I have to.
The wait for sunset feels like an eternity. I sent the Darling away so I could pace the room alone.
There is a desperate sense of urgency making my head pound.
While I wait for the sun to set, I strap on as many blades as I can.
When the light finally fades, I race up the stairwell.
Everyone is ready.
“You’re all coming?” I ask.
“Of course we are,” Bash answers. “You think we’ll leave you to have all of the adventures?”
The Darling is set between the twins and looks like a tiny doll against their tallness. Everything about her appears fragile and breakable, but she’s anything but.
She reminds me a lot of her mother.
“So how do you get there?” Darling asks.
“Best way is to fly,” I answer.
She just stares at me for several long seconds. Then, “Can you fly?”
“Not anymore,” I admit.
“And we lost our wings,” Kas says.
“Vane?” she asks.
“I can fly, but I’m not hauling all your asses.”
“We’ll take the other route,” I say.
“And what’s that?” she asks.
“We leap off Marooner’s Rock.”
“You must be joking.” She sets her hands on her hips. “Please tell me you’re joking?”
The twins start off. “We never joke about jumping off cliffs.”
“I don’t want to jump off a cliff.”
“Too bad,” I tell her and steer her out the door.
As we make our way through the forest, wolves howl in the distance and we hear one growl from the darkness.
We keep Darling between us, keeping her safe.
The wolves used to bend to me, but not anymore.
We pass the lagoon and keep walking where the land ascends up the cliff’s backside.
The moon hangs heavy in the sky.
I thought tonight we’d be inviting Tilly back to dig inside the Darling’s head.
I’m glad that we’re not. I’m glad the Darling is all right.
Dew has collected on the moss that grows between crevices. It’s a cold night and Darling shivers.
Diving into the ocean won’t help that, and neither will crossing worlds.
We toe the edge of the cliff as the ocean wind cuts in. Darling’s hair billows around her.
“This is much higher than it looks from down below.” Her arms are tight over her midsection and she hasn’t gotten closer than ten feet from the edge. “I don’t think I can do this. Is this how you brought me here?”
“Yes.”
She chews at her bottom lip.
“Just think, when we get there, you can stay. You never have to come back here.”
Her face falls and my gut clenches.
Is that what I want?
Is that what she wants?
I barely know her and yet she feels familiar.
And the thought of forgetting her once she’s gone…
My chest burns.
“Come.” I offer her my hand. At the very least, I can promise to be by her side. She slips her hand into mine. Her fingers are ice cold.
“So we just jump?”
“Yes.” I urge her closer to the edge.
“Are there rocks down there?”
“Yes, but that’s why we’ll take a big leap.”
“And then what?” She frowns up at me, worry lines furrowing between her brows. “Do we swim? Do we dive?”
“The magic will take care of it for us.”
She snorts.
“You just have to believe,” Kas says and then he jumps.
“Oh my god,” she says on a hiccupping breath. “I can’t.”
“You must.”
“Why?”
Bash jumps next. The wind switches directions and a lock of hair shoots across Darling’s face. I bend down to tuck it behind her ear. “I’ve got you. All right?”
I swear I can hear her heart pounding over the pounding of the waves.
“All right. Fine.”
“Good girl.”
I take us toward the edge. Her grip is tight on mine the closer we get.
“Ready?”
“I guess.”
“One.”
She trembles beside me.
“Two.”
Her chest rises and falls with quick breaths.
I don’t get to three before we’re leaping off the edge together.
This is the only way I can fly these days and it’s fucking exhilarating.
But if the Darling is right, by this time tomorrow, I will be flying amongst the stars.
