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“Yeah, me neither. He’s probably working a late shift,” I said.
Cat eyed me dubiously, and I knew what she was thinking. Maybe he was working. Or, more likely, he wasn’t.
If she was right, he was out gambling.
I didn’t want to believe that. He’d said he would stop. He had a lot of flaws, but no man was perfect. What mattered was that he was trying, and he’d said that he would stop.
I said goodnight to my sister, who walked to her room with her book bag slung over her shoulder. She would spend more time studying before she finally went to bed. She had tests this week.
Though I was dead on my feet, I had two shifts tomorrow. I undressed, brushed my teeth, and pulled on the large T-shirt I always slept in.
I crawled between the sheets of the double bed Oscar and I shared and closed my eyes. Oscar would be home at any moment, and then he would crawl into bed around me and wrap his body around mine. It was my favorite part of our relationship, when he did that. It always made me feel like no matter what came at us, he and I were in it together. It was another reason I didn’t want to let go of him.
It was scary to think about facing this world without someone by my side. Sure, Oscar brought his fair share of problems to the table, but at least I knew he had my back. And no matter what, we were going to get through this life together.
ChapterFour
Ash
No way was I going to stay awake for the next month until All Hallows’ Eve. What the hell was I going to do with myself? I wasn’t in the mood to party with the other druses or fuck a couple of dryads to keep me busy. Once upon a time, that had been me. I’d been more than happy to fool around and have my fun. What was the point of an eternal life if I didn’t live every day like it was my last?
After Ava, everything changed. Eternity had become one long blur of emotions I didn’t want to feel, memories I didn’t want to revisit, and a future that was empty and filled with more of the same.
Yeah, count me out. An eternal slumber was more up my alley. Did it look like I was running away from my problems? Sure, but who the fuck was counting?
Sleep for a tree spirit was a weird thing. It made time speed up and slow down all at once. It felt like I slept for an eternity every day, only to relive the next day doing the same. It was a sweet escape, and yet even while asleep I was aware of the forest around me, the way the earth breathed life into the trees. Creatures moved between the trunks of our trees, reveling in their very existence, and I drank in the sight of them, the pure bliss they got from being alive.
I didn’t know how long I’d been asleep. Maybe a week, maybe a century.
Something shook me out of my slumber. The night was darker than usual. The moon was high in the sky, only a sliver of silver, but it didn’t cast any light across the trees the way it usually did.
There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, but I couldn’t see the stars either.
Something was wrong. Darkness swirled at the base of my tree, curling around the roots of the tree all around me. The atmosphere tasted bitter. Fear was a living thing, running between the trees like a current.
Somewhere further off, I sensed a menacing presence. Whoever was here, whatever they were doing, it wasn’t good.
I shook myself completely awake. I had to look after the vale. The others were awake, too. I could sense them, all in their trees, hiding from the darkness that seemed to grow thicker every minute.
The menace in the distance grew closer. It was like a beast, growling, consuming fear, with red eyes and dripping teeth.
That was what it felt like. Of course, it wasn’t real. Magic, emotions, they could all become a blur, manifesting in mythical creatures that we immortals could see.
The humans only felt it, and they didn’t always know what they felt.
Screams pierced the air. They ran across the sky like an electric current and danced between the trees. I shivered, the fear making my blood curdle.
It wasn’t my fear, but it was powerful.
Footsteps sounded. I felt the tremble in the earth long before I heard the panting breath, the feet pounding on the ground.
When the creature burst through the trees, I saw it was human. Long blond hair streamed behind her as she ran. A white robe flapped behind her like a cape, and her face was twisted in a mask of terror. She had scrapes and bruises on her arms and legs, and whatever the menace was behind her, it was after her.
The other trees rustled, their leaves dancing on the breeze as they communicated with each other.
They discussed what needed to be done.
They came to a common consensus.
