Chapter 29
Kallie
––––––––
Kallie sat on the couch, knees drawn to her chest. The early-morning light filtered through the curtains. She hadn't slept. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the glitch pulling at her, sensed the storm shaking the feedstore, and heard Copper's voice telling them the rift was reacting to them.
"Shit." She shook the phone as if that would magically fix it. When that didn't work, she pressed it to her forehead and muttered a prayer. When that failed, she muttered threats under her breath, promising to throw it across the room.
Nothing.
Everstill had cut her off completely.
She'd gone from ecstatic about being with Finn to hating how trapped she'd become in a place that scared her to death.
She hated how helpless she was.
Most of all, she hated that she'd dragged Finn into this. If she hadn't wandered away from her foster home as a little girl, Finn would be content to live here without her.
It killed her to know that her love was causing them both pain.
The floor creaked softly, and she looked up to see Finn standing in the room's archway. His eyes were still heavy with sleep, and his hair and beard were mussed. He took one look at her face and crossed the room in three long strides.
"What's wrong?" he asked, his voice low and rough.
She let out a shaky breath. "Everything."
He sat beside her and gently pried the phone from her grasp. "It still won't work?" n
"No," she snapped, then winced. "Sorry. I'm just mad at myself. At this place. At the stupid veil." Her voice cracked. "It's hard to accept that my ten-year-old self started something that ruined your life. I feel like I forced you to love me."
Finn jerked back and frowned. "Kallie—"
"If I had stayed at the foster home instead of wandering off, mad at the world, I never would've found the road to Everstill," she said, her words tumbling out in a rush.
"You wouldn't be suffering. You wouldn't be fighting storms or glitches or whatever the hell that thing was last night.
You'd still be numb to all of this. Now I've hurt you, and you'll experience how painful life can—"
"Stop." Finn grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look at him.
"But it's true," she whispered, tears burning her eyes. "I came back and woke everything up inside you. I made the rift angry. I made Everstill angry. And now you're stuck in a world where you'll suffer because of me."
He shook his head fiercely. "I'm not stuck. I'm awake."
She swallowed hard. "And, you're miserable."
He flinched—not because she was wrong, but because she was right. She saw it in his eyes, the pain of memory, the ache for more than Everstill could give him.
She grabbed his hands, squeezing them tight.
"Come back with me. To my world. To my apartment.
We can figure it out. Together." Her breath trembled.
"You don't belong here anymore. Not after everything you've experienced.
Not after everything you feel. We could be together.
No one where I come from will care if we're together.
Nothing will pull us apart or punish us for loving each other. "
Finn's gaze searched hers. "Kallie..."
"Please." She leaned closer, her forehead brushing his. "Don't stay here and fade away. Don't let this place take you again. I love you. I can take care of you. We can be happy."
He closed his eyes, his breath shaking against her cheek.
And for the first time since she'd arrived in Everstill, Kallie felt the terrifying possibility that he might say no.
"Oh, my God, Finn. Please. You must listen to me. I promise, it'll be okay once we get back to where I live," she pleaded.
"I don't know." He rubbed the back of his neck.
He stood from the couch, running a hand through his hair as if trying to drag the right answer from his skull. Watching him pace, conflicted and hurting, pained her. She'd expected fear. Maybe some hesitation. But not knowing what he needed to do?
"Finn." She approached him. "You could leave with me.
You could have a life with real growth. A home.
A future. We'll be safe from storms trying to tear us apart.
We can stay away from the veil. People won't stare at us like we're breaking a rule the way they do in Everstill.
You can do more than wander the town every day. "
He stopped pacing, but he didn't look at her.
"You can drive a car." She stepped closer.
"You like riding the motorcycle. You can buy one where I live.
There are grocery stores and restaurants everywhere.
There are so many things you haven't done.
" She grabbed his forearm, forcing him to look at her.
"If I stay here, the town wins. The rift wins.
I can't let that happen. I won't." Her voice deepened, almost going hoarse.
"You have to see the truth. You don't belong here anymore. "
He finally met her eyes, and the pain in them nearly broke her.
"Finn... you love me," she whispered. "And I love you. Isn't that enough?"
"I don't know what the fuck I'm supposed to do." He closed his eyes as if the words hurt him.
Kallie cupped his face in both hands, her thumbs brushing the rough stubble along his jaw. "Come home with me," she begged. "Please. Don't stay here and fade away. Don't let this place take you away from me."
His breath shuddered against her palms.
"I don't know," he whispered again.
The world tilted under her feet. The air punched out of her lungs as the weight of everything they'd survived pressed down on her. How could he not know? How could he hesitate when the alternative was losing each other and living a miserable life?
"Finn," she said, her voice breaking, "I can offer you so much more than this. A life where no one is trying to split us apart. A life where you're not trapped in a loop. A life where you get to choose what you want to do every day."
He opened his eyes, and the fear in them made her stomach twist.
"Why wouldn't you want that?" she whispered.
He didn't answer.
The silence between them felt heavier than any storm.
She grabbed his shirt, pulling him closer, desperate to make him understand. "You deserve more than a life where you're constantly fighting to feel anything at all."
He grabbed her wrists to stop her.
"Finn." She trembled. "You have to see the truth."
If he chose Everstill over her, she wasn't sure she'd survive without him.
She'd protected her heart her entire life, refusing to let her mom break her or the foster homes strip her of confidence.
She'd done that, knowing Finn was her reward.
All she had to do was grow up, and he would belong to her.
Now she wanted to give him the same.
He believed he was bad. His criminal past had forced him to live a hellish life, stripping him of everything. He could have so much more with her.
"Finn, come back with—"
"No." He captured her mouth, shutting her up with an unapologetically hard kiss.
Shock stunned her. Off balance, she pushed against his chest. He only held her tighter and kissed her deeper.