Page 107 of Splitting Secrets
She gave everything she had to winning that war, and our victory lies on her shoulders. She just needs rest now. They all need rest.
Something tells me the four of them will be healing from the events that have transpired here in Nocturne Valley for years to come.
The wounded are scattered throughout the city streets, tended by our few remaining uninjured Valerians. Their groans fill the air, mixing with whispered prayers and murmured reassurances that they will recover. That the town will rebuild. But the loss is evident—too many beds remain empty, and too many graves have been freshly dug by tired Aetherises on the outskirts of town.
Children, once free to run through the safe streets, now stand clutching their parents’ hands, their eyes wide with a kind of understanding far beyond their years.
Hope flickers like the dying embers of a fire. The war is over, but its scars will take years—perhaps generations—to fully fade. Nocturne Valley will never be the same. Hell, theworldwill never be the same without the Midnight Syndicate. But those who remain know they must rise from the ashes, not just to honor the fallen, but to reclaim what was stolen from them.
The first brick is laid. The first candle is lit. And with that, the town begins to breathe again.
EPILOGUE
Sonny
One year later
Quinn waves at me from the window of her bakery as I jog past on my morning run around the town’s center. Her smile is slightly forced, but it’s certainly better than a few months ago, when she would close the blinds before I came by. She still hasn’t thawed her cold attitude toward me—for whatever reason. But she’s trying for Raze. That’s all I can really ask of her.
While there are still some scorch marks and random bullet holes in brick, the town’s center is nearly fully back to its original state. The playground has been replaced in the square and windows have been repaired in every storefront. We started with the homes that were destroyed first, our focus being to get families out of the bitter cold as winter seemed to cling on for dear life. There wasn’t much of a choice when so many innocent people lost everything in a fight they didn’t want to be a part of.
The businesses and university were secondary, though we managed to fly through all the rebuilding at a faster pace thanany regular town could. It’s still astonishing to watch people of all six bloodlines casually use their gifts in new and creative ways.
This is how the Landrys were able to build the town up in the first place. With community and a common goal.
Nocturne Valley was plastered across every news station for months following the war we fought. Ava has launched a cyber campaign against the Midnight Syndicate, taking a page out of their own book to smoke those who were hiding out. Most gifted individuals lost their positions, as only a few were found to be trustworthy enough to retain their high-level jobs. No one was happy to hear that they were being measured against the elite. The entire ecosystem of professional sports has been turned on its head—championship teams torn apart, their titles stripped. I’m sure it was worse for military and government operations, but those are far less public.
On the contrary, others with gifts have been able to come forward and help in humanitarian efforts across the globe. After seeing how fast we were able to rebuild our own homes, well known organizations began asking for help and advice to do the same on a larger scale.
While our small town is hardly a dot on the map, the war we fought has affected every corner of the world.
Thanks to her success in the rebellion and deep knowledge of history, Ava has been offered several positions in top intelligence agencies—and she didn’t even have to finish her degree program to get them.
Beatrix and Jonah have taken a break from their studies to focus on healing from the trauma they’ve endured. Jonah has gone back to live with their parents, while Beatrix has taken it upon herself to revive Matilda’s Parlor of Curiosities here in town. Her parents were pissed at first, refusing to leave Nocturne Valley without her. But I’m convinced no one can winin a standoff against Beatrix. I have a sneaking suspicion her refusal to leave has something to do with a bulky blond who gets under her skin so much, he practically lives there, but she’ll never admit anything to me.
They made the compromise that she’ll visit home once a month, and with Jonah finding excuses to come back every other week, it’s like the two are hardly ever separated. With a little help, she’s taken over Matilda’s apartment above the shop and has recently reopened to the public.
My parents have kept their private mountain home, claiming that they’ve grown too used to the solidarity to leave. They had a driveway dug in that’s made it more accessible though. Raze and I go there for dinner once a week to catch up. In the beginning, most of our conversations surrounded the town’s rebuild. It was difficult to separate business from personal news, especially when none of us knew how to navigate this new relationship.
Eventually, things grew more comfortable. Not every dinner is easy to get through. I have a lot to forgive them for, and they have a lot to learn about me still. But we love each other, and we’re willing to put in the work to heal. Just like with Quinn, that’s all we can hope for right now.
I can tell Raze dreads our visits, though he swears up and down that he doesn’t. I’m just happy he’s still willing to come with me each week.
Aunt Divina and Uncle Graysen left before I woke up from my coma in the days after the war. This past year, they’ve packed up their home and moved to a tropical town all the way across the country. My parents claim they need time to heal from the loss of Poppy before they can address anything else. I’m not sure if I believe they'll ever be healed enough to talk to me, although I can’t really judge them. I still get to see Poppy every day, so her death hasn’t affected me in the same devastating way it’s affected them.
They’re often a topic of conversation during dinners with my parents. I’m sorting through things that I resent them for and things I resent my parents for, quickly realizing that not everything is on their shoulders. Nothing is as it ever seemed.
At the end of every day, regardless of my perception of how things went, Aunt Divina and Uncle Graysen’s number one priority was keeping me safe and my identity unknown. Even pushing Bane into the creek was to save my mother from being labeled as a Landry sympathizer and killed. Divina handled most of it horribly and created enemies out of me and her daughter over lies when she could have had stronger bonds with us over the truth. But her intentions were pure, and that’s what I try to remind myself of every day.
Soon, we’ll be able to hash it all out together, but only when both of us are in the right head space.
“You ready?” Raze’s deep voice rumbles over the sound of my headphones, stopping me in the tracks.
He’s waiting outside the iron gates where we both defeated the Supremes and ended the war. I still shudder when I think about it and the lives I took. No one blames me for what I’ve done—well, besides a few Syndicate loyalists who still linger in Nocturne Valley—but their contorted faces just before they died haunt my worst nightmares each night. The endless energy flowing through my veins, the natural instincts to kill—it was a lot. I spent nearly two weeks in a coma, my body recovering from the sheer impact of being a conduit of that much generational rage and power.
Finley hasn’t returned since. He stayed with me during my recovery, taking turns with Poppy to keep me company in the lonely abyss of my mind. He was much kinder to me then. By the end of those two weeks, they had gotten along much better with him dropping whatever grudge he held against her.
But in the near year since I’ve awoken, he hasn’t been back, and instinct tells me it’s because his soul was finally able to rest.
