Page 152 of Fated

And then, just as Aaron and I are about to be consumed, lost in the turbulent sea, Robert grabs my ankle and yanks me back to dry ground. The gravel batters me as I cough and suck in great breaths of air.

Robert grips my leg, yanks, and shouts, “Pull, dammit!”

I cling to Aaron’s wrist. I hang on with everything I have.

“Pull!”

I hold onto Aaron. Robert holds me. And behind Robert, Amy holds him. And little by little, we pull free of the grip of the sea.

I collapse to the rocky ground.

Aaron falls free of the sea. He crashes to the solid ground next to me. He coughs up seawater and yanks in gasping breaths. He’s soaked, his eyes clouded.

I crawl to him, my wet skin scraping over the gravel and sandy soil. There’s roaring and heat and the pressure of sixty-three people shouting at once.

Aaron rolls onto his back and stares up at the blue sky. The earth has settled; the shaking has stopped. His shirt is drenched and I can see the tattoos of the sea through the white fabric. His clothes soak the earth around him.

When I reach him I brace my hands on his chest. The warmth of him scalds me through the cold wet of his T-shirt.

He looks up at me, his eyes brown and warm. He focuses on me, a small smile playing at the corner of his mouth.

He’s alive.

He’salive.

“Fi?”

I smile down at him, my heart squeezing out a warm, slow rhythm.

“I love you,” I whisper, my throat raw and aching.

His eyes crinkle at the edges, his smile widening. “Amy?”

“She’s okay.”

He reaches up, touching a hand to my cheek. And then he gives me a new smile. One I haven’t catalogued because I’ve never seen it before. It makes my heart sing.

“You came after me,” he says.

“I told you I would.”

He brushes his fingers over my skin. Touches my lips, a gentle kiss. Overhead the sun blazes bright. Beyond us the island is broken, ravaged, and gone.

But the people—they’re still here.

He’s still here.

“You’re leaving again?” he asks, watching my expression.

I shake my head, my chest aching, “Come to me. Find me in Geneva. Come on Christmas Eve two years from now. I’ll be waiting for you. My name is Fi?—”

“Fi?” he says, his hands reaching for me.

But then there’s another rumble. A tremor that rips through me. Spins and tosses and tears me apart. It tears me out of Aaron’s arms.

And I’m tumbling through the dark. I’m falling out of my dream.

And as I fall, I feel myself unraveling.

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