A Fever Dream

CHAPTER 32. Nothing is Permanent in Summer

For a second I panicked, seeing the blood on his pale lips. Then I realized it was from the cuts on my hands. They didn't even sting.

The world halted.

Somewhere, in another place and time, the gates trembled under the pressure of spears and swords.

A flock of ravens beat their wings, replacing the moon. The rain suddenly was warm, like thawing water, streaming down my shoulders.

I ran a hand through my hair, slowly, as if I could stretch the moment forever.

It must have been an illusion, a play of shadows, a trick of the light - when the boy's eyes moved behind his closed eyelids.

It must have been a glitch.

I kept thinking this thought, like an enchantment, like a protective charm against the endless madness.

I kept staring ahead of me, slowly moving my lips.

But then, somewhere in between forever and ever, his eyes fluttered open.

So fast that I fell back from the pedestal and landed on my backside. Even there, I edged away on instinct.

"Impossible," my voice came out hoarse as if it belonged to someone else. "Impossible, impossible, impossible."

My heart crashed against my ribcage, and blood rang in my ears a steady gong. Twilight hovered over the Still Garden, but it's been dark for so long I couldn't distinguish if it was the evening, or night, or the day that followed. The voice in the back of my mind whispered in passionate hushes something about guards, and chase, and boats at the bottoms of the cliffs.

But outside it was quiet like someone pressed a pillow over this garden.

I breathed in and out and made myself stand up and climb back to the broken casket.

I looked at the shattered glass, at the boy's face.

His eyes were once again closed.

My stomach twisted.

"Hey," I breathed rather than spoke out loud, my hands clenching and unclenching in the air.

The world shifted on its axis another time.

I held my breath.

And then his eyelids trembled.

He blinked one, two, three, four thousand times before a familiar gaze focused on me.

And just like that, I was back to the dining hall on my first day at the fairy town.

Back to the moment, I realized I'd never seen the eyes so blue.

Back to the anxiety that gave me hiccups.

Back to knowing with cruel certainty that the memory of those blue eyes would follow me until my last breath.

***

We stared at each other so long it started to feel surreal. Snowflakes fell on his cheeks and didn't melt. He still looked like a corpse.

"You," Elliot whispered finally, in a voice so weak I could've missed it.

For a moment all I could hear was my own heartbeat. I wanted to hug him. And slap him across the face. And accuse him of putting my life at risk. And tell him I was sorry for the times I've misjudged him.

But I could do none of it.

"Did your soul searching succeed?" I whispered pathetically.

A smile he flashed me then might have been an illusion - so quickly it was gone, replaced by a frown, as he winced from the pain.