Chapter Thirty-Three #2
“Go away,” I snapped. “I’ve got this under control.”
“Are you okay?” Finn quaked, skittish in a way I’d never seen before.
“Yes.” I caressed his face because Finn was fine here; he’d remain fine here. Better than that. He’d recover, heal, and find joy again. Milo would see that. “It’s a misunderstanding. ”
“About?”
“Devils, demons, chimeras, it’s caused so much turmoil.” I smiled achingly but forced it to soothe Finn. “We see a different resolution is all.”
Finn’s lip curled. Humor and confusion flowed equally in his thoughts.
“Resolution. I might’ve considered an English position but went with History.” I laughed, drowning the voice outside away. “Not that I’m any good at it.”
Finn rubbed my shoulders, calming my anxiety and shaking away the outside world. “I bet you’re amazing at explaining the wonders of the past.”
“You can see it,” I said. “The semester’s almost over, but next year will be great.”
“Dorian, I think I know what you’re worried about, what Milo’s worried about, and I—”
“Need time,” I interjected, refusing to surrender this second chance. No, this third chance after sacrificing a piece of Finn tucked within me to work on myself. He deserved happiness. A chance to live. It wouldn’t be the life he’d planned, but we’d be together.
The double doors at the other end of the ballroom shook.
Milo continued trying to force his way inside my head.
I cracked my knuckles one by one, silencing his attempt.
Milo was a powerful psychic, likely the most powerful psychic I’d ever met, yet telepathy and clairvoyance had very different strengths.
No way would he get in here unless I willed it, allowed it.
Even then, his foothold in my mind would be nothing.
As the telepath, I’d have the strength to control everything in here.
“Milo.” Finn left my side, approaching the double doors.
“Stop,” I said.
Finn opened the double doors, sending a cacophony of noises from the physical world barreling inside. It was too much for me to shield him from. Finn covered his ears, knees ready to buckle any second.
Milo swooped in, steadying Finn and syncing with each of us, helping quell everyone and everything else.
“Finn. I’ve missed you so much.” Milo held Finn’s shoulders, smiling and teary-eyed. He’d come with different intentions, yet seeing Finn had opened a world of possibility. Perhaps now he’d understand why I did this. “I wish things were different.”
“Me too.” Finn had a somber smile.
“Dorian, you have to release Finn.”
“W-what? No.” I stormed toward Milo, ready to push him out of my mind until he took time to properly examine the chance we’d been given.
“Dorian.” Milo released his grip on Finn, approaching me like he’d somehow prevent me from hurling him from my mind the second I reached him.
“The devil is almost gone. I’ve exorcised every part possessing the child; I’ve banished every wisp attached to a witches’ branch, but there’s one more left. ”
“It’s Finn. He’s fine. He’ll be fine. Everything will be fine.”
“When a chimera takes a branch magic, they attach it to every fiber of its being,” Milo explained. “If you keep Finn here, store him in your mind, the chimera will return.”
“He’s right,” Finn agreed. “The second I stopped breathing, I felt the chimera’s magic intertwine with mine. If even a fragment remains, he’ll resurface. Not today, but someday.”
I trembled.
“He’ll possess you.” Milo grabbed my hand, delicate like too much and I’d shatter, but his words had already broken me. “He’ll resurrect his fallen demons, gather more, and destroy the world.”
Fuck the world. I wanted Finn back. I had him right here, in reach. “We can cleanse his soul, his magic. We can find a way to unravel— ”
“No, you can’t.” Finn grabbed my other hand, gentle and guiding. “I’ve seen entire histories on demons thanks to my branch, and I’ve had the displeasure of living inside that monster. He’ll find a way back if even a tiny piece of him exists. Banish me.”
“You can’t make me do this.” I pulled my hand free from Milo, preparing to expel him from my mind.
“I can’t,” he said, smile lost and resisting a frown. “You have to decide, Dorian. The second you arrived at the trap we’d laid for the devil, this choice became yours to make.”
“You can’t make me stay,” Finn said. “Or I would hope you wouldn’t. After all, locking me away inside your mind is exactly what the chimera did.”
“No.” I released Finn’s hand. “You would be happy here. Safe.”
“I’ll be happy when you let me go.” Finn hugged me tightly, like he never wanted to let go. “I’d like to rejoin the rest of my soul. Hopefully, I’ve found peace somewhere else.”
“You don’t even know if there’s another piece of you out there.” I squeezed him back. “When you’re gone, this time, it will be for good. There could be nothing after this.”
“After everything, I’d be okay with that,” Finn said. “But I have faith there’s something more after all this. I believe one day, very far from now, I will see you and Milo again, and you’ll have a lifetime of happy memories to share with me.”
This wasn’t an embrace to hold onto forever.
It was one to say a final goodbye. Bit by bit, my mind’s inner core disappeared.
The walls faded, the staircase fell into nothingness, the floor below vanished, and the chandeliers dimmed to darkness until all that remained was Finn and me, holding onto each other.
Returning to the outside world, a tiny glowing wisp containing Finn’s branch quickly exploded.
“ I love you both so much. I’m glad you’re the two who live on, carrying our dream, our future, and… ” Finn’s final thoughts ceased, and he was truly gone .
Milo held me close, my chest pressed against his, and his arms squeezed me, keeping me upright because all I wanted was to collapse and break down. Instead, I buried my face in his tattered blazer, sobbing.
He quelled the thoughts of the outside world, and then the reason he wished for me to stay behind escaped his surface thoughts.
He knew this possibility when confronting and banishing the devil.
He feared me facing this decision more than the chance of channeling a hundred witches killing him.
I had Finn, it was within my power to keep him here with us, yet I made the decision to release him—letting Finn die again.