Trey
I’m still holding her.
She’s shaking so hard I can feel it through my chest. Her face is buried in my neck and she’s crying and laughing at the same time and I don’t think she’s even aware she’s doing it.
“They’re alive,” she keeps saying. “They’re alive, they’re alive—”
“Yeah.” My voice cracks. “We’re all here.”
She pulls back just enough to look at me. Her eyes are red and swollen and she’s searching my face like she’s still not sure I’m real.
“I need—” She looks toward the house. “I need to see them. I need—”
I set her down.
Her legs fold immediately.
I catch her before she hits the ground. “Okay. Not walking.”
“I’m fine.” She’s not fine. “I just need to—”
“You can’t walk.”
“I can—”
“Nova.” I shift my grip. Get one arm under her knees. “I’m carrying you.”
“Trey—”
I lift her before she can finish. She makes a sound—half protest, half something else—and then her arms go around my neck and she’s holding on.
She’s so light it makes my chest hurt.
I head for the house. Up the steps. Through the door.
She’s not looking around. Her face is pressed against my shoulder and I can feel her breathing—fast and uneven.
The stairs are narrow. I take them slow. She doesn’t say anything. Just holds on.
At the top I turn left. Down the hall. Last door.
The room is dim. Early morning light through the window. The bed takes up most of the space—massive, solid, built for all of us.
They’re all there.
Locke on one side. Kyron next to him. Vaelor sprawled out. Rane half on top of Beckett. All of them still asleep.
I walk to the bed. Lower myself down carefully. The mattress dips.
I put her in the middle.
Right in the center.
She doesn’t let go of me at first. Her hands are fisted in my shirt and she’s still shaking.
“They’re here,” I say quietly. “Right here.”
She turns her head.
I watch her see them. One by one. Her breath catches.
And then—
The sound that comes out of her is raw and broken and it cuts through everything.
Locke jerks awake first. His eyes snap open and he’s already moving—sitting up, scanning—and then he sees her.
He goes completely still.
“Nova?”
She sobs harder.
Kyron’s awake now. Rolling toward us. His eyes land on her and his whole face changes.
Vaelor sits up so fast he nearly falls off the bed. “What—”
He stops.
Rane’s blinking awake. Confused. “What’s—”
Then he sees her too.
Beckett’s the last. He opens his eyes and looks at her and doesn’t move.
Nobody moves.
Nobody says anything.
Nova is crying so hard she can’t breathe. One arm wrapped around herself as her shoulders shake. She’s making sounds that shouldn’t come out of a person.
“I don’t understand.” She can’t get the words out. “I saw—I heard—”
Locke moves first.
He’s across the bed in half a second. His hands on her face, tilting her head up, looking at her like she might disappear.
“Sweetheart.” His voice breaks. “It’s okay. We’re here.”
“Silas said—” She’s looking at him but I don’t think she’s seeing him. “He said if I went with him—”
“We know.” Kyron’s beside her now too. His hand on her shoulder. Gentle. “We came for you. We got you out.”
She shakes her head. “But I heard—”
Vaelor makes a sound. Low and wrecked. Then he’s moving. Pulling her against his chest. Just holding her.
She collapses into him. Completely.
Rane’s on her other side. His hand in her hair. Not saying anything. Just there.
Beckett’s at the foot of the bed now. Watching. His hands are shaking.
I stay where I am. Right beside her. My hand on her back.
She’s still crying. Harder now. Her face pressed against Vaelor’s chest and her whole body shaking with it.
Nobody tries to stop her.
Nobody tells her it’s okay.