Page 8 of Evermore

“I don’t feel like dancing today.”

“Neither do I, but maybe that’s why we should do it. Because we have to be in charge of our feelings and not let them be in charge of us, right?”

She nodded. “Probably.”

I stood and whistled. “Boo. Here boy!”

The little white dog with long, golden ears came barreling from the sitting room, tail tucked between his legs as he wiggled forward, tentative to be too close to Quill, but his bottom still shaking as he licked my fingers.

“Hey,” Quill said. “You never really liked Boo before.”

I lifted the dog from the floor and snagged Quill’s hand. “And yet, somehow I missed the little terror. When’s the last time he stole a roast from the table? So I can gauge his naughtiness since I’ve been gone.”

She managed a tiny smile as she reached for her pup, pulling him from my arms. “I’m probably not going to tell you so you can be friends.”

“Speaking of friends,” I said as we walked out into the meadow, “I brought someone here I’d like you to meet. When you’re both ready.”

She stopped, pulling out of my grip around her fingers. “The sad one that’s also a little bit mad?”

I knew I had to be careful with my words. As Quill’s power grew, she could either learn to navigate her feelings, or she would drown in them. And by the looks of it, she was already struggling. “Something really sad happened to him, yes. But sad things happen and we have to learn to process those things. We can’t hold on to them.” I knelt before her in the grass, though she’d grown so much, I had to look up at her from here. “Remember when Hollis died and we were all very sad? If I think about him for a long time, I feel sad. But I also feel so much joy because I got to know him. And then I think of all the nice things he did for us. Remember when he sewed a special pocket onto your blue dress so you could keep Boo’s treats in there?”

“Yes. And remember when Boo ripped a hole in the pocket?”

“And what did Hollis do for you?”

Her gaze shifted between my eyes. “He patched it up.”

“All feelings are good to have. We can be sad and mad and embarrassed and anxious, but we also have to let ourselves be happy. We have to hold onto that one the most or everything is dark.”

“Sometimes I like the dark,” she admitted, kicking a toe into the ground. “Sometimes the dark feels better.”

I reached out, brushing a thumb across her cheek. “Darkness has a way of feeling safe, like it’s the only place big enough to hold all our hurt. But remember, Quilly, darkness is where we hide, not where we heal. We walk through it, not to stay, but to find our way back to the light.”

Boo ran around us as I pulled her into another hug and for a moment everything was right in the world. Quill’s happiness rippled around us and if I didn’t know any better, I would have sworn I saw the grass sway with the density of it. She moved away from me and threw her hands out sideways, tossing herhead back. “Can you believe the sun is shining so bright? When was the last time we had sunshine like this?”

“I can’t remember.”

I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. I’d wished for this, I’d dreamt of it even, but something felt wrong.

I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and looked over to see Thea and Elowen, holding each other on the step as they stared at that little girl in wonder. She’d been so broken, and in turn they had been, but they’d kept it together, severing themselves from the world because that was what it took to keep everyone as safe as possible. But Quill had needed me more than anything. She’d needed to be reminded that she was worth coming back for. She’d been abandoned by her parents just like I had. We were kindred souls, she and I. And some of my roughest days had been made brighter because of her.

“Are we dancing or what?” Quill asked, stopping to pin me with a glare.

Her mood swings were so sharp, the edge to her voice nearly stole my breath.

“Have you lost all your manners since I’ve been gone?”

She drew back as if she hadn’t heard her own tone, then lifted a shoulder without answering. Pushing her while she was still unstable was not a good idea, but letting her trample over people wasn’t either. That was where Thea and Elowen had landed and they’d only been able to endure a few months of it.

“You don’t get to be unkind, Quill. No matter the darkness you crave, or the hurt you feel, you have a duty to yourself and the people around you.”

She drew in a sharp breath and I knew she’d forgotten the way my words could bite. I wouldn’t coddle her, nor would I walk around on eggshells and give her the upperhand. She was a child that needed boundaries.

Her glare was visceral. “I don’t want to dance anymore.” She spun on a heel and ran back to the house, darting around the other two.

Without thinking I sent my power forward, breathing at the release of it, not realizing how much pressure had grown behind the swell of it. I used it to follow her all the way to her bedroom to make sure she didn’t run out the back door. She screamed, something crashed and not a second later everyone was running after her. Quill’s bedroom door was in splinters all over the hall. The handle, broken into pieces, lay below a new hole in the wall at the end of the hallway.

Archer surged out of his room without a shirt, hair disheveled and rings under his eyes as if he hadn’t slept in days. “What happened?”