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PATHS AND POSSIBILITIES

I looked at Reth Filled as I was, I could see better than ever through his natural forht to his soul It was beautiful Unlike the liquid flaiven me, his soul was stationary, crystallized It was the sa

"I was going to be cross with you, calling an Unseelie faerie right to you If you had died, I would have been very disappointed But this worked out nicely Noe don’t have to waste tiet right to the fun part"

"The fun part?" Even my voice sounded different; it was richer, layered, likeat the same time An immortal voice

"Oh, yes" He clapped his hands "We can dance all night, every night, and you’ll last forever now Of course, there’s work to do as well But that can wait until after I’ve taken you around the court They’ll all be thrilled tous, I can explain everything to you Listen toon I’m so pleased on, that you can co"

"Why?"

He looked puzzled "Why what?"

"Why would I come with you?"

"Well, you certainly don’t belong here anymore! You can feel it, can’t you? The transience, the flimsiness of this world? Besides, it’s i clean" He frowned down at his waistcoat and brushed at it "And then there’s the work to be done, gates to be opened, ho to be your poem Far er to know before, desperate al with life, so o’Eyes like strea, by the way ’Cold with the things she does not know Heaven above and Hell beneath, liquid flarief With her fire, at last release With her fire, at last release’"

The house felt close--too confining, too tehedwhen the doorknoboff the porch, I breathed in deeply and looked up at the sky The stars, cold and bright, felt like good coht surroundedNot only was every leaf, every blade of grass perfectly defined, there was

"Evelyn, love, where are you going?" Reth caught up, standing next tofrom?"

"Paths and possibilities I can teach you how to manipulate them, if you’d like"

I stared up at the stars Lifting ainst the air "There’s soe in my ears There was so much more to this world, more than I had ever felt "A door"

Reth put his hand on my arm "Oh, you don’t need to bother with that That’s nothing I’llwith me, by my side for eternity"

I turned back to the sky If I aligned those stars just right in ate Odd I’d never noticed

"Evelyn, stop," Reth said, an edge of panic in his voice now

"Stop what?"

"You don’t want to let the "What are you talking about?"

"The souls You need theate you’re supposed to open"

"My souls" I sighed I loved they, nawing, I felt off It was too h, all at the sa , I could feel the craving, the desire seeping in "I want ed Coently on my arhts It took me several seconds to realize it was a car It screeched to a stop in front of us and a man jumped out of the driver’s side His soul was a pale, quavering thing, already on the decline It made me feel peaceful in a way I couldn’t explain, tender toward its fragile beauty

Then the other door opened I went rigid If I had thought Reth’s was beautiful, it was nothing to this soul It filled the night with light, dancing and rippling like the reflection on a pond I hadn’t seen many souls, but I knew that this one was special I wanted it I needed it

"Evie!"

I blinked, trying to filter through my disconnect and place the voice

"Evie, are you okay?"