Page 10 of Entwined

“She’s fine.” Then she goes back to pacing.

Now I have no idea what’s happening. Poking at and pushing her like that has never not worked.

“Alright, well, until you want to tell me why you like her and hate her, maybe we should keep trying to?—”

“I want to see my family, and I want to see Fluff Dog.” She heads for the elevator bay.

“We have a lot of things?—”

“Sometimes you don’t have to attack things head-on in order to fix them, you know. Sometimes the solution just comes to you when you’re doing something else.”

What’s she talking about? “Solutions never just?—”

She holds up a finger and shakes her head. “Don’t.”

Don’t what? I swear, humans are the finickiest creatures I have ever encountered.

She gets in the elevator and closes the doors before I can get on. Running down the stairs to reach the elevator bay before she can disappear doesn’t put me in a wonderful state of mind. Even that amount of distance between us is a little uncomfortable, but maybe it’s a good thing for us to practice having some space. The records say that entwined can only comfortably be apart once their bond is healthy and strong, but maybe that’s not right. Maybe it gets stronger in the same way humans apparently develop muscles.

Through practice.

When Liz steps off the elevator and sees me, her eyes spark. “Of all the?—”

“I think it’s a good idea for you to spend some time with your family, without me,” I say. “In fact, maybe I should fly as far away as I can. We can give that a try and see how you do.”

“How I do?” Her brow furrows.

“If we can get used to being apart, I could go to see my dad without you.” That would solve a lot of problems.

“Oh.” She nods. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Sure,” she says. “Try and fly away.” But then she frowns. “How will you know whether it’s working?”

I tap my head. “Pretty sure the bond will let me know.”

“Duh.” She smiles. “Yes, I think we both need just a little bit of space.”

I hate the sound of that, but I like her smile, so I swallow my irritation and watch as she disappears into her family’s floor of rooms.

But I’m a little worried this may be my worst idea yet.

3

Liz

Just before the dragons came, Gideon told me he was quitting—retiring from the world of mixed martial arts. He was joining special forces.

I had complicated emotions about it, but mostly I was excited.

For ten years or more, I’ve wondered whether Gideon and I might. . .when I doodled my name on my notebook in school, the only name other than Chadwick that I ever tacked onto the end of Elizabeth was his.

Elizabeth Evans.

It even looked nice. Cheesy, but nice.

Because Gideon and I have always been a perfect match. He’s tall, and so am I. He’s a natural fighter with a gift for pulling off wins no one expects—same. He’s dedicated and disciplined and driven in the exact same ways as me. We even lived close, and sometimes, at night, he’d ride his bike over, climb through the window into my room, and lie on the floor next to my bed. He knew about my nightmares, and he wanted to help slay the imaginary demons that plagued me.