Page 22 of Bonded Ever After

He leans in to kiss me, but I pull back, looking toward my door in a panic as I sense movement on the other side.

Callum rises to his feet, creeps toward the door, and throws it open– except, no one is there. It’s just the empty hallway. Yet, it’s a reminder. We’d have no way to explain why he and I were here alone. He has to go.

His gaze holds mine, and I can feel a thousand things he wants to say, but then he turns and leaves. I sit back against my bed, head in my hands.

Everything is going to change. Nothing will ever be the same again.

NINE

Elora

I’d actually suggested a clearing near the forest where I’d seen Ari and Veric as the place to share my last meal with Beva and Serrill. We’d set up a blanket, ordered all our favorite foods from all of Beva’s favorite restaurants, and now we had a feast worthy of kings spread out around us. Leaves were falling from the trees. A cool evening breeze was blowing through the branches. It was the perfect place to say our goodbye.

“So, how did you find this place? It’s pretty,” Serrill asks, combing back his long, black hair with his fingers.

“Ari and Veric actually showed it to me,” I say.

They both look at me intrigued, so I start telling the story about how I found them both over here, exploring the woods, with maps in their hands. The more I talk, the more intrigued they look, until I’m finally finished.

“I wonder what they were looking for,” Serrill says, sounding curious.

Shrugging, I say, “There’s never been anything interesting in these woods.”

Beva sits back, a puzzled expression on her face. “Except the ancient path out of Paradise Falls. That’s the only thing someonemight need to use maps to search for. And they may be using different colors to highlight the different paths they’ve tried.”

“The ancient path?” I’m shocked. I’d never thought about that, but now it makes perfect sense. “But why would anyone take that much time and effort to find it?”

“Maybe they want to leave,” Beva says, and I can tell her analytical brain is working.

“But even if they find the one way out of Paradise Falls, the trip would be really dangerous,and thenthey’d have to find a way to survive on the outside,” I say.

Serrill shrugs. “Maybe searching for it is just… like a hobby for them?”

“Maybe,” I say, but I decide right then and there that I’m going to ask them more about it.

“Those two certainly are interesting,” Beva says, laughing and shaking her head. “You couldn’t catch me dead in the woods unless something was chasing me.”

Serrill laughs too. “Same. If you see me in the woods, you better start looking for the bear that’s trying to eat me.”

We all laugh, and continue digging into our various foods. This is a celebration, after all. Our last meal with Beva.

“I actually have some news,” Serrill says, and he seems uncharacteristically shy.

“What kind of news?”

We’d avoided any topic of what Callum and I had seen that night in the alley, knowing that he’d talk to me about it when he was ready. Besides, I have a lot on my plate. I want to be able to focus when Serrill and I have that conversation.

“I applied to a university outside of Paradise Hills. Eureka University.”

My brows lift. “The one Teth is going to?”

He blushes. “Yeah, it has some good programs. I mean, I don’t know if I’ll get in. I’ve already switched my major to the sciences, but I don’t know if it’ll be enough.”

“I’ll put in a good word for you,” I say.

We both know it’s his only chance of getting in. Even though both Beva and Teth were approved to leave, very few people get approved. I’m talking four or five from every graduating class at most, and those kids were usually the best of the best… which Serrilll is not.

“Thanks,” he says, then clears his throat. “I thought we should talk about what happened.”

---