Epilogue
Larz
“Is this for me?” Ilona’s eyes lit up, warming me from the inside out just as they always had for the past ten years.
She turned the brand new skateboard I’d gotten her around in her hands, admiring the freshly painted scorpions on the bottom of the deck.
“I don’t know how to ride it.”
“That’s why I’m gonna teach you.” I took the board and guided us into an empty lot. “You trust me, right?”
“Right,” she nodded, pulling her lip between her teeth.
“Close your eyes.” I settled myself behind her, gently placing her arms down by her sides. I planted a soft kiss on her cheek before playfully nudging her forward.
“Hey!” Her arms flailed out as she caught herself on her right foot.
“Goofy,” I grabbed her hips, righting her again and pulling her into my arms.
“Excuse me?” She wrinkled her nose, looking even more adorable than I thought possible.
“You caught yourself with your right foot,” I patted her thigh, “it means your stance is goofy.” She did nothing but raise a brow at me. “I’ll show you.”
I placed the skateboard on the pavement, stabilizing it with my foot in the center, and held my hands out to Ilona. “Try just standing on it first.”
She grasped my forearms and stepped onto the board cautiously. When her feet were firmly planted, she bounced up and down a few times before straightening up and loosening her grip.
“You’re a natural, baby.”
She beamed up at me, her shy confidence showing through.
It had quickly become the part I’d loved most about her.
The part that was scared or unsure, but pushed through anyway.
She had consistently pushed through any uncomfortable situation since the moment I met her, and it hadn’t changed over the last ten years together.
When we left Cutwood, Ilona and I had traveled all around the world. We would settle in new places for a year or so, including forests and big cities, then move on to our next adventure.
She’d become a pro in all of her forms, shifting and navigating her various bodies with ease, which I’d learned later could be due to her past as a dancer.
We’d learned a lot about each other in the last ten years wandering the Earth. She learned more about the origin of our kind and how I’d navigated life alone and I’d learned about how she grew up suffocated in an ultra-religious family and yearned her whole life to be alone.
As I watched her pick up the newest skill of skateboarding with ease, I noticed the same warmth that had taken residence in my chest since the moment I saw her.
We were meant for each other. Everything that had happened up until the moment we met had put us on the exact path to meet and heal each other from all the things that plagued our pasts.
“Okay, I got it!” She yelled from the other side of the lot, “Now teach me how to do a kickflip!”
I threw my head back, laughing from the depths of my belly. “Whoa there, stinger, let’s keep it basic for now.”
I walked towards her, ready to sweep her off her feet for rolling those adorable eyes at me, when my phone vibrated in my pocket. I held a finger up to her as I pulled it out.
My stomach curled, all the breath sucked from my body, as I recognized the nine digits that flashed on the screen. I turned away from Ilona, hoping she wouldn’t see the sudden shift in my face.
“Esta?” I breathed low into the phone. “Is it safe to come back?”
Her panicked voice on the other end made my stomach drop.
“I need you home,” she sucked in a shivering breath, “but it’s not safe.”
A soft, familiar hand landed on my shoulder as I jammed my phone back in my pocket.
“What is it, my love?” Ilona’s sweet voice wrapped around me in a calming embrace. I turned, taking her in my arms with a comforting squeeze.
“It’s time to go home.”