before Galen tossed Sayer aside like a piece of trash. The Riverdance my heart was doing slowed to more of a Waltz and I was able to focus long enough to think.
Inches from my face, Galen’s eternity crux dangled from his neck. If I could just . . .
Letting go of the hand choking the life out of me went against every last survival instinct I possessed. Good thing it wasn’t the first time I’d chosen to ignore those. It made it easier to pry my fingers from Galen’s.
He realized what I was up to a moment too late.
“Hey!” His eyes widened with shock as I closed my fist around the crux with no particular destination in mind. Just the thought of jumping long and far.
Air rushed into my battered lungs as Galen released me to make a grab for his crux instead.
His mistake.
I’d never been so close to someone who was jumping before. Never witnessed it quite so up close and personal. I’d heard rumors that there was a moment—a fraction of a second—where the person existed in both places at once. Or neither, depending on the rumor. Whatever the truth behind the science was, I was seeing it happen right before my eyes. Galen shimmered and he seemed to . . . dim, as if fading from one time into the next.
I didn’t think. If I had, I probably would have realized how incredibly, stupidly dangerous what I was doing had to be. But I didn’t. I just acted. Reaching for the cord of his crux, it felt odd, as though my fingers could slip right through it, but they didn’t. Impossible to describe. They wrapped in the leather band, like a tangible fog, and tugged. Hard.
I felt it snap as a bright blue light threatened to blind me. Squeezing my eyes shut, I lay on my back barely daring to breathe. Galen’s weight lifted. When the spots faded to black, I risked a peek. His sour stench still lingered in my nose, but he was gone. And there, dangling from my tingling fingers, was his eternity crux.
The resulting celebration of my utter and unparalleled brilliance was put on hold when I was swept up into a coughing fit that rocked my entire body.
“Aura. Are you okay?” Sayer dropped to his knees beside me, only wincing slightly on impact, and slipped his arm beneath my head. “Are you alright?”
I nodded, though my continuing hacking did little to ease the worry on his face as he helped me to sit. What did ease it was the anger that took it’s place as the coughing finally subsided and Sayer ran his fingertips along what must have been some pretty impressive bruising.
“Where did he go?” He said it as though he planned on hunting Galen down and getting a little payback of his own.
“No clue.” I tried to grin, but it probably came off looking more like a grimace. Talking wasn’t exactly easy after having your windpipe practically crushed. “But I’m rooting for something in the vicinity of T-rex chow.”
Sayer stared at me like I’d lost my mind for a long moment. Long enough that I started to question if maybe he’d lost his. Then he threw back his head and laughed. At that, I was certain of it. We were battered and bruised on the floor of the containment facility inside the Legion, while all of society was turning upside down just outside the doors. Neither of us could claim to have the slightest idea of what the future would hold for us or anyone else. And yet he was laughing. He was completely insane.
And, apparently, so was I. A smile tipped my lips as a chuckle trickled up my sore throat, causing no small amount of pain, but I didn’t care. The smile on Sayer’s damaged face was such a beautiful sight, and the sound of his laughter . . . There really was only one thing left to do.
Before I could overthink it, I took a breath and pressed my lips to his. Not a brush or a peck, I planted myself on him and hoped it expressed everything I still hadn’t quite figured out how to say. I felt his surprise in the way that he stiffened for half a second before his arms came around me, pulling me close as
Inches from my face, Galen’s eternity crux dangled from his neck. If I could just . . .
Letting go of the hand choking the life out of me went against every last survival instinct I possessed. Good thing it wasn’t the first time I’d chosen to ignore those. It made it easier to pry my fingers from Galen’s.
He realized what I was up to a moment too late.
“Hey!” His eyes widened with shock as I closed my fist around the crux with no particular destination in mind. Just the thought of jumping long and far.
Air rushed into my battered lungs as Galen released me to make a grab for his crux instead.
His mistake.
I’d never been so close to someone who was jumping before. Never witnessed it quite so up close and personal. I’d heard rumors that there was a moment—a fraction of a second—where the person existed in both places at once. Or neither, depending on the rumor. Whatever the truth behind the science was, I was seeing it happen right before my eyes. Galen shimmered and he seemed to . . . dim, as if fading from one time into the next.
I didn’t think. If I had, I probably would have realized how incredibly, stupidly dangerous what I was doing had to be. But I didn’t. I just acted. Reaching for the cord of his crux, it felt odd, as though my fingers could slip right through it, but they didn’t. Impossible to describe. They wrapped in the leather band, like a tangible fog, and tugged. Hard.
I felt it snap as a bright blue light threatened to blind me. Squeezing my eyes shut, I lay on my back barely daring to breathe. Galen’s weight lifted. When the spots faded to black, I risked a peek. His sour stench still lingered in my nose, but he was gone. And there, dangling from my tingling fingers, was his eternity crux.
The resulting celebration of my utter and unparalleled brilliance was put on hold when I was swept up into a coughing fit that rocked my entire body.
“Aura. Are you okay?” Sayer dropped to his knees beside me, only wincing slightly on impact, and slipped his arm beneath my head. “Are you alright?”
I nodded, though my continuing hacking did little to ease the worry on his face as he helped me to sit. What did ease it was the anger that took it’s place as the coughing finally subsided and Sayer ran his fingertips along what must have been some pretty impressive bruising.
“Where did he go?” He said it as though he planned on hunting Galen down and getting a little payback of his own.
“No clue.” I tried to grin, but it probably came off looking more like a grimace. Talking wasn’t exactly easy after having your windpipe practically crushed. “But I’m rooting for something in the vicinity of T-rex chow.”
Sayer stared at me like I’d lost my mind for a long moment. Long enough that I started to question if maybe he’d lost his. Then he threw back his head and laughed. At that, I was certain of it. We were battered and bruised on the floor of the containment facility inside the Legion, while all of society was turning upside down just outside the doors. Neither of us could claim to have the slightest idea of what the future would hold for us or anyone else. And yet he was laughing. He was completely insane.
And, apparently, so was I. A smile tipped my lips as a chuckle trickled up my sore throat, causing no small amount of pain, but I didn’t care. The smile on Sayer’s damaged face was such a beautiful sight, and the sound of his laughter . . . There really was only one thing left to do.
Before I could overthink it, I took a breath and pressed my lips to his. Not a brush or a peck, I planted myself on him and hoped it expressed everything I still hadn’t quite figured out how to say. I felt his surprise in the way that he stiffened for half a second before his arms came around me, pulling me close as
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