“You really aren’t helping the situation.”
“Then stop me,” I said, and when he didn’t respond, I understood that he couldn’t. Maybe there was some rule in place to prevent him from interfering with my actions—though that could potentially open quite the can of worms if the spirit was even more potent than me.
However, that wasn’t my problem yet. My bumbling fiancé took precedence. His breath was ragged and too rapid to be healthy, and I worried he might start hyperventilating soon. So, I wrote another message in the frosted glass. It came easier this time around. Practice makes perfect.
“Calm down,” he read, and chuckled softly. Several deep breaths later, he looked at my body and smiled. “Thanks, baby. You’re haunting me, yet you’re the one telling me to calm down.”
I could do more, I thought, concentrating on my body. There was still a connection to my flesh; I felt it… I just needed to tap into it, somehow. The Hermessi might’ve kicked me out, but the life-chain was still on. “The chain,” I murmured and glanced down. Last time I’d touched it, it had burned—the black part, anyway. I’d yet to try the glowing links, the healthy ones.
Once again praying to the universe, I gripped the first link. A rush of warmth engulfed me, as if the sun itself was shining down upon me. In that instant, my body’s eyes popped open. They shone brilliantly orange, but they were open. Zeriel let out a short shriek and quickly covered his mouth. Only Arwen and Mona were in the sanctuary now, on the far end, looking after another fae, but I was glad he didn’t call them over. I worried I wouldn’t be able to concentrate like this with more people watching.
“Vesta… Did you just do this? Are you... Are you awake?” Zeriel asked.
I heard Seeley scoff, but ignored him altogether. I was too busy here. Zeriel needed to ask me one question at a time; otherwise, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to answer coherently. Surprisingly, I did feel a tiny bit of my body, distantly. A slow heartbeat echoed in the back of my mind.
“Oh, crap. I can’t pummel you with questions,” Zeriel realized. “Okay… Okay, how do we do this? Man, I’m so… I can’t explain how happy I am.” He laughed lightly, running a hand through his blond hair. “I didn’t think I’d get to talk to you… sort of. Okay, pull yourself together, Zeriel. Come on. You can do this.” He closed his eyes for a moment, humming as he sought to concentrate and give me something I could work with, now that I’d made it clear that I was still here. “Got it! I got it! Baby, can you blink?”
Could I? Well, I could certainly try—and I did, once. He gasped.
“Wow… this is real. Good. Good! Vesta, baby, blink once for yes and twice for no. Can you do that for me?”
I blinked once, and he giggled like the happiest little boy, rubbing his face and taking deep, measured breaths. “Are you alive? I mean, your body is alive, but your spirit is out… and I’m a little confused, so let’s just do this as a test question. Are you alive?”
Again, I blinked once.
“Are you in any kind of pain?” he asked, and I blinked twice, making him smile. “Good… Good, at least there’s that. Do you know what’s happening to you?”
One blink was enough for this. But I felt like it wasn’t enough. The yes-no bit was fantastic; however, I wanted to do more, to tell him more. Inching closer to my crystal casing, I willed more frost into stretching on top of the first layer, which had already begun to melt.
“Here goes,” I whispered, and wrote another message.
Zeriel frowned as he read it. “Reapers + Fae…” He didn’t immediately get it, but I was patient. He looked around, his gaze darting from one crystal casing to another. “You mean there are Reapers here?”
I made myself blink once. The answer made him break into a cold sweat. I could see the tiny drops of sweat blooming on his temples.
“There are Reapers here… for the fae, you mean?” he replied. Yet another blink in return. “Oh… That’s not good. They’re… They’re here to reap you all, aren’t they?”
The answer was yes, and it tore me apart on the inside to see him descend into a state of panic. It didn’t last long, fortunately. His love for me was too strong to let him lose his grip.
“I admit. You scare me a little,” Seeley muttered behind me, and I shushed him, as Zeriel seemed to be formulating another question.
“Do you know when they’ll take you? The Reapers, I mean,” he asked, and I blinked twice. “Okay. Do you know what they’re waiting for?”
That was an easy one. I managed to write another message in the frost.
5,000,000.
As soon as he saw the number, he knew. He’d had an inkling before, much like everybody else in GASP, but, this time, he’d learned it from me. Zeriel understood that, as soon as the number of affected fae reached five million, it would kill us first, before anyone else, leaving our bodies for the Hermessi to do with as they pleased.
“So, our suspicions, our theories… they were all right.” He sighed. “Once the Hermessi hit five million fae, your souls will be permanently separated from your bodies and… and you’ll die, while they’ll use said bodies to… to finish the ritual. It’s all true. For a while, I didn’t want to believe it, but… dammit, Vesta, I’m not letting you die.”
I blinked once. “I don’t expect you to,” I whispered.
“Reapers are waiting for you to die,” Zeriel said. “But you’re not going anywhere without me, you hear me? I love you, Vesta, and I am going to be here, fighting until my dying breath, to keep you.”
Seeley cleared his throat. “I have to say, he’s taking this a lot better than most people would.”
“Most people? I take it you’ve seen stuff like this before?” I asked.
“Yes and no. I’ve come across a couple of hauntings. Most souls weaken if they’re out for too long without moving on,” he explained. “But there are some… powerful, determined people who even in death seem to defy all reason. Their spirits grow stronger and angrier—that being the downside to a mighty soul, I guess. And you, my dear Vesta, you would make quite the poltergeist, if left to your own devices.”
“I’m inclined to take that as a compliment.”
He smiled. “It was meant as one.”
My eyes closed, prompting Zeriel to place his palms on the crystal casing. “Vesta, are you okay?” He was understandably worried, while Seeley chuckled.
“What’s so funny? I can’t do that again, for some reason,” I grumbled, feeling strained and stretched beyond my comfortable limits.
“You’re tired, Vesta. Operating your body from the outside is a tough gig. Yeah, you did it on your first try, and, again, kudos to you. But still, it takes its toll. You need to rest a little if you want to do it again,” Seeley said.
It made sense. It explained the growing exhaustion expanding through me and making me feel like I was being wrung like a wet cloth. I managed to draw a small heart in what was left of the frost on my crystal casing—my last attempt to tell Zeriel that I was still here.
I heard his sigh of relief, but my vision began to blur.
“You’re blacking out,” Seeley said. I couldn’t see him anymore, as darkness crept up on me, hugging me like a giant teddy bear, warm and fluffy and soft. “You’ll be okay. Just go with it.”
I’d succeeded in communicating with Zeriel, so at least it hadn’t all been in vain. I wasn’t sure how long it would be until I’d be conscious again, but I could only hope that I’d helped give Zeriel some peace of mind. At the same time, I also knew that what I’d just told Zeriel would break Derek’s and Sofia’s hearts.
