Chapter 8
EVER
Night has stolen the scene by the time we reach the sparse trees on the edge of the forest and leave them behind. The familiar hum of cars returns. Buildings enter our view, paved roads and street lamps. Kelter leads us down an alley. Wads of gum decorate the cement walls on either side.
We pass a metal trash can, dented and overflowing. Kaleida rushes toward the tied-up plastic bag tossed to the side of it. “What is this pretty black material? I’ve never seen a plant that could make this.”
“Don’t touch it!” I warn as her finger points dangerously close to the bag. “It’s plastic and full of garbage.”
“Garbage?”
“Things people don’t want anymore. Waste. They don’t have the magic to turn it into something else here,” Kelter explains, capturing Kaleida’s finger and guiding it away. I see it now: he’s a man of two realms, not at home in either.
“Oh.” She plucks her finger from his grasp and goes for the gum next.
“Don’t touch that either!” I cry.
Kaleida shoves her defeated hands in her pockets, her gray pants blending into the darkness of the alley.
We exit, stepping onto the sidewalk of a shadowy street lined with storefronts, most closed and unlit.
The moons cast a blue glow on the paved stretch, the only brightness except for the neon light above the nightclub a few shops down.
Music beats through the night, forcing rhythm into the line of people waiting to get in.
It smells like smoke and rubber and street food.
I miss the forest already, the lack of people. The quiet.
A massive chunk of metal flings around the corner with a loud roar.
Sypher shrieks.
Milo jumps back, smacking into Eli’s chest. “What is that?!”
Kelter laughs. “A car.”
“They shouldn’t let those things loose,” Sypher grumbles, still recovering from the scare. He steps off the curb to watch the beat-up car zoom all the way down the street, rubber screeching on pavement as it rounds the corner out of sight. “Wendell would not have survived this place.”
Milo grabs Sypher by the back of his shirt collar and pulls him up onto the curb. “You may not either.”
Eli observes quietly, rolling his lucky stone between his fingers.
I step closer to him. “None of this surprises you. How many times have you been here?”
“A few,” he says, then bends to whisper in my ear. “In this life. It was different from how I remembered it in past lives.”
My heart kicks up at his proximity. “Time does that.”
He pulls away with a jerk, as if revealing a bit of himself were a mistake.
We walk the streets of Caldera, Milo jumping with every revving engine and Sypher stunned into silence. He clings to Eli’s side, seeking the same sense of security from him that I do, but only provoking a side-eyed look from that broody face of his.
Kelter and I attempt to explain how traffic lights work and why cars need drivers and construction sites have caution tape.
Kaleida squeals over every new discovery, particularly enamored with the street art on the concrete walls.
It’s the scent of the greasy, sugary street food that gets to me, though. I thought I’d never smell it again.
“What kind of bar is this?” Milo swipes a narrow sandwich from a street vendor’s cart and folds back the paper wrapping.
“Those aren’t free!” I yell, but his teeth sink into the stolen food. I cringe, waiting for the old vendor to holler and chase him down the street in his stained apron. But he only stares at us briefly, eyes vacant and distant, then replaces the missing sandwich with another.
Kelter and I look at each other. It must be the new elixir being dumped into their water supply. It’s not only keeping them from getting curious about the world beyond Caldera and dampening their free will anymore—it’s taking any scrap of passion that once existed.
“It’s like he’s asleep,” Kelter says. “He couldn’t care less.”
Milo pries his mouth open wider for another messy bite, wetting his cheeks with mayonnaise and dropping lettuce on the pavement below. “How is this so good?”
“Have you not listened to my stories?” Kaleida asks, wiping Milo’s cheek with her pinky and licking it clean. “I’ve been telling you guys for years that food was actually good before the Separation.”
“That’s not good food,” I say. “He makes his own cheese in his apartment bathroom.”
Sypher pokes a sandwich, leaving a finger-shaped impression behind in the crusted top. “What’s wrong with bars?”
“Nothing until you’ve actually tried something else,” Kelter says. “I know what to get. It’s a little far. We can stop by my place for money first.”
“Since when do you take charge?” I ask him, leaving my suspicion unsaid. Is it the Eli in you?
Kelter shrugs, no bitterness in his response. “I still remember my first meal in Caldera after eight years of bars. I want to make it memorable for them.”
But another thought hits me, and I can’t help but feel as if my mind serves them up in an attempt to stave off happiness. “You want it because you plan on leaving me here and never coming back.”
Kelter runs a hand through his golden hair and down his neck. “I told you there’s nothing here for me.”
“I didn’t even want to come back!”
Kelter’s fists roll into balls, an unsettling glint in his eyes as if he might actually use them to inflict pain, but it’s Eli who lets the growl escape him.
“Enough!”
“Enough what?” I snap. “What are you upset about? Did the border bruise your balls on the way in?”
Eli reaches for my throat, eyes near black, invisible darkness billowing around him. “I’m trying to keep your stubborn ass safe.”
I lift my chin. “Go ahead.” Enjoy the pain of touching me.
He freezes, his hand so close that his coldness hits my neck. I shudder, goosebumps pebbling my skin.
His hand still hovering at my throat, Eli looks toward Kelter. “Take Sypher, Milo and Kaleida with you to get food. We’ll meet you at Never’s place.”
“Why should I let you take off with her? How do I know she won’t end up dead by your hands?”
“Because you don’t have a choice.” Eli pulls his hand away slowly. “And if I decide to kill her, I’m sure I’d have the decency to wait a bit. She was stabbed only hours ago.”
I roll my shoulders back, not sure what to believe. Or if he’s even capable of decency.
“The pain relief is about to wear off, and I suggest we get out of the street before you start screaming,” Eli says.
“You’re—” Kelter argues.
“Go.” Eli doesn’t even raise his voice, but his command reaches my toes.
Kelter forces out a sigh. “Don’t take any detours, Ever. Go straight inside and wait for me. I’ll bring your favorite for dinner, okay?”
Eli scoffs. “Her favorite thing to eat is my—”
I plant my palm on his chest, sending him barrelling back in pain. “We both know that’s a lie.”
Kelter gasps and loses his balance out of nowhere. Then his freckled nose twists with contempt before he takes off, beckoning the others to follow.
“Liar. You were too much of a coward to let me suck you off,” I say as soon as they round the corner out of sight.
A small sound leaves his throat, a hum of delight.
“Did I fuck you so hard you forgot? I was very clear I wanted to come in your pussy before I fuck your face, and watching you choke on my cock would have been too much to resist.” He leans in close, too close.
“But that doesn’t mean it’s not going to be your favorite, little Never. ”
I fight for air, trapped in the heated storm he awakened inside me. “We’re never going to find out. And also, I don’t need to rest.”
“I know. I wanted to get rid of them.” He’s calm again, gold puddling in his eyes.
“So the pain won’t come back?”
“It will. Eventually.” Eli looks up and down the street. “Which way?”
Disoriented by his unpredictability, I scan the area and point in the direction of my room over the coffee shop, a piece of my past I thought was gone forever. A piece of me I never thought he’d see.
A few blocks later, I climb the stairs to my room, each step heavy with memories. I flip around halfway up. Eli stands at the foot of the stairs, eyes glued on the coffee shop on the first floor.
“What?” I ask.
“I know this smell.”
I almost smile. “It’s been closed for hours. How can you smell the coffee over all the street food?”
“I told you my senses are strong.”
Right. “It’s a good thing I can’t smell it, or I’d be drooling on the glass. Come on. We can get some in the morning when they open. I’ve already waited months.”
His eyes narrow, and with a final glance at me, he rams his fist through the glass window.