CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE #2
We left the lab, laughing all the way to the stairwell.
I took the stairs two at a time, bursting outside.
Blues, purples, reds and oranges exploded across the sky.
The fireworks. A drone lightshow flew underneath, the blue lights forming a skyline, while a flash of fuchsia glittered like a sun rising.
A new day after the darkness. Our perseverance.
Cas pulled me into his arms and spun us around. ‘You’re amazing. You know that, right?’
‘I do.’
Chest to chest, his heart pounded against mine. His thumb traced my jaw.
‘I thought it was your strength I admired,’ he said. ‘But it’s not that – it’s the way you love. You love your family, Estelle, your mom’s legacy, your community. That’s what makes you glow. I love that about you.’
He held my cheek and I leaned into his touch. He was right. It wasn’t my strength and resilience guiding me tonight, it was everything and everyone I held in my heart.
‘I want to be one of those people you love. I want to show you –’
‘Cas, you did so much tonight. You already showed me who you are.’
‘That was one thing. I have more I need to do – at least for me to feel like I deserve you. We have so much in front of us, new obstacles we’ve proudly created. I want to do us right, take our time. Starting with a second date. But first, Nova Williams, may I kiss you under the stars?’
I pressed my lips to his as my answer. The fireworks continued to roar overhead as we lost and found ourselves in one another.
His tongue flicked over mine, the hunger for our first kiss since Spa Hebe taking us deeper.
The kiss held potential and perfection. It held promises for tomorrow and the journey ahead of us – mine to be his person through it all, and his to be mine.
His hold on me tightened and I wanted him to never let go.
When we finally came up for air, I giggled against his mouth.
‘Every time you do that little laugh against my lips it makes me thirsty for more,’ he said.
‘Well, we need to save some for the second date.’
‘I’m glad you said that, because the date starts now.’ He twirled me again and we fell into a dance. People crowded the streets, music blared up toward us. ‘I think I hear “Polaris Blues”.’
‘You can’t hear anything this high up.’
‘Shh, don’t ruin the moment.’
My cheeks burned with my smile. Everything in my life was perfect. ‘We did it.’
‘We did, didn’t we?’
I grinned, staring up at the sky. One more day and this would all be over. One hundred and fifty years, and now the pain the solar flare had left behind would finally be gone.
I laughed and it felt so good. I didn’t have to worry about the moment being interrupted with a hellflare. I’d never have to worry about that again. And soon, others wouldn’t either.
I did it.
Was it seeing Estelle break down in my kitchen that changed my world? Or the moment I realized how much the Foxes used me at the gala? Or was it the town hall with Brenson Moorehouse? No. This new reality had been mine to claim since the beginning.
‘Do you think we can make a pit stop somewhere?’ I asked. ‘To continue our second date?’
‘I’d follow you anywhere,’ Cas answered.
I patted his cheek. ‘Let’s keep that energy for these next few days.’
We made it back to the penthouse floor, making sure to leave the lab without a trace of our presence. During the elevator ride downstairs, I didn’t hide in the corner, Cas refusing to let me go. I was free. We were free, and together. Twenty-four hours away from this truly being the end.
When we reached the lobby, I looked back at the picture of Lucille B. Anarcha – mid-hellflare, smiling a familiar smile. I could see it now, after seeing it so many times in my own reflection. She held so much in, desperate for a way to provide for her family and community. We could rest now.
‘How was it?’ Jerry got to his feet as we walked past him to the door.
‘It was electric, Jerry. Life-changing,’ I said.
Cas elbowed me, a wide grin on his face.
‘That’s Castor Fox for you,’ Jerry said. ‘Always the charming gentleman.’
Outside, the streets were packed, though ‘Polaris Blues’ wasn’t playing.
People paraded with glow rings around their necks and wrists, some waving neon ribbons through the air.
Protestors weaved through the crowd – one group denouncing Dominion and the Freedom System, the other shouting about the solar flare that never arrived.
We joined the celebration, dancing among them, though we had so much more to shout about.
It felt so good. I watched Cas as he goofed around.
I’d carried the disease his family gave him for their own gain.
Now, we’d take them down together – after we finished dancing.
I pulled him toward a side street and we caught the last glassrail of the night, Centaurus’s robotic and stiff voice meaning potholes and more potholes.
Cas grinned through all of it. We got off at the South Alta Library stop and ran to my mural facing the community park.
I pulled down the tarp and Cas’s eyes widened.
He walked up to it, taking in my artwork lit by the park lights. ‘You finished it.’
There were so many faces. I’d added a few people I’d seen at the town hall and finished my touch-up of Estelle.
Charlie and Rox were there, their nephew too.
Pairs of angel wings fanned out along the sides.
I’d found the name of that woman’s husband who disappeared, and a few others – my mom’s name among them.
I ran my fingers over it. She’d be proud.
This was the love that shaped my view of the world, that molded it.
‘What’s next for you?’ Cas asked. ‘Now that you’re free of that pain.’
‘Besides taking down your family and hoping they don’t find a way to throw me in jail or make me disappear?’ I kept it light, though the possibility was real.
He wrapped his arms around me, my back to his chest so we faced the mural. ‘I’m not going to let that happen. They can’t take this truth away from you. We have evidence, and if they try to stop us tomorrow, I’ll make sure everyone sees it, with or without our clever narration.’
‘I know you will.’ I tried not to tense in his embrace, but I knew he felt the shift.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t anxious.
The high of being cured faded, replaced by everything that could go wrong.
What if no one believed us? What if we were silenced?
They’d done it before with Pain Carriers – erased their voices.
Cas rubbed my arms. ‘Hey, come back to me. Happy thoughts. Don’t let yourself get lost in the negative. What we have on tape and on record is undeniable. You’re undeniable.’
‘Ms Powers’s media training has you spouting some smooth lines, Mr Fox.’
‘Those lines are all me. And you make it easy. I’m only telling the truth as I see it.’
I bit my lip, refusing to swoon, but enjoying the distraction.
‘Let’s try this again. What’s next for you – after my family’s inevitable downfall?’
‘Well, when you put it like that … Hopefully I can get Stephen to put me back on the schedule at Caféology since I’ll need a new source of income that’s less demanding on my body.
And I’m going to declare a minor in art therapy, since you and Leo keep insisting I change my major.
Hopefully that’ll be enough for you two. ’
‘More than enough. You’re allowed to put yourself first. I hope you see that now.’
‘I do. Thank you for the part you played in helping me see it.’
Cas kissed my temple. ‘You deserve it.’
I smiled, because, stars, I did. And so did every girl like me. ‘I want to find a way to volunteer at the opioid treatment centers too. It’s something my mom used to do when she wasn’t working at the food pantry.’
‘I’ll join you.’
‘Thanks. What about you?’
‘Move out. I’ll probably wind up on Pua’s couch again until Jaiden’s ready to get a place. Jaiden and I practically lived in her guest house senior year, so her parents won’t mind. Aside from that, I want to do more for the city. I don’t think I’ll have access from my trust to give –’
‘You won’t need it.’
‘I feel like life might be more meaningful without it.’
‘It will be. What about surfing?’ I looked up at him.
‘I think I might have a sponsor – assuming this scandal doesn’t ruin things.’ He squeezed me. ‘I don’t need anything more than what I already have.’
I smiled to myself. ‘Same. Hopefully we’ll have time for all of it. We’re about to be the faces of a movement.’
‘Of course. Surfing comes after exposing the lies.’
‘It might be a while before our work is done. I’m expecting chaos. Riots. It’s going to be a lot for a boy from Crestview.’
Cas turned me to face him. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’
I snuggled into his embrace. It was everything I needed from him, and more. ‘Good.’