Chapter Twenty-Seven
Marigold
D isbelief gripped me as Finn and Levi disappeared over the edge. Spots covered my vision, and I collapsed to my knees. The book Levi had pressed into my hands slipped from my grasp, landing in the dirt at my feet.
Ezra retreated from the cliff.
My heart slammed against my ribcage, a desperate rhythm urging me to follow Levi and Finn.
Without conscious thought, I sprang to my feet and screamed at Ezra, “What did you do?”
His face was slack, his eyes vacant. He blinked and then peered at his hands. “I . . .” He swore and then fell to the ground.
I rushed toward him and pounded my fists into his chest. “You killed him! How could you? What is wrong with you?”
He caught my fist and held it until I stopped wiggling.
When he released me, I clutched my chest, sucked in air, and tried to calm myself. I wailed. A long, mournful sound that punctured the sky and sank with my soul to the bottom of the cliff with Levi.
The bottom.
I doubled over as my stomach heaved, but I’d eaten nothing. I heaved and heaved until my throat was raw. When I looked up, Ezra was kneeling at the precipice.
I didn’t know if I had the strength to look. Levi. Finn. Why did Finn have to go too? Losing Levi was unbearable, but Finn was an added and unnecessary loss. I struggled for breath and coherent thought. Everything inside of me ached and writhed to travel back in time sixty seconds.
This couldn’t be real.
Ezra slammed his palms on the rock and yelled, “I didn’t mean it.”
A vision filled my mind: Two figures at the edge of a cliff. An argument. One fell.
The picture was seared into my brain when I awoke on the mountain. Had it been a prophecy or a dream? I thought the falling man was Levi.
I was right.
Dizziness swept over me. This was no ordinary mountain.
The knowledge stamped the truth into my soul: I was no ordinary girl.
Everything Levi said about me was true. Duncan’s journal revealed the truth that I had been unwilling to believe.
Levi’s words created me. I was a full-grown woman, but I’d only lived a few months.
If that were true . . .
I picked up the book I’d dropped and the one Levi had held. I joined Ezra at the side. “Read this. He wasn’t lying. Duncan didn’t turn your dad in. He’s innocent.”
Ezra faced me. “I can’t read right now.” He stood.
“Take it.” I threw it at him as he sulked away. It hit him in the back. He turned, grabbed the book, and took off in a run.
Seconds later, I heard his truck speeding down the road.
A cool wind touched my face like the ghost of Levi reaching from heaven to comfort me. Leaves rustled behind. The air smelled like fall turning to winter. Like death and decay. A salty tear slid onto my lip.
I inched toward the ledge with the book clutched to my chest.
The book!
I gripped the leather tighter. My sweaty hands slipped along the smooth surface.
When we stopped at the cabin, Levi had insisted on writing. He scribbled something in the book, handed it to me, and said, “You’ll know when to read this.”
I’d been too consumed with reading Duncan’s diary, with the fate of Beth and Courtney, to care about what he wrote.
My hands shook as I turned the pages.
Dear Marigold,
I found something worth dying for.
Love, Levi
The legend about the ghost and the man who loved her resurfaced. When I asked him why he liked the story, he said, “Because he found a girl he was willing to die for.”
Tears blurred my vision. How did he know?
A few verses were scribbled onto the following page:
He let her go
She went away
But his heart remained hers
-
When the time came
He chose to lay
His life in front of hers
-
He fell on the rocks
But that day
Wasn’t the end
-
He lived again from the words of a pen
The last part didn’t register. Did he suspect this would happen?
If the words he wrote were powerful enough to make me, then maybe they’d be powerful enough to bring him back.
My breath hitched on a sob. I crawled to the edge, looked over, and saw his form far below.
Unmoving.
“I’m coming,” I choked out. “Levi, I’m coming.”
My body swayed as I pushed my feet beneath me. I had to be strong. I couldn’t let my sorrow keep me from going to him. If I could believe he wrote me, then I must believe words were enough to save him too.
I ran back the way we’d arrived.
The book shielded me against the forest as I navigated through the tangled undergrowth, stumbling over barren bushes, sliding down steep dirt inclines, and slipping on decaying foliage. Pine needles from intact evergreens poked and prickled my arms as hope propelled me forward at a reckless pace. The spice of tree sap and cool wood encircled me as I stumbled along the path.
Dirt gave way to rock as I neared the base. My foot caught on a slab of stone, and I flew down, pain bursting through every nerve in my left palm. Clutching onto the book with my right hand, I pushed forward.
Steep angles gave way to sheets of uneven rock and boulders. I slowed my pace and braced myself for the sight of Levi. There were two possibilities:
A broken Levi or a breathing Levi.
My throat tightened when I stepped past the jagged boulders and saw him.
Levi. My heart.
It had always been Levi that I loved. I felt it deep inside my bones and marrow and sinew. Ezra’s charm and adoration drew me in, but I didn’t care for him in the same way. Levi was cool drinks in Mason jars, rumbling drives, sunsets, and the scent of musty cabin. He was my best friend. The guy who brought me to meet his momma, made breakfast for me almost every morning, introduced me to Donner, told legends to me, swam with me in a frigid stream, and cared for me with all he had.
Levi was still.
Broken.
My legs went from rushing to plodding as I approached. Tears streaking my cheeks as I forced myself forward. He was sprawled half on his side, half on his stomach. A mound of cloth and flesh. Dead, but also alive. He’d always remain alive in my memory. In my heart.
And then I stood before him. My insides fractured.
I was afraid to see his face, what the rock had done to him. I wouldn’t leave him in a heap.
I rolled him onto his back.
Where my body was fragmented emotionally, Levi’s was shattered physically. The only broken skin lay on his head was where he’d struck the rock. The rest of him remained undamaged. When I turned him, I felt the splintered parts.
Somehow, it was easier to keep myself from falling apart and retching when I was with him. At the top, I couldn’t control myself. Now, my mind and body moved practically.
Levi was dead. This was his body. Sure, all bodies reached their end eventually—but not like this.
I scrambled for a way to save him. Maybe if I read the words aloud to him.
I flipped the book open with my throbbing wrist and recited the poem.
Nothing changed.
Cold air swirled around me as I knelt on the frigid rock. Wind rustled the naked tree branches as a crow cawed from an unknown location. “Wake up, Levi,” I choked out in a hushed plea, tears slipping down my cheeks.
My arm touched his as I collapsed beside him. He was still warm. I lifted his arm and tucked my head against the crook of his shoulder, the solid unbrokenness of his collarbone.
I breathed for both of us. Deep breath in and out. Inhaling life, exhaling death.
I turned my face against his shoulder, smelled his manly scent, and cried. My tears wet his cooling skin, his unmoving chest. “Why did you come if you knew?” I cried. He could have prevented this, but he didn’t. Why?
Raising myself slightly on one elbow, I studied Levi’s face marred by Ezra’s brutality a few days ago yet untouched by the fall that claimed him minutes ago. I leaned in and pressed my lips to his.
“I love you, too,” I said. Because that’s what he’d said when he stepped between me and Ezra. Not with his words, but with his body.
I lay on his shoulder and cried myself into an exhausted sleep.
A movement woke me. My swollen lids fluttered open.
The setting sun cast streaks of orange and red across the sky as I shivered in the crisp evening air. Memory washed over me, and for once, I wished I could forget.
Sensing a shift beside me, fear propelled me away from Levi’s side in search of potential danger lurking in the shadows. Yet there was no threat—only Levi lying peacefully with closed eyes. I rubbed the sleep and sorrow from mine. If nobody was here, then Ezra hadn’t shared what happened. I wouldn’t have either if I were responsible.
I’d have to hike until I had cell service to reach Jackson. Levi couldn’t endure the harsh elements alone. Any wild creature could surely find him.
With arms hugged against my knees, I looked at him.
His form shocked me. Not the stillness, but the movement. His chest rose and fell.
I rushed closer and placed my palm against his ribcage, which had been broken just a few hours ago. The bones were solid and intact. His diaphragm lifted beneath my hand. With tentative movements, I brushed my knuckles across his cheek.
Warm.
Life.
“Levi,” I said, inspecting the place where his head had been smashed. The spot was now rounded. “Levi?”
Could it be possible? Had his words truly healed him?
A soft gasp parted his lips.
“Levi,” I said. “I’m here.”
His chest expanded with a deep intake of breath. His eyes popped open on the exhale. Blinked. Focused. Then he tilted his gaze toward me.
“What happened?” he uttered. “Where am I?”
I eased him to a sitting position as words poured from me like water down a stream. I told him about Ezra’s actions, the book, my mourning, and then his waking.
“How do you feel? Do you think you can walk back to the truck?”
He sat up and felt his chest, his head. Ran his fingers down his legs and over his arms. Then he saw Finn. “Poor guy.”
“I hate seeing him like that. Too bad you didn’t write him back to life.”
He frowned but said nothing. I helped him to his feet and watched as he tried walking. After a few steps, he shrugged and said, “I’m fine.”
“Levi, you’re not yourself,” I said, alarm wobbling my voice. He should be rejoicing, asking questions, piecing the day together, and running up the hill to drive to Beth. But instead, he stared at me like he couldn’t quite figure out why I was standing in front of him.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m not sure how to say this politely.”
That sounded more like him. Gentlemanly.
He continued. “I don’t know who you are.”