With a yelp, I jump to my feet and spin to face where Boone’s voice came from. A translucent version of him stands in the opposite corner, which was empty just a second ago. Do I look the same to him? Like a ghost?
Then his gaze falls to his body on the bed, and if it’s possible for a dream ghost to pale, he does. “Wait…” His voice sounds sort of hollow and echoey. “Am I dead?”
“No!” Both my hands shoot up. “Not dead. I just… We’re both alive,” I assure him quickly. “Just…um… We’re dreaming right now.”
His brows draw together as he looks from me to his body on the bed and back to me. “You sure about that?”
“Yes.”
After a second, he nods. He’s taking this surprisingly well. “I don’t understand. If we’re dreaming, why are we in my cabin?”
That has me leaning back, then looking around. “Yours?”
He shrugs. “I bought it a while ago.”
My eyes go wide.
But it doesn’t matter. Not for the labor. “I’m guessing your dream took us to a place that’s special to you. I had to find you.”
Now for the hard part. And by hard, I mean squirm-worthy awkward for both of us.
Oh gods. I have to say it to his face. I mean, he’s already heard the rumor, but that doesn’t make it true. Not until I say…what I’m about to have to say…out loud. “You’ve been pulled into the Crucible with me for a few days,” I start out. Yes, I’m stalling. “I have to tell you something…important…and then take you back to Olympus with me. Okay?”
He crosses his arms, feet planted wide, and an intrigued grin pulls the corner of his mouth up. “As long as I’m not dead, yeah. Okay. What’s this important thing?”
Right. Time to say it. I open my mouth but close it again.
Just say it, Lyra. It’s just words.
Open. Close. Nothing comes out. Because it’s not just words. It’s vulnerability.
I give my head a shake. Maybe it would be better to ease into it. “Remember when—”
No. I should just cut to the chase. Band-Aid-rip-style.
“I’m supposed to—”
“Hey,” Boone says, dragging my attention off the floor at my feet to him. “It can’t be that bad.”
A quick laugh punches from me. “I love you.”
Those three short words string together in a rush, and I blow out a sharp breath at the end, hands going to my hips as I drop my gaze from his eyes to his feet.
Only that doesn’t feel right. Or maybe never was. Except we’re here now.
He doesn’t say anything. For a very long time. Long enough that I start shifting my weight.
And he still says nothing.
Oh gods. This is worse than I thought it was going to be.
I peek at his face to find him staring at me with a confused frown. Like my words and my face don’t quite belong together. Apparently, I can blush in my dreams, because heat crawls all over my skin, and I’m tempted to wave my hand in my own transparent face to cool off.
“I don’t understand,” Boone says slowly.
I thought getting the words out was hard, but I guess it can get worse. “You need me to explain it to you?”
He frowns harder. “Not the love part, just why you had to tell me that.”
Oh.
I close my eyes and sigh. So very, very much worse. Without opening them, I say, “I had to find the person who…” I can’t believe I’m going to admit this. “Who I love most in the world and tell them. It’s the only way to wake you up.”
Except he’s not awake. Did I get the wrong person? But no. He’s here. So obviously, right person.
More silence.
I crack one eye open, then the other, and my heart slowly drifts to the soles of my feet like an autumn leaf dropping from a tree.
Because Boone’s scruffy face is all things regret and exactly what I feared…embarrassment. He won’t look at me.
“I’m sorry,” he says. “I…” He shakes his head. “I don’t feel the same.”
I swallow around a heart that should be slowly cracking. Except… “I know. It’s okay.”
“I mean…I’m flattered, Lyra-Loo-Hoo, but—”
“Stop.” Oh hells. I drop my head in my hands. “Seriously, you don’t have to. I had to tell you. It’s how this Labor is played. We can forget about it now.”
