31. The Alignment
The Alignment
Though she watched him carefully, Flora didn’t notice any further strange behavior from Davy, at least nothing more than his usual. He did, however, still seem to be slowly unearthing memories that weren’t his own.
“I think this Azura guy was a real psycho,” he said.
“I had a flash of these experiments, injecting prisoners with this enchanted venom that turned them into these animal-human hybrid monsters—way creepier than us scythe-folk. Then, I had this memory of swallowing a slug whole, because some kid told me I would live forever.”
“Well, that last one was definitely you,” Flora assured him. “Because Lila still has you in her phone as ‘Slug Lord’.”
And then, there was no sign of Siren. As far as Flora could tell, he hadn’t lied about his promise to keep the peace.
After the incident at the Well of Eternity, there had been no new scythe attacks reported in or around Night Sky Forest, and even the Hunters were beginning to return to the village void of stories to tell.
On the night of the third day, the villagers decided to make an event out of the lunar alignment, with little bags of baked seeds and blankets on the ground as they waited for the sun to set.
The twins knitted together a little scarf for Davy with a half moon made of black and yellow yarn, and Thaola and Mayra had joined Flora as she wiggled her toes in the cool water of Crescent Creek for the last time, knowing that as soon as the sun set behind the trees, just touching the water would send her a whole world away.
She huddled herself in Noec’s green jacket as he smiled at her from across the water, temporarily forgetting how Davy rambled in his ear.
The sun began to set and, for ceremony’s sake, Noec took her hand and led her down the path to Lunara’s Spring.
Davy chattered excitedly with Thaola and her girls as they followed behind, with Elia gripping Heron’s hand tightly as the rest of the villagers followed up the stone path.
The night lilies began to hum and glow as the moon crept out from behind the clouds.
At the edge of the spring, Flora stood with her brother and her Noec at her side. She peered off toward the dark woods on the hill.
“Would you like me to come with you two?” Noec asked.
“No,” Flora said, her hand slipping away from his. “I suspect I’ll have some angry family and friends to explain myself to, and I’d rather you not be caught in the crossfire.” She locked her elbow around Davy’s and grinned back.
“See you in the morning, Flora!” Elia said, waving as a sea of familiar voices echoed her.
“See you soon, everyone!”
The half moon above the Shrouded Village became a pale and distant phantom, lingering in the morning sky outside Flora’s bedroom window.
For Flora, returning home was both everything and nothing she expected.
Her mother was just barely relieved enough to see her children that she didn’t even threaten to kill them once, and her father just hugged and hugged like he would never let go.
Her parents still loved her, because they had to.
But there was someone else whose forgiveness she would have to earn.
Flora pulled up to a spot just outside of the cafe as the sun just barely broke through the clouds. Flora gripped both hands onto the steering wheel, fighting the urge to talk herself down, to drive away and avoid whatever hateful words that were to come.
A glimmer caught her eye, a fleck of light clinging to the wheel. Flora saw what it was and chuckled.
Glitter. It was fucking glitter.
With a sharp, deep sigh, Flora opened the car door and stepped out.
The bell rang as she entered the cafe, but the hipster blonde behind the counter didn’t bother to look up. She leaned against the wall and stared vacantly at her phone, her eyes darkened behind her glasses.
“What can I get for you today?” she said, stepping to the register with little enthusiasm. Finally, she looked up.
“Lila, I’m sorry.”
“... Flora?” she stuttered, her phone slipping through her fingers.
“Please, I don’t expect you to still want to be my friend after this. So much has happened, and I didn’t mean to?—”
“Flora.” She threw off her apron and slammed open the gate as she rushed around the counter. Flora was certain she was going to die.
But a smile swept across Lila’s face, brightening her already glistening eyes. She tackled Flora with a rocking and suffocating hug, and Flora barely noticed the stinging in her own eyes as she hugged her back, welcomed by the familiar smell of Lila’s strawberry-scented perfume.
“You’re alive,” Lila said, shaking Flora by the shoulders. “We thought... we all thought something happened to you, and that’s why you never came home.”
“So much happened, and I have so much I want to tell you. But I’m safe, and Davy’s safe.” Flora smiled at the stormy hazel eyes of her friend. “Everything is finally okay again.” Lila furrowed her brow and bit her lip, a cautious smile tugging at her lips.
“Hey,” Flora said, gripping Lila’s wrists as she sniffled. “You know I love you, loser.”
That night, Flora huddled beneath her own blankets for what felt like the first time in ages. She traced the red seal of Sona’s journal on her bedside table with her fingertip.
“Thank you,” she whispered to her old friend before finally resigning herself to rest.
“Goodnight, bean,” Davy had said from the doorway.
“Goodnight, Davy.”
Flora opened her eyes to a familiar sting of light, the cool autumn breeze broken by a brief stillness of warmth and sunlight.
There he was, with a verdant ember behind his emerald eyes, and the childish grin that meant she was home.
“Good morning.”