Chapter 26 #2
“Not just hers.” Her hands tighten on mine.
“All of them. Every promise he’s ever taken.
We need all of it, gone, completely, with no exceptions.
He has to let go of everything he’s holding and not the two pieces that are convenient to let go of.
If he does that, if he lets go of the promises and proves that he knows the right Tessa and chooses her, then she will let go of Lennon and do the soul contract with him, right then and there. ”
“Why would he agree to that?”
“Because he believes he’ll win. He’s arrogant and thinks it’s a low price for proving it, because where he wants to be, the promises don’t matter to him anymore.”
“Did you hear what I told you about the promise he took from Nevan?” I ask, still feeling nauseous when I think about how my big brother is somehow entangled in this mess, and we had no idea.
Her blue eyes, so similar to mine, turn sad. “That’s why we need him to release all of his promises. That is important, Jasper.”
“Okay, but…” My brain is already three steps ahead, tripping over its own enthusiasm, as it always does. “What happens next? He releases his promises and chooses the wrong Tessa. How will this help her to get free of him?”
“Because a soul contract isn’t a guess. You can’t trick a soul into binding itself to the wrong soul.
The contract only holds if the souls actually recognize each other.
If he picks her, and then the wrong soul steps up to seal it, it won’t take.
It can’t. It’ll buy time. Maybe enough time for her to leave elsewhere and wake up, without the promise holding her in place. ”
“What if he’s right? What if he actually picks correctly?”
“Then the universe tells you in its own way that it was supposed to happen. That Tessa is the right person for him, and they are supposed to be together. But that will never happen.”
“Why are you so sure of that?”
“Because he is choosing an idea over a person.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means he isn’t in love with her. Not really.”
“Okay, fine, let’s say this works. Let’s say he releases all the promises, then chooses the wrong Tessa, which gives the right one time to wake up.
The soul contract doesn’t hold because it’s the wrong soul attempting to do it, and they all wake up, and he stays back alone.
Then what? He waits? Grabs the real Tessa once more, the second she falls asleep again?
Or decides to make the rest of us pay forever in our nightmares? He will make our lives hell.”
“You have to believe, my little world walker.” Her hand finds the side of my face again. “She’s still tethered to Lennon. He cannot take her elsewhere, or he would have done it a long time ago. Not without Tessa choosing to let go of Lennon. As long as she doesn’t decide that…”
“But what if he picks the right one and she does decide that?”
“Then it’s what she wants,” she finally says. “And none of us get to argue someone out of their own soul.”
“That’s…”
It’s a lot. It’s an unreasonable amount, actually, for one tarot pull and one mother I haven’t had a real conversation with in over a decade.
I exhale hard. “That’s a lot.”
“It’s the only way, besides Lennon stepping into elsewhere with Tessa and staying. Let Tessa sleep in peace instead of limbo, and her body will settle.”
“That’s not really a better option, Mom.”
“It is, if that is what you want. I’d do that in a heartbeat.
Stay there. Be sane there.” She strokes the hair back from my forehead.
“Dreaming has always been my sanctuary. Everyone keeps treating this like something you have to drag Tessa out of. It isn’t.
In elsewhere…” She tips her head toward something past the gold light I can’t see.
“I can’t even describe it to you. It’s so much more than anything you could dream up on purpose. ”
“Better than waking life?” I ask quietly, already knowing I won't like the answer.
“Better than my waking life will ever be again. And better than my dreams. In elsewhere, you’re never really alone. Not the way people are here. No sickness. No forgetting. No losing pieces of yourself every day.”
Even though I expected it, it still stings.
“Then why don’t you go?”
“Because I can’t.”
The paper planes overhead keep circling, then one of them explodes into scraps of paper and reforms again.
“Why?”
“Because I’m stuck here.”
“Oh.”
“Hey.” She tilts my chin up with one finger.
“Even if I can’t tell you when you’re awake, I tell you every night, my little world walker.
You came out of me knowing things other people spend their whole lives trying to learn.
You’ve always walked between places as if you belonged to all of them at once.
I have made so many mistakes with you and your brother, more than you’ll ever know, more than I’ll ever get the chance to apologize for, but it never once changed how much I loved you. ”
The light around us flickers.
“What’s happening?” My pulse picks up. “Mom, what’s…”
“You’re waking up.” She’s already smiling through it and letting go before I’m ready for her to. “Go. Tell them how to save her.” Her hand presses flat against my chest, right over the crystals I’m wearing because of her. “Be the light in the dark, Jasper. You were always going to be.”
The gold light folds in on itself like a page closing—
And then I’m staring at my bedroom ceiling, heart thumping like I’ve been sprinting.
Before I’ve even fully come into my body, I reach for my phone.