Fate's Revenge (Twisted Fate, Book 4)

Chapter Fifty-Seven

"I thought you were happier now."

"I am," I said, my voice barely a whisper, and nodded. "With you."

"So, then what's the problem, Alyssa? Why do you want to leave?"

"I'm not leaving you. Or us." Maybe I was, but only in the physical sense. My heart will be here, with Gabe.

"But your things are packed."

"Yes." I nodded. "If it were about you, I'd stay, but you can't always be with me. Even if you could, it wouldn't change everything else."

"So then—"

"Did you hear about Suzie?" I asked but didn't wait for an answer. Of course, he knew. "Did Mike tell you he broke up with her because she's been made a Pure Soul, like she's some sort of duty. What will that make me when I die? An obligation?"

"You're not going to—"

"Everyone dies, Gabe. It's the only certainty humans have in the world. You're born, you live, and then you're dead."

I looked down at him and sighed. Then, feeling like I was about to cave under his stare, I pushed myself to my feet. The force was so strong, and the motion so quick, Gabe almost toppled to the floor on his side when his hands dropped from my thighs. Within seconds I had crossed to the other side of the room, turning as he waited and then rose in slow motion to once again meet my watchful stare.

Distance helped me keep perspective, but a single moment of uncertainty would crumble the façade.

"Suzie died, Gabe, and instead of fixing it, the Sisters made her a Pure Soul."

"Suzie was always meant to be a Pure Soul."

"No." I shook my head. "No." Lifting my arm, I pointed towards him, jabbing the air for emphasis. "Because she's friends with me—"

"It isn't your fault!"

My hand fell to my side. "Everything is my fault! I should never have been born. Or, as it turns out, created."

"You were born."

"That is not the point."

"Fine. You want to hear a point?" he asked and shifted his weight. "Suzie was always meant to die—it was her fate for the aneurysm to burst, and it would've happened sooner if you hadn't brought her here. But she wasn't born a Pure Soul. Her friendship with you gave her an afterlife."

"How?"

"Deryk explained it. Why was he drawn to her?"

"I—he thought she was me," I whispered. I looked to the floor, the pieces clicking. "So, Tina? My parents?" I looked up, hopeful. "They'll have an afterlife?"

"No."

"But you just said—"

"You and Suzie were inseparable growing up. While your light transferred to those closest to you, the effects are restricted by time. They fade." He watched me, giving me a moment to digest what he said, and then asked, "What did you and Suzie do when you were children?"

"Huh?" I shook my head. "This isn't the time to reminisce, Gabe."

"I know. But you and Suzie did something that connected you more than everyone else in your life. What was it?"

What didn't we do? As children, it was dolls. In high school, it was parties, boys, shopping, dreaming of the futures neither of us could have now. But in between, I wasn't the only one who enjoyed the woods behind Royal Academy. We were like sisters. The declaration made at the hospital to Suzie's doctors was more truthful than I had realized—we were blood sisters.