Chapter 12
Elira
I was lying on my bed, Maddie beside me.
She sat quietly, stroking my hair while I sobbed into the pillows.
We hadn’t spoken in a while—and I was glad for the silence.
I was exhausted. My body felt hollow, my eyes burned. But for the first time in… I don’t even know how long… I felt lighter. Like something had loosened inside me. Like a knot had finally given way.
I don’t know how much time passed. But it was getting dark outside.
The sun was sinking below the horizon, streaking the sky with violet and gold.
I saw it.
Really saw it.
And for the first time in what felt like forever, I noticed.
It was beautiful.
It was a strange feeling.
I heard a gentle knock at the door.
I turned toward it, but Maddie reached out and stilled me.
“I’ll get it.”
She climbed off the bed and stepped into the hall. I heard the low murmur of voices—familiar, comforting.
A moment later, Maddie reappeared.
“Okay, I’ll tell her,” she said over her shoulder, then turned to me. “Elle?”
I looked up at her. “Yeah?”
“Do you feel up for a walk?”
I pulled myself upright. My tears were long since cried out. My body ached, but… the idea didn’t feel impossible.
“I guess so,” I said, quietly.
“Maybe wear a coat,” she added, smiling gently.
I looked at her, then nodded.
She led me down the hall and out the doors. Leo met us at the entrance. He held out an arm for me.
The night air was cooler now, crisper. I shivered into my coat, but I took the offered arm without protest. “What is this?” I asked.
“Just something we thought might be nice,” he said, then glanced at me.
“Do you trust me?”
I looked up at him—his face so open, so painfully honest it wasn’t even a real question.
“I do,” I said simply.
His smile bloomed—soft and full—but his eyes... his eyes looked like I’d just handed him something sacred.
And maybe I had.
Lanterns had been set up along the path—warm, golden orbs that glowed softly in the dark.
We followed their light down the marble steps, into the hush of night. Each footstep felt like memory—retracing the way we’d first arrived. Down through the trees. Toward the sea.
The air was still. Serene.
When we reached the beach, the stars were just beginning to break through the sky.
A small group waited at the shoreline.
Slade and Phoenix stood proud, dressed simply in fresh shirts and trousers.
They didn’t look formal. Just…cleaner.
Or maybe I was just truly seeing them for the first time.
And they weren’t alone.
Standing back, as if unsure whether she was welcome, was Syrena—with Jasper at her arm.
I paused, uncertain. My eyes flicked between them, then to the quiet gathering by the shore.
“What’s going on?” I asked finally.
Phoenix stepped forward.
He gently took me from Leo and Maddie’s side and guided me toward the beach.
Down on the sand sat a small wooden raft.
At its centre: a cluster of soft yellow roses. A votive candle flickered just in front.
A single card rested against the flowers.
Finn.
My hand rose instinctively to my throat—reaching for something that was no longer there.
Phoenix gently took my hand and unfurled my fingers, then placed something warm and familiar into my palm.
The pendant.
Mended.
My breath caught.
“We thought…” he said softly, “maybe you could say goodbye to Finn the old way.”
He leaned in and pressed a kiss to my forehead—quick, tender—then stepped back.
Leaving the choice to me.
I dropped to my knees before the small boat.
Reaching out, I gently brushed my fingers over his name.
“Finn,” I whispered.
I clutched the pendant in my fist, holding it tightly, grounding myself with its weight.
Then I took a deep breath.
“Finn was my best friend in the world.”
My voice carried across the quiet, open night.
“He was my life. He was my only light in a long, lonely darkness.”
The tears came freely, and I let them.
“He made me eat first. Every time.” I laughed softly through the ache in my chest.
“Even when we were starving. Even when there was nothing… he always made sure I got enough.”
“We told stories—kingdoms with feasts, soft beds, warm hands. That’s all we ever wanted. To be safe. To be free. To be together.”
I took a deep breath.
“He loved it when I sang to him, no matter if my voice cracked or if I was off key. He would say, ‘Little mouse, please, please sing to me.’ I never could say no. So… I’ll try now.”
I placed the necklace on the raft, letting it slip from my fingers like breath.
Then I pushed the boat out, and stood.
“He told me once, with stars in sight,
That dreams were made for wings and flight.
“The sea,” he said, “will call to me—
Where stars fall low upon the sea.”
I laughed and said, “They’re far too high,
They’re fixed and cold upon the sky.”
But he just grinned and shook his head,
“I’ll chase them still,” is all he said.
So sleep, my boy, where the starlight flows,
Where no one stays and no one knows.
The tide rolls in, the tide rolls free—
Come home to me, come home to me.
He walked the shore when winds were wide,
A lantern swinging at his side.
No ship, no oars, no sail, no crew—
Just sea and stars, and sky so blue.
I watched him fade beyond the sand,
A shadow slipping from my hand.
The waves came back. His voice did not.
The sea kept all the boy it caught.
So sleep, my boy, where the starlight flows,
Where no one stays and no one knows.
The tide rolls in, the tide rolls free—
Come home to me, come home to me.
They say he drowned. They always do.
That dreamers die when skies turn blue.
But I believe he found that place—
Where stars fall down to brush your face.
He’s building fires where tides don’t turn,
Where constellations blaze and burn.
And if you find that starlit shore,
Tell him I wait—I’ll wait once more.
So sleep, my boy, where the starlight flows,
Where no one stays and no one knows.
I lit the flame. I watched the sea.
Come home to me… come home to me.
Phoenix stepped up beside me and took my hand.
“Are you ready, Elle?” he asked.
I looked up at him—his quicksilver eyes fixed on mine—and I squeezed his hand.
“I am,” I said finally.
He smiled and squeezed back, then flicked his fingers through the air.
A spark leapt from his wrist, caught the wind—and set the floating raft alight.
Slade moved in behind me. I felt his warmth at my back, silent and solid. I leaned into him.
Leo stepped to my other side and took my free hand, his grip gentle, grounding, Maddie beside him.
We stood together, watching the fire drift out to sea. The waves were quiet. The sky full of stars.
For the first time, I didn’t feel like I was drowning.
But somewhere inside me— something remained cool. Incomplete.
There was a space just ahead of me, wide and quiet. A place where someone should have stood.
And he wasn’t there.