Without checking, I sensed Darkness watching us from the top of the stairs. Aunt Joyce sat up with her back to the stairs. I held her steady as she rubbed the back of her head with her palm.
“All the years I’ve lived here and never once have I fallen down these stupid stairs,” she said, wincing.
“Let me get you an ice pack,” I said.
“Oh, goodness, Remy. That is totally unnecessary. It was just a little stumble,” Aunt Joyce said, holding onto the railing as she got to her feet. “I’m fine.” Her eyes shifted down to the ground, to the broken plastic pieces on the floor. “But the thermometer is not.”
I dared a hesitant look over my shoulder, half-expecting to see Darkness looming at the top of the stairs. He wasn’t there… perhaps he never had been.
“I’ll just run to the pharmacy real quick and buy a new one,” Aunt Joyce said, patting my shoulder.
After what I’d seen on the TV, I didn’t want Aunt Joyce to leave the house. I seized her hand and looked into her eyes.
“I’m fine, really,” I said, sucking in a breath before wrapping my arms around her. “Please, don’t go.”
“Okay, okay,” she said, leaning back. Her eyes bore into mine, concern wrinkling her nose. “I won’t leave, but only if you promise to get some sleep, and then after that, you can tell me everything that happened with you and Noah.”
The weight of her condition settled heavily in the room. I’d agree to anything that would keep her safe inside the house. Because after seeing her lying there on the ground, I couldn’t shake Darkness’s words from my mind.
Aunt Joyce wasn’t safe as long as I was around her. Her safety hinged on my absence. I couldn’t go with Darkness for myself, but I could pretend to be the person they wanted if there were even a slight chance it would keep Aunt Joyce safe.
“I’m going to go back to bed,” I said, forcing a yawn.
“Let me know if I can get you anything,” Aunt Joyce said, mirroring my yawn. “Thank God today is my day off.”
I gave her another hug before heading up the stairs. At my desk, I pulled out a piece of paper and my favorite pen before sitting on the chair. I wrote a quick note to Aunt Joyce so she wouldn’t be surprised when I was gone.
Darkness stepped out of the closet and rested his hand on my shoulder. I set the pen down and placed my hand on top of his.
“Do I need to beg?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No. Let’s go.”
Chapter
Twenty-One
Icame to an abrupt halt, turning to study the gloomy, ashen sky above Darkness’s house. He stood behind me, circling his arms around my waist and pulling me back against his body.
“It wasn’t always like this,” Darkness said, placing a kiss on top of my head. “There was a time when this place was beautiful. Many here called it heaven.”
I turned and looked into his eyes. It was like I was searching for something, but I wasn’t sure what it was.
“You’ve got me all wrong,” I said, pressing my lips together.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m only here because you were right about having the medallion near my aunt,” I said, resting my face against his chest. “It wasn’t like I could go back to Noah’s place after stealing the artifact.”
Darkness cupped my face, forcing me to look up at him. “You wanted to go back there?”
“Well, no,” I said, blushing as I remembered how it felt to be held by him, kissed by him. It was forever etched into my brain at how my body reacted to his touch. Even at that moment, my insides were warming just being near him. “To be completely honest, I don’t know where I belong.”
“Here,” Darkness said, his thumb gliding down my chin. “You belong here.”
“Don’t do that,” I said, my brows pressing together.
He pressed his lips to mine, grinning as he pulled back. “Do what?”
“You want me here, and I get that, but I’m not convinced. I don’t want you to pressure me into thinking I belong here because you think I have some magical ability to stop the apocalypse,” I said, pressing my lips together.
“I don’t mean to pressure you into anything. If you are just a regular human that can visit our realm, I will still feel the same way about you that I do right now,” Darkness said, squeezing me tighter. “My feelings are not contingent upon you being anything other than yourself.”
I released a heavy sigh. “But you still want me to be The Bringer of Balance or whatever.”
“It’s not that I want that. It’s that I believe you are,” Darkness said, dismissively waving his hand in the air. “I’m merely presenting you with the option of staying here. You don’t have to stay with me. We can find you a place if that is what you desire.”
My eyes narrowed. “Um, what?”
Laughter dripped from Darkness’s lips only seconds before an explosive fury of lightning crashed somewhere behind the house. Storm emerged from the shadows, strutting toward us, wincing as she approached.
“Ew,” she said, rolling her eyes at us. She shifted her eyes to Darkness and crossed her arms. “Nightmare is sick or something. He wants to see you.”
“Sick?” Darkness asked, his spine tensing.
“Poison from the dreamworld, he claims,” Storm said, looking at her nails.
Darkness sighed as he pressed his hand to his forehead. “I don’t have time to take care of him. Get the druid to him at once.”
