With All My Soul
Page 110

Kay? She crossed the room in an instant and threw strong arms around me, while I tried to ignore the fact that shed grown at least two inches taller since Id last seen her. She towered over me now, and was only a couple of inches shorter than Nash. Are you real?
Tod laughed. Ive been asking her that for the past three hours. Shes real. Solid and thoroughly functional.
Well then. Sabine let go of me and grinned. I guess we know how they spent the past three hours, instead of alerting anyone else to the miraculous resurrection. She shrugged. Not that I blame you. If it were me and Nash, wed still be sequestered.
Obviously some things hadnt changed....
II dont... Em stuttered, and as soon as Sabine stepped back, Emma was there. Shed grown, too, but that put her at exactly my height, and I hugged her so tight I could almost hear her ribs groan. How...?
She didnt die. Levi lied. Tod still sounded less than pleased by that, and I couldnt blame him.
I asked him to, I clarified, without letting go of Emma. I couldnt let her go. I wasnt ready. And based on the strength of her hug, neither was Em. I knew that if you guys knew what I was planning, youd come after me.
Come after you where? Sabine frowned, and I could tell by the suspicion dripping from that one question that shed figured at least part of it out.
The Netherworld. Tod told them the part I couldnt make myself say out loud. She turned herself in. Which sounds really asinine until you hear about the out clause she built into her deal with Avari. That parts really brilliant.
You turned yourself in? To Avari? Emma shuddered even as she said his name, and I could see all the questions she obviously wanted to ask hiding just below her surprise and confusion. You were there the whole time? So youve been...? Hes been...? Horror washed over her face in slow motion as comprehension surfaced. As she realized where and how Id spent the past four years. And why Id spent them.
Damn, Kay, Sabine whispered.
Are you sure youre okay? Tears formed in Emmas eyes. How can you be okay?
I made a deal with Ira. I gave him everything I couldnt handle.... Mostly massive amounts of pain and rage. And that left me with my...um...sanity. I shrugged like it was no big deal, but no one bought that.
Ira. Damn. Sabine tossed long, dark hair over her shoulder. I havent heard that name in years. And you actually talked a hellion of wrath into sucking the crazy right out of you?
It was mutually beneficial. AndIrall be munching on Avaris fury for centuries. Thats really why he agreed to the whole thing. I blinked and shook my head, mentally changing the subject. Enough about the Netherworld. Were done with that now. Id put myself through hell for four years to make damn sure of that. I want to talk about you guys! Youre all...grown!
Emma laughed. Yeah. I guess so. You missed prom. Then...everything else.
Youre in college? Tod had told me that, but I wanted to hear it from her.
Yeah. Im a junior at A&M. But theyre about to graduate. Both of them! She gestured to Sabine and Nash, and when my gaze fell on Nash again, it stuck there. He hadnt moved. He hadnt said a word. He was still staring at me in shock, and his sunglasses lay on his left foot, where hed dropped them.
Nash?
He blinked, and his eyes swirled with confused, surprised twists of brown and green. I took a step toward him, and he studied me. Like he didnt dare believe the signals his eyes were sending him.
So I closed the distance between us on my own, then went up on my toes to hug him.
He felt...different. Bigger. More solid.
Healthy.
Slowly, his arms closed around me. His hug tightened steadily until I couldnt have breathed if Id needed to. He shook in my arms, and his tears soaked into the shoulder of my shirt.
Its okay, I said with what little breath remained in my lungs. Its okay, Nash.
When he finally let me go and wiped tears from his face, I wanted to hug him all over again.
You know, there are easier ways to make an ex get over you, Kay. You didnt have to fake your own death. Again.
I laughed through my own tears, and I hugged him again. Then I escaped into the kitchen to pull myself together while I poured soda into the cups, hoping they wouldnt see how surreal this was for me. Four hours earlier, I hadnt known my own name. Id forgotten this world existed. Id been lost in a hell from which there should have been no mistake.
And now...
I turned and found them all watching me, so I took a long drink from my cup to buy time. To think of what to say.
Tods hand slid into mine, and he smiled. Without saying a word, he told me that everything was okay. That everything would come back to me, in time. That the world may have moved on without me, but he hadnt.
And thats when I realized what I wanted to talk about. The world had moved on without me, but ignoring that fact wouldnt help me adjust to it. I had to hit it head-on.
You all look so different! I couldnt get over it. So, college and life? How are things?