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"What about the band?" Cole asked "Does the queen still have theht of the other band members
Ashe shook his head "I don’t know If she does, she’s keeping it quiet The Shades don’t know either, because I haven’t heard or seen any solid infor from the more criminal ele for an illegal accelerated Feed; but I haven’t been able confir Since I’m part Shade, nobody seems to want to talk to me about criminal activities"
I took in a breath "But if that’s true, the band could already be bulking up for battle?"
"I don’t know for sure"
"And you don’t kno I escaped?" Cole said
Ashe lowered his head into his hands "That information was kept from the Shade network"
Shade network The first words that sounded as if they could have so to do with the link between the Shades
"What is the Shade network?" I said, avoiding eye contact with Jack
Ashe sat up but hesitated before answering "In the simplest terms, it’s like a hub where information is shared" He shook his head "I didn’t believe you had escaped, even when the posters appeared I didn’t believe it until I saw you at ain
"This Shade network," I said "If the queen’s looking for Cole--"
Ashe put up a hand "The Shades’ loyalty is to the Everneath, not the queen I can keep Cole’s presence here a secret So why are you here? Do you want to try to get yourhe would say yes and ree the real reason e had come
Cole nodded toward me infinitesiht be able to kick-start my brain if others share memories they have of me Do you have any of these?"
Ashe lifted his head "I’ve got awith some sort of emotional attachment," I said
Ashe nodded "I have the one It happened a long tio, when I was in South Africa"
FIFTEEN YEARS AGO
The Surface South Africa
Ashe looked down at the river from more than seven hundred feet above it He stood at the center of the Bloukrans Bridge--one of the highest bridges in the world, or at least in South Africa--and leaned out over the ledge
Every Everliving would eventually suffer the equivalent of a human midlife crisis It was inevitable in the life of an i a Forfeit every hundred years, one could be in danger of growing bored
Except boredo, than it did for his human counterparts
But this was no typical midlife crisis
"Mr Campbell?" A man with headphones and a clipboard said
Ashe blinked and then nodded
"Ready to ju beyond the edge
"In threetwooneGo!"
Ashe stepped off the ledge and went into a free fall, and the only thing on his et She had blond hair and blue eyes, and looked like sunshine after a suee contracted, so did his heart Or it would have if he had had one
Safely back on the surface, Ashe cli, clunky phone Not like the kinds they have now
Ashe pressed the green button "Hello?"
"Did it work?" The voice on the other end of the phone asked Ashe knew that voice It was Cole "Did you forget her?"
"No," Ashe said "I’ve climbed the pyramids, I’ve walked hundreds of o, I’ve climbed Mount Kiliet her I don’t knohy I thought throwing e would be any different"
"Maybe that’s because the Bloukrans Bridge isn’t the world’s highest bridge"
"Or ettable," Ashe said "I thought eren’t supposed to be able to feel this way about a human"
"Obviously, there are sohed on the other end of the phone "You could always go to the Everneath Drink froet her coht about this He was about to agree when Cole cleared his throat
"Or you can admit that you haven’t felt this way since Adonia, and you’d be stupid to let her go"
"She’ll never come over to our side," Ashe said "She’ll never becoo be with her for a human lifetime"
NOW
The Everneath Ashe’s house
"And I did," Ashe said "I stayed with Sheree until she died of cancer When she lefttime I didn’t leavethe Feed is what starteda Shade"
I atching Ashe, but all I could think about was the fact that an Everliving had just admitted he’d been in love with a human And Cole supported that love He’d always told s to love For him specifically to love And now to hear his part in as essentially a love story? To know that at one point in his life, he recommended that his friend choose love?
These stories didn’t seem to fit the Cole I knew, but they were real Why had he been so determined to hide this side of himself? Did it scare him to be vulnerable to human emotions?
Cole sniffed beside me, and I finally looked at hi?" I said
"No," Cole said, sniffing again "But that story is so beautiful"
I pressed ether I didn’t knohat to do with this version of Cole, and the uncertainty of how I should treat him was unbearable Were these stories supposed to h to trust hier "The old you hated love Hated it Those who made decisions based on love eak Those anted a life surrounded by loved ones were ignorant To you, it wasn’t beautiful at all It was never beautiful!"