She finally made eye contact, and I could see tears in her eyes. Maybe she did still love me.
“You can’t protect me,” she said. “I won’t let you sacrifice yourself for me. If I stay here, everybody I love will be in just as much danger as me.”
Everyone I love—including me.
I sighed and bowed my head. “I love you, Jane.” It was the only thing I could say.
She broke her gaze almost immediately. “I know. But I can’t let that matter anymore.”
The pain was eating away at me. She really did love me, so why was I letting her go? How could I give up fighting for her? I had to make her safe again, and that meant destroying The Sevren. After that, I would never stop fighting for her.
“What else can I do?” she asked, shattering my thoughts. “Ethan and my mother.”
“We, Ethan and I, agreed that we don’t want your mother to know about this. I will help your father cover his tracks as I promised. He won’t even have to leave North Bend. I will keep The Sevren away from you and your mother. I swear to you, Jane—I will make it safe for you. I will come back to you then.”
“I can’t look at you that way anymore,” she whispered.
I could feel the sting of her words creeping into my chest. “It’s too painful.”
“Jane—”
“Don’t,” she snapped. “Please. If you love me, let me go. Let me live my life, and let me forget you so that someday…I can remember you.”
I nodded solemnly. I wouldn’t stop fighting. I couldn’t.
“Can you do just one thing for me?” I asked.
She didn’t answer but looked at me with the look I remembered, the look that told me she loved me and wouldn’t refuse me anything.
“Help me make things right?”
“How?”
“I know I can’t make everything right with you. But I want to make things right with Rudy. If that’s all I can do, let me redeem myself in one small way.”
She nodded. “Of course,” she whispered.
Chapter Twenty-Four
He was mostly quiet as I drove. I felt a strange, unexpected respect for Rudy that I never had before. After his concern for me and his “love” for Jane, I realized the kind of person he was. He had a love in him very much like Jane’s.
“Why can’t you just tell me what this is all about?” he asked.
I smiled. “Well, it’s sort of a surprise.”
“A surprise?”
I nodded.
He looked to Jane and furrowed his brow.
“It’s fine,” she said. “It was Aidan’s idea, and I promise you’ll love it.”
“It’s a thank you for helping me,” I said. “Don’t worry.”
I tried to ignore Jane and just pretend things were normal for as long as I could. I pulled into the driveway of my house, and Rudy was instantly confused.
“What are we doing here?” he asked.
“You know this is where I live, but you’ve never been inside.” I smiled and unlocked the door.
Rudy looked around the room like he was back somewhere from a past life.
“Are you all right?” I heard Jane whisper.
“Jane…” he choked out, pointing feebly at the horse painting on the wall.
Walter entered the room, and the look on his face was one I had never seen Walter express in all the time I had known him. He had never looked so…happy.
“Ah,” Walter said. “I always liked that painting.”
Rudy turned to look at him. He was silent, but his eyes widened, and his mouth hung open, slow tears already running down his cheeks.
“You’ve grown,” Walter said. “It’s all right. I’m not a ghost.”
Rudy stumbled toward him and fell into his arms without a second’s delay, without even a fraction of doubt that it was really him.
“I thought you were dead,” I heard muffled against Walter’s chest.
“Oh, but I had to be,” he whispered. “I had to be dead to protect you.”
“And now?” Rudy asked, pulling away from him.
“Now it is time for you to know the truth.” He touched his face. “We can protect you now. We know so much more about the hunters now than we used to, my boy.”
“So you aren’t going to leave me again?” he said, sobbing. “You won’t disappear?”
He chuckled quietly. “I won’t disappear.”
“What about Mom?”
“Oh, she’ll find out,” Walter said with a laugh. “But don’t you go telling her just yet.”
Rudy nodded. “Okay.”
I smiled, unable to stop myself. Walter got his fairy-tale ending.
Rudy turned to me. “Thank you,” he whispered.
I gave him a formal bow, still smiling.
Jane wrapped her arms around my shoulders, and I almost jolted out of my skin. It was completely unexpected.
“Thank you for doing this,” she whispered in my ear.
I loved the feeling of her breath against my face and the warmth of her pale arms around me. I didn’t want to let go.
“I had to,” I whispered back.
“I know.”
She moved away from me, and instantly, I felt a chill rushing through my veins.
“So after today, you will be all right?” I asked.
“I’ll be all right, Aidan. You need to let me go. You need to let me forget everything. That way, I can remember it someday.”
“I’ll miss you.”
She nodded. That was it. Just one, silent, weak nod.
It was Jane’s last day in North Bend. I had the nagging urge to drive to her house in the stolen pickup truck, which I never returned, and give her the best send off in the world. I realized that not only would that make things harder for her, it would make things impossible for me.
I sat down on the couch in Walter’s front room. Luna came in as I expected.
“Hey,” she breathed.
“Hi, Luna. Don’t worry. I’m not going after her.”
“I know. I think it was very brave of you, James.”
James.
“I mean…with your betrayal and peril and you still wouldn’t give up on her.”
I almost laughed. “Well, God, Luna. I love her!”
“I know,” she retorted. “I’m just saying that I’m not sure I could have stayed that strong. I’ve never loved anyone like that before. You saved her, James. You should be smiling.”
I looked at her, and she had a playful smirk on her face and her head slightly cocked to the side.
“I’ll let you be,” she said, touching my shoulder. She walked toward her bedroom but stopped and continued. “But just remember—even though you can’t be with her, she’s alive. She can go on living her life…because of you.”
I nodded and sighed, resting my chin in my hands. I did save her life. I did exactly what I wanted to do. So why did I feel so awful? There had to be some way I could move on. I wondered if I would ever stop feeling this way for her. At the same time that getting over her sounded like it would make things so much easier—I didn’t want to. I enjoyed loving her even if she didn’t return it. I didn’t want my pain to go away. For the first time in my life, my pain is what made me feel alive again. I wanted to hurt over Jane. That meant she was still in my life somehow. She was in my blood and my bones.
Luna slowly entered the room again. “I’m making you some tea.”
I ignored.
“Hello?” she sang.
I looked up at her, and she was leaning toward me with her hands rested on her thighs. “Would you like some tea, Aidan?”
I smiled. “You called me Aidan,” I whispered.
She shrugged her shoulders and laughed. “So…does that mean yes?”
“Thanks, Luna. I’d love some tea.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
There were things I had to see to. I wasn’t quite finished protecting Jane.
“Luna, I’m going out,” I called.
“But
…you haven’t finished your tea yet,” she whined, pointing to the mug on the coffee table.
I chuckled. “It’s all right, Luna. I just have one more thing I need to do, all right?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Are you being reckless again?”
I laughed. “No. Stop worrying. I’ll be back soon.”
I walked out the door without turning to look at her again. I could feel her stare stabbing into my back as I walked quickly to the car, knowing full well I had no time to waste.
I drove the truck instead of the Mustang, thinking it was more inconspicuous. I drove the direction of Jane’s house. I turned a corner and parked on the side of the road until I saw Ethan’s car. When the Honda came into view, I waited for them to pass the street I was on before moving. I followed a bit behind, trying to stay unnoticed. I had to follow her at least to the airport just to make sure she wasn’t being tailed by The Sevren. Once she boarded the plane, there should be no problem.
It was difficult to know she was so close, and I was helping her leave me. This is what I had wanted in the first place—to save her, even from myself. Those old feelings of wanting to hurt her had completely vanished a long time ago, and now I had to protect her even if it meant hurting myself instead. It was nothing I didn’t deserve. I was never deserving of Jane’s love in the first place. I never deserved to feel that happy even for a moment. After everything I had done—I deserved nothing but pain.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“I was waiting for you to tell me,” I started, “but you never did.”
“What are you talking about, Clem?” he asked. His face looked even more aged when he expressed confusion.
“I heard Rudy’s story,” I said. “I know about Evelyn.”
“Oh,” he said under his breath and almost fell onto the couch behind him. I barely heard him when he whispered, “Evey.”
I nodded and sat beside him. “Let me help you. She’s alive, isn’t she?”
He looked at me and nodded.
“Then let me help you.”
“No,” he cried. “You don’t understand. Evey was one of them. She betrayed them the same as you and Luna, only it was worse. In her attempts to send The Sevren away by constructing that treaty, she didn’t hold up her end of the deal.”
“Which was what?”
He sighed. “If they agreed to leave North Bend, she would see to it that The Silver Wing disbanded. However, when The Sevren left North Bend, Evey didn’t leave with them. She joined The Silver Wing.”
“My God, Walter. Where is she?”
He shook his head. “I can’t. Not until The Sevren are stopped. All of them.”
“Walter, she can help us.”
“How?”
“If we find her, she can help us bring The Silver Wing back.”
He nodded. “Possibly.”
“So what do you say?”
“It’s logical, but…no.” He sighed again. “No. Clem, I’m sorry. It’s too risky.”
“Walter, listen to me,” I coaxed. “Nobody will hurt her, okay? The Sevren are still after me and Luna as well. It’s only a matter of time before they find us.”
“I know, Clem. I know.” His voice had raised an octave, and he sounded like he was going to cry. “Please don’t make me do this.”
“Walter, it’s the only thing we can do. Don’t you want to see her again? Didn’t you promise her you would come back?”
He nodded, and the unshed tears finally slid down his wrinkled face. “I did.”
I nodded and placed my hand on his shoulder. “Then let’s do this, Walter. Let us re-establish The Silver Wing with Evelyn’s help and change this world. That way you can be with Rudy, Evey, and the rest of your family. Luna can go on living, and I can bring Jane back to me.”
He smiled. “Well…we all win that way.”
I nodded.
He sighed. “It worries me, Clem.”
“I know.”
“All right,” he muttered.
“Yes?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
A huge grin spread across my face, and I lightly embraced him. When I pulled away, he was returning the smile.
“Yes!” he exclaimed louder. “Let’s do it!”
Luna came in. “What’s the shouting about?”
We both turned and smiled at her.
“Oh no.” She cocked her head and crossed her arms. “What are you two brainiacs planning now?”
I wasn’t sure exactly where to start. I had point A and point C—where we were and where we needed to be. How to get there was what we were missing.
“Where is she, Walter?” I asked.
He just turned to look at me. “I’m still scared, Clem,” he whispered.
“It’s just me, Walter. Okay? Nobody else is here.”
“She’s”—he swallowed and took a deep breath, breaking eye contact—“in…she’s in Florida.”
Florida? Why Florida?
“Okay, and are there others there as well?”
He nodded. “There is another establishment of the Silver Wing set up in Northern Florida.”
“All right. Well, waiting isn’t the plan here, Walter.”
“I know.”
“So let’s get ourselves on a plane to Florida tonight.”
“Tonight?”
“Yes, tonight.”
“You will have to assume a different name, Clem.”
“Yes, meaning stop calling me Clem,” I answered, smiling.
He chuckled.
I took my wallet out of my back pocket and shuffled through a few credit cards.
“Ah,” I said, “how about this one? I have the passport in my dresser drawer.”
He took the card and stared at it.
“Are…you sure?”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s just a name, Walter, and it’s not permanent.”
“Okay. Then let’s get going, Mr. Wright.”
I smiled. “Ah, call me Morgan.”
We laughed in unison, and Walter called Luna into the room to discuss our plans. She wasn’t happy at first. Luna was always one to not trust anything.
“It’s not reckless,” I told her. “This is something we need to do.”
“I don’t know,” she said. “It doesn’t seem right. If we can hide, why don’t we do just that?”
“Luna!” I cried, standing up and moving so I was only inches away from her face. “If that was a serious question, you aren’t thinking,” I said angrily. “Reason one, we can’t hide forever. They will find us. Reason two, Evelyn. I’m not going to let Walter live out the rest of his days without the woman he loves. Reason three is Jane. I want her back, Luna, and the only way I even have a chance is to stop The Sevren. You also can use this as redemption. Help us so you can go on with your life, Luna—please.”
She shook her head. “You really think they will find us?”
“Some of them already have, remember?”
“But Dorian and Mike are dead. They were the only ones who knew where we were.”
I shook my head. “David.”
She sighed. “Great!”
“So will you help us?”
She huffed and threw her arms up, turning away from me.
“Fine,” she said. “But I don’t like this plan.”
“There’s nothing else we can do.”
“I know,” she murmured. “You’re right…as usual.”
She left the room, and Walter’s expression instantly transformed into worry.
“Don’t stress it,” I said. “It will all be all right. I promise.”
I was never fond of flying. Something about it made me feel unwell in some way. Not to say I had a fear of it, only a dislike. Walter seemed highly entertained and insisted he sit next to the window. Luna sat behind me, murmuring her little remarks the way she usually did. I wasn’t listening. I tried resting but was kept alert by all the thoughts of Jane and how all of this was going to help me get her back—if it was going to work at
all.
I had several worries I didn’t want to bring to Walter’s attention. For one, suppose we could kill all the members of The Sevren. What about the ones like Dorian? The ones working behind the scenes, whose names we didn’t know, whose faces we wouldn’t recognize? What about them? I couldn’t say anything to Walter because I knew he would never go through with it if he realized that. Would they disband? Or would they regroup? I sighed at these thoughts.
“Clem?”
I turned to Walter. “Peter?”
“Ah.” He chuckled. “Morgan.”
“Yes.”
“Are you all right?”
I nodded. “Fine. Just thinking.”
“About?”
I sighed. “Jane.”
He looked at me, and his mouth curled up in a false, thin smile. “It’s okay. Just focus on what we have to do. We can worry about her afterward.”
“Logical thinking,” I said. “Thanks.”
“No sarcasm?”
A silent laugh shook through me. “No. No sarcasm.”
He nodded and patted my shoulder, directing his gaze back out the window.
It was different than I had imagined in my head—the way she looked at him, the way he moved close without a hint of haste in his steps. It was different the way he spoke to her when they were close in a soft embrace. It was different than I had imagined in every way. Maybe Walter was just a bit old fashioned. Maybe it wasn’t like him to rush to his love and pull her close into an intimate kiss. Maybe he had a sense of propriety that wouldn’t allow that. I wouldn’t have been bothered, and I doubt Luna would do anything but coo and get her big blue eyes all bubbly, but still—he held himself together perfectly.
I just stared, transfixed on the look on Evelyn’s pretty, aged face. She had small, delicate features that made her look so innocent and fragile. I could see the love and joy in her eyes even though she remained calm. Her eyes were filled with unshed tears, and she just held Walter’s face in her hands for what seemed like hours. It was as if she was savoring the vision, engraving it in her memory like she expected him to disappear.
It wasn’t until I heard her voice that I realized what she must have been feeling.
“Oh, Walter,” she whispered, still holding his face in her wrinkled hands. “What took you so long?” Her voice was sweet but had a slight sound of age in it.
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