Page 4 of Two Who Live On

Mostly, I wanted to apologize.

“I’ll be okay, Dorian. You’ll see,” Finn thought as he had every single time I relived this nightmare memory.

Nothing had changed. Not a damn thing.

My eyes watered as a sapphire scaled arm reached from within the black hole, long talons cast shadows along Finn’s body. The demonic palm had a mouth of its own, filled with jagged teeth. The crooked smile glistened under the light of nearby flames. In a swift motion, the teeth snatched Finn by the jugular. Blood gushed down his neck, and his face went white, hollow, and pained. Still, even as he was enveloped by the portal, his smile never wavered.

“Give him back!” I screamed, my voice hoarse and as broken as the rest of my body that collapsed onto the ground.

The road beneath me vanished.

My heart surged momentarily, startled at a plunge into endless darkness. I scrambled, waking mid fall and terrified I’d crash out of my bed and into an infinity of desperate flailing. Memories always hit based on whatever whim my subconscious wished to process. Whether the fiend from yesterday sent a reminder or some hidden piece of me regretted moving forward, I didn’t care to discover.

Milo’s arm wrapped around my torso, hand squeezing my chest until my heart slowed and my frantic mind collected the dim morning in my bedroom. My skin was sticky with sweat and Milo’s chest clung to my back, but he remained close, running his hand along the hairs on my stomach and hugging me tighter.

Accepting my feelings for Milo didn’t magically wash away the guilt I held for Finn in those last moments. It didn’t erase the twelve years I’d lived adrift, unwilling to embrace happiness. But these memories no longer carved out my insides when they struck. Not like they used to. I had Milo here; even half-dazed and lost in a dream, his mind reached out and filled that emptiness in mine with his joy.

He’d spent many nights here since I’d accepted what we had, have, and could still have as a pair.

“Wanna talk about it?” Milo nuzzled the back of my ear. His dream-lost thoughts boomed.

“Just demons. Nightmares. Something I’d rather forget.”

“Demons are the worst.” He kissed my neck, sending positive, light, and humorous images. They trailed down my spine until the worst of the memory washed away.

Our minds and magics had synced so seamlessly again, picking up from our youth and elevating to a degree I barely comprehended. Even sleeping in a bit, Milo knew how to predict my day in the best way.

I scoffed. Knowing Milo, even without skimming his groggy morning thoughts, he’d known a dream would hit me soon. One Iwasn’t ready for and prepared accordingly. Hell, it was Milo. I’d given his clairvoyance too much credit. Sometimes, he’d know when I struggled just by the stiffness in my muscles, lull in my voice, or change in my breathing. He was annoyingly perfect that way, and yet I still questioned what to make of us.

“I have to get ready for work.” I kissed him, soft and light as I spun around and slipped off the bed. “I’ll see you this evening.”

“Doubtful. Got that Cerberus thing tonight, remember? Gonna be a long day, evening, long something—and not the long something I like.” Milo kept his eyes firmly closed, refusing to let the outside world take what remnants of his trickling dreams remained. How I wished that beautiful, playful dream had invaded my slumber, but I wasn’t so blessed it seemed.

“I can stop by, keep you company.” I grabbed clothes to slip on after a shower.

“It’s a silly ceremony. No networking worth your time. Trust me, I got a good sense on stuff.”

Milo had been ranked the number one Chicago enchanter, something he was less enthusiastic about each year. He didn’t make a big deal about it because he’d held that ranking every year since the Night of the Fiend Massacre. Not that there weren’t others constantly rotating among the top ten enchanters and closing the gap between themselves and Enchanter Evergreen, but then something would happen, and his popularity would surge again. Most recently, it had to do with his role in thwarting the warlocks that threatened my homeroom coven and the army of fiends that would’ve eviscerated countless people.

“Thought it was an award?” I paused, rooting through his hidden insecurities for this event.

“What? No. The award was whenever ago. This is like the guilds way of showcasing it happened. It’s completely unnecessary, and it’llbe a real drag for you.” Milo rolled over, tucking his head under a pillow, like that’d quell his thoughts. “I’ll just see you tomorrow after.”

Milo had dragged me to a few Cerberus events over the holiday, but since the start of the second semester, he’d eased up, likely due to my reluctance. I continued exploring our relationship, what it was, what it could be like, but that was much simpler in privacy. Prying eyes followed the great Enchanter Evergreen everywhere, and when I’d accompany him or even show up to an event on my own, Milo was often the height of conversation—both aloud and in thought. I didn’t fit into the industry when I worked in it, and it had become apparent that I belonged even less now.

I wanted to support him because his surface thoughts cycled with excitement for the event, yet he kept quiet and pushed them away whenever I’d brought it up. Half of me believed it was because he knew today, this week, truly—okay, the next few months—would be grueling considering the testing we had in store for the kids. The other half of me screamed I’d embarrassed Milo so much, he questioned why we’d ever found our way back together. Clearly someone so undevoted to his career wouldn’t make for the right happily ever after as he’d so incorrectly predicted a million times over.

I sighed, releasing that paranoid part of myself into the ether, but lingered at the doorway while Milo slept. He’d buried himself beneath the blanket, drifting further from his dream state slumber—one of the few times when he didn’t carry the world on his shoulders—and toward muddled concerns over demons. I shuddered. They were fiery and destructive images like the night…the night we lost Finn. But so many of Milo’s thoughts burst into staticky blobs. This might’ve been tied to some potential he’d prevented when banishing the fiends yesterday, or maybe Milo dwelled on the horrors of our past as much as I did.

I channeled my root magics before getting ready for my shower, so I could prepare myself to quickly fly to work. The distance was still fatiguing, and if I didn’t prepare my levitation and telekinesis while getting ready, I found it challenging to maintain flight over several miles. My stomach burned as the muscles tightened. Admittedly, I liked how so much constant casting had gotten rid of the bit of flab on my belly. I wasn’t rocking a six pack like Milo, but all my muscles had toned from constant use of my root magics.

Since everything last semester, I wanted to ensure my four root magics were as sharp—nosharper—as when I worked in the industry. I traced my fingertips along the scar across my neck while the shower heated up.

ChapterThree

Chapter Three

Chanelle sauntered down the hallways long before anyone else had arrived, her magenta heels clicked with each swift step, echoing in the near-empty building.

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