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“It isn’t my love, or Delmore’s, or anyone else’s that is going to save her.” His hand tightened around Thicket’s. “It’ll be hers.”
A heaviness formed in the pit of Lavender’s stomach as Thicket’s hand twitched.
No…
A grin slid across Marcel’s face.
“NO!”
Rage bubbled inside her blood, tearing a deeper hole in the thick darkness in her chest, filling it with more hatred, more resentment, until she couldn’t stand it anymore.
“You are going to burn—just like Enola.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
Thicket pushed Jett away from her, stumbling back.
“Thicket, what’s wrong?” Jett’s voice was thick with worry mingled with the slightest note of hurt.
This is your happiest end, the voice hissed. Don’t fight it. Give in.
“Thicket?” Jett grabbed her hand, face flooding with concern.
Pain sliced through Thicket’s head as visions battled in her mind. Purple hills and rolling clouds, swing sets pushing her up too high. It was like two different realities were tugging at her, each trying desperately to drag her onto their side.
Castles and towers and walls made of thorns flickered alongside Mr. Dunkum’s yogurt shack, the smell of freshly baked muffins and lavender warring with some unknown floral that smelled like home.
Blue eyes locked with hers, hair shifting between gold and black, black and gold.
“I can’t do this,” Thicket said. “This isn’t right.”
She didn’t know what was going on with her mind or why all these images from her dreams kept forcing themselves into her mind. But she knew one thing for certain. There may have been a time in her life when this was all she had wanted, but now it felt like she was trying to build a puzzle by jamming pieces into places they didn’t fit.
When she had kissed Jett, there was no feeling of comfort or safety. There wasn’t even a spark.
She might as well have been kissing a stranger.
“Please, Thicket,” Jett pleaded. “I know this is all a lot to take in right now, but give me time to fix things.”
“This isn’t something time can fix.” There was too much history, too many battles, too many dollars of heartbreak spent on a single boy.
It wasn’t worth it. She deserved better. Deserved someone who saw her from the start, saw her and knew she wasn’t perfect, yet accepted her anyway. Who stuck by her side no matter what.
“Please. I know you love me. And I love you.”
“That may have been true once,” Thicket said. “But whatever feelings I had for you. They just aren’t here anymore.”
Jett’s face crumpled. “Thicket…”
“Goodbye, Jett.”
“Wait! Don’t do this!” But she had already closed the door.
Thicket rested her forehead against the cool, solid wood, trying to drown out Jett’s desperate pleas from the other side. After a few minutes, everything went quiet.
Her mother emerged from the stairs. “Honey, who was that?”
“Jett…” Thicket said, still half stunned.
