the reports went, and it would stay that way too.
This morning the news had broken about Tatum's dad being framed and she'd sobbed in relief for almost an hour before giving her attention back to Kyan's recovery. It had filled me with relief too, knowing the man who had worked so hard to protect his daughters was now exonerated. And his death had not been in vain. I just wished I’d gotten the chance to know him. Because from what Tatum had told me about him, I was sure we would have gotten along. And I wished I’d had the chance to thank him for bringing the love of my life into the world.
Everything was coming together. It was over. And even if Troy had managed to escape death at our hands, he was still ruined, gone, run away never to return. It was good enough. It had to be. We couldn't dedicate our lives to hunting a ghost. We needed to live.
We sat there and waited as Kyan breathed in and out slowly, his face more peaceful than I'd ever seen it.
"He's waking up!" Tatum gasped, pointing to Kyan's hand where she held it, his fingers now tightening around hers.
"Don't make me find your granny and force her to eat the kitty litter," he mumbled without opening his eyes. "Her dentures aren't strong enough for that and she'll break 'em on the granules while trying to choke the shit down."
I barked a laugh and suddenly we were all laughing together, relief and joy falling from us in a wave that became hysterical as Kyan opened his eyes and smirked at us even while he was clearly trying to figure out where the fuck he was. But I guessed it didn't matter. Because we were here with him. Tatum's hand was in his and we were laughing, smiling, just waiting for him to complete our tribe.
I didn't know what we'd do once he was allowed to leave the hospital. I didn't know where we'd go with the country still in Lockdown and Everlake Prep in our past. But it didn't really matter. Because wherever we went and whatever we did, we'd be together. I didn't even need to ask the others to know that that was the truth. We belonged together now and always. That was never going to change.
In years to come, people would look back on this time of wearing masks and social distancing, of missing people and enduring lockdowns, of the fear of the virus and the hope for an end to it and no doubt there would be a lot of mixed emotions about what we'd survived. But wasn't that the point? We had survived. And that was all that truly mattered.
Because my family was here, and we had a life ahead of us now. One where the Hades Virus would become a thing of the past and we could look back on our time in quarantine and at least say we'd found this.
Love.
Family.
Life.
And really, what else could anyone ask for that was more important than that?
ONE YEAR LATER
D ear Jess,
I’m sorry I haven’t written to you for a while. The world got chaotic. Things were frightening, uncertain and I didn’t want to write you letters full of all that. For a minute there I couldn’t see the other side of it. It just looked like a tunnel of darkness stretching out endlessly. But there’s always light on the other side. I’ll remember that in future.
You’d totally laugh at me right now if you could see me. I kinda enrolled at YALE – I know, I know! I’m not the college type. But there was a Women’s Studies class which seemed right up my street so Saint pulled a few strings to get me on it. It’s not like I’m getting a degree or anything. I’ll leave that to him, Blake and Nash. Honestly, I swear I’m getting a second-hand degree from Nash anyway because he loves telling me about the Greek history he’s learning. Which is pretty funny considering he said he’d never follow a future laid out for him by Saint Memphis. But when he looked at that Ancient Greek programme, I guess it got him hard because he’s not stopped talking about it since. Did you know some ancient Greeks wouldn’t eat beans because they thought they contained the souls of the dead?? If that’s the case, I’ve eaten several towns worth of souls and I’m sorry if one of them was you.