EPILOGUE
I’m coughing up a storm. “How do you smoke this?”
“You get used to it!” Beam says, jumping up and down next to me.
I’ve given into peer pressure this eclipse, but Geneva’s stash is far stronger than what I’d been prepared for. The rush goes right to my head, and it’s only because of Keshav’s readily waiting arm that I remain upright.
“This cannot be good for you,” I groan.
“It’s once a year; loosen up!” Geneva says, giving me a solid pat on the back. “And after the initial horror wears off, you’ll see what we do.”
“The colors are so much nicer,” Ender hums, eyes closed, swaying to the beat of the music.
“You’re not even looking at any colors,” I say, hunched over.
Ender laughs. “I don’t need to. I can hear them. Taste them. Do you feel the music, Ryka?”
I’m about to tell him that no, I don’t feel anything except an ashen pit in my throat when the song changes to a jazz number that creeps up my body like ivy.
“Oh, wow,” I say, stumbling forward a step.
Beam rises to her tippy toes. “Do you see now?”
And I do. My god, I do. The candle lights flicker to the beat of the drum, and my friends, their colorful attire and blushing faces, are the loveliest things I’ve seen. It’s been a year of continued adventures through time, so many more stories that I’ve gotten to live with them by my side.
Everything didn’t return to normal right away, of course.
The ghosts were wary, as though expecting me to change my mind on them again.
Beam didn’t speak to me for weeks, but she forgave me eventually, after lots of groveling and a very eventful trip to the Jurassic era.
I may or may not have let her briefly ride a triceratops as an apology.
Beam takes my hand. “Do you know what you want to tamper with this year?”
“Everest is choosing for me,” I tell her. “He never gets to pick, since he’s supposed to be an impartial party, so we decided that I’d let loose while he works on our pitch.”
“Doesn’t feel impartial to me,” Geneva grumbles.
“But Cyrus is picking this year!” Keshav says. “Everest recused himself. Some of his other siblings are here too. I think he was with the tattooed one, last I saw him.”
“Yes, Sienna. And you know how I feel about her and the rest of the good-for-nothing siblings,” Geneva says. “I don’t trust their decision making.”
“Maybe I’ll win, for a change,” Ender says.
Beam frowns. “You will not.”
The gods are here more often of late. Cyrus drops by, sometimes accompanied by a sibling, sometimes with other immortal beings like his Aunt Chaos’s very entertaining agents, and no one’s made me fulfil any sort of unpleasant promise yet.
My deal with them changed the dynamics of this place in a way I hadn’t predicted.
Given my vow to remain here, well, forever, there’s a sense of permanency that’s been established and several freedoms that have been granted alongside it.
I’ve been able to leave with Everest for short visits to other dimensions, though we’re always happy to return home.
I’ve gotten very good at playing poker with the demons, and while he pretends to be chagrined, he’s quick to tell me that my card skills really do it for him.
My world may have grown, but my anchors haven’t changed.
The crowd is a blur of laughter dashed with color.
We’re so bright against the snow, under the glimmering curtain of lights that twist above.
This is real happiness, standing here in the quiet, taking in the present.
Knowing that I’m here because I’m meant to be, and that all of this is more than enough.
“Looking for me?”
I squeal as Everest lifts me up from behind and spins me around. I’m laughing, out of breath when he lowers me, and I sink into his cool forest scent, my wrists knotted around his neck.
“You’ve been gone forever!” I say without a hint of malice. It’s hard to berate him when he’s smiling at me like this, and whatever’s in Geneva’s stash makes him sparkle brighter than sun-kissed snow. “I hope you’re going to make us proud with your choice.”
“I think you’ll be very happy,” he promises, before leaning in to kiss me.
Geneva gags.
“You all go ahead,” Everest says, waving them off. “We’ll meet you at the carousel for the vote.”
“What are we doing in the meantime?” I ask him as the others wander off in their drug-infused haze.
Everest pulls me closer as the music drops to a slow beat. “I thought we’d have time for a dance.”