Page 104 of Two Who Live On

I leisurely read while Milo slept away the day and night, figuring out the actual logistics of this vacation he’d planned. He’d found the best places at the best times for the best rates, but I wanted to makesure he’d actually done his homework on some of them, especially since ‘right around the corner’ was quite literally next week. This wasn’t mid-June but the last day of the first week, which barely afforded me a chance to decompress after the end of the school year.

I crossed off a few ideas, adding others and making this a ten-day experience we could both enjoy. After a few hours of research, I joined Milo in bed and went to sleep.

“Ooooh, fascinating. Definitely goes in the maybe pile,” his restless thoughts whispered as I shut out the rest of the world.

I huffed, scooting closer and hugging him tightly before delving into his mind. Walking through Milo’s inner core, I passed the wall of screens and the board of colors and went into his filing cabinet of endless visions, where he sat at a table reviewing stacks of papers.

“What?” He grinned.

“I thought you took the day off.”

“I did.”

“Then why are you sorting visions?”

“I briefly opened my eyes, and last I saw, the clock said 12:02, so pretty sure that means I did, in fact, take the day off.”

I sighed, half annoyed and half in love with his dedication to the world. “Do you need help?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be in summer mode with zero fucks to give?”

“I can give a few fucks.”

“I bet.” Milo winked, offering the seat beside him.

I grabbed a blank page, surprised to find fuzzy, jumbled letters. Guess our connection continued to improve, and bits of his visions became clearer. Well, visible, at the very least. I still couldn’t make sense of anything they said or represented.

“What does this say?”

“That’s the chimera’s influence,” Milo explained.

I dropped the page. “I didn’t…” My throat tightened.

“It’s annoying that his influence and potential is still out there.”

“I didn’t hold onto Finn.” I trembled, fighting back everything I wanted to say but not ready to bear the full weight of this discussion. “I promise.”

Though I wished I had, especially if the chimera’s influence was still out there somewhere.

“I trust you. I wasn’t going to question you.” Milo squeezed my hand, sending all the love he had and calming thoughts that kept me firmly in his mind. “These are just annoying residual fates, probably. Most likely, definitely high maybes.”

“A what?”

“Potential futures are infinite, and when one becomes unviable, impossible, I close off that potential reality. It’s hard, and sometimes a residual fate doesn’t take right away. That’s all this is. Damn demon influence making it hard to quell those bad paths.”

“How bad?”

“Just a little world destruction.”

I clenched my jaw.

“Chill.” He laughed. “I have at least one world-ending vision a month. Most are handled by other witches before the vision even fully settles. Hence, all these half-written visions I’m left sorting.”

“You’re very calm about the end of the world.”

“Well, it hasn’t happened so far, and I’m very confident in my small role to keep it that way. Besides, there’s absolutely no demon presence in the city, the state, really. We did everything correctly, removing all the chimera’s followers, banishing him entirely, so now I spend a few nights a week organizing leftover papers to make room for brighter, more concrete futures.”

I remained with Milo the entire night, filing outdated visions and planning for happy ever afters. His mind buzzed with a millionpotentials for countless people I’d never met, gently guiding paths he hoped would make them as happy as he was with me.

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