Chapter 23 #4
“It’s in a box behind the first four books on Blue Sky Valley’s earliest history, those leather-bound monsters held together
by goodwill and deteriorating threads.”
“Thanks,” she said as she turned and leaped off the back stoop.
“Stella!” Arnie called.
She stopped and looked up at him and Jack, who remained on the steps.
“What’s going on?” Arnie asked.
Stella knew she looked as reckless as the idea that had formed in her mind. “I have an idea I’d like to test.”
Arnie crossed his arms over his chest. “Why do I feel queasy? What are you up to?”
She glanced over her shoulder at the setting sun, and a tidal wave of panic hit her, pushing her back toward Arnie and Jack.
“Hear me out,” she said. She looked at Jack. “You don’t want to go away with me—”
Jack’s posture stiffened. “It’s not that I don’t want to—”
“So I have another idea,” she continued. “I’m going to drink a little bit of the magical liquid, and then I’m going to . . .
Well, I don’t know because I haven’t figured it out yet, but I think I’m going to hold Jack’s hand, and when he starts to
disappear into his light and warmth thing, I’m going to see if I can go with him.”
“What?” Arnie and Jack exclaimed at the same time.
“Absolutely not,” Arnie argued. “You have no idea what that would do to you, what drinking the liquid might do. What if it kills you?”
“What if it doesn’t?” Stella said.
Jack shook his head. “Stella, I’m not willing to take that chance. I can’t let you do that.”
Stella frowned. “What if it’s a chance I’m willing to take?” She stepped closer to them. “I don’t want my life to be like it used to be. I want something different.
I want to take a new path.”
Jack’s features set with determination. “So much has changed for you in the last few days. You’re finding yourself and your
purpose, Stella.”
“You’re right. I can see a way forward,” she agreed. “My words and my writing—all of that I can bring with me.”
“You don’t know that,” Arnie said.
“What about the library?” Jack asked. “You love it here. You said you feel like this is where you’re supposed to be. Don’t throw all that aside for a whim.”
“A whim?” Stella asked. “Is that what we are? Some silly little fling?”
Jack’s expression changed to indignation. “Absolutely not,” he said. “I love you, Stella Parker, which is why I don’t want
you to do this.”
His words pumped passion through her heart. “You love me?”
“How could I not?” he asked, his voice quiet and grave.
“What if this can be our story?” she asked him. “What if we could, at some point, get married and have a family and all those things you’ve wanted?”
Jack stepped off the porch and walked to her. He touched her arm. “I don’t know if I can have those things in my story. You
know how it ends. But what do you want, Stella?”
“I want all those things too,” she said honestly. “With you.”
Jack slid his hand down her arm. “You have no idea what might happen to you.”
“I’ve never met anyone like you before, and I won’t ever meet anyone like you again.”
“Stella,” Jack said, his voice gentle, “remember what I told you about how returning to my book feels? It’s not a life lived
the way you live here.”
“I don’t care!” But Jack’s caution made sense. How could she stop the war, stop him from leaving for active duty, if his world
was everything all at once? What did that even mean? How would she find her own way in a world unlike anything she’d ever
experienced?
But what if she could find a way to live her life and also have Jack as part of it? “I want to try,” she said, determined.
“You’ll be leaving your home,” Jack said. “We have no idea what might happen over there, wherever there is to you. What if it’s nothing? What if it’s a void? What if we can’t find each other?”
She reached for his hand. “What if we can?”
Arnie shook his head. “No. I don’t like this at all. Stella, you’re asking me—no, both of us—to let you try something that might harm you, that might take you away from us. Permanently. You can’t expect us to
be okay with this.”
“What about Ariel and Percy?” Jack added. “Don’t you think they want you to stay?”
Ariel would want Stella to follow her heart, but that didn’t mean she’d be excited for Stella to jump into a book and disappear
forever. Percy, even though he was so focused on what he thought was best for her life, would be upset too. There was a slim-to-none
chance that he would support her taking this risk.
“You have a life here, and I don’t want to take that from you,” Jack continued.
“There are so many opportunities still waiting for you.” He smoothed his hand down her hair.
“I can’t even imagine what’s waiting around the corner for you here, the amazing things you’ll do and the people who will be drawn to you.
Think about all the people you can help find the perfect story.
What about the stories you’ll write? We’ll find them on the library shelves, and they’ll change people’s lives. ”
Stella pressed her hands against her heart. Electricity zinged through her still, causing her fingers and toes to tingle.
“I have a feeling about this, an overpowering sense that everything will be okay. I promise.”
Arnie removed his glasses and cleaned the lenses. “You’ll be the death of me. I’ve been trying to keep you safe since you
were a little girl, and this goes against my good judgment, but let me get changed and put my shoes on. You’re not going to
do this without me.”
“Hurry,” Stella urged. “I don’t know how much time we have left. Jack, come with me. Arnie, we’ll meet you in the archives.”
She grabbed Jack’s hand, and they hurried across the lawn, sending up bright green words from the grass with every step. Stella
glanced over her shoulder and watched the words soar into the air like hundreds of launched rockets. A few were grander and
more vibrant as they raced skyward.
Rush. Start over. Your choice.