twice for no. Can you do that for me?”
I blinked once, and he giggled like the happiest little boy, rubbing his face and taking deep, measured breaths. “Are you alive? I mean, your body is alive, but your spirit is out… and I’m a little confused, so let’s just do this as a test question. Are you alive?”
Again, I blinked once.
“Are you in any kind of pain?” he asked, and I blinked twice, making him smile. “Good… Good, at least there’s that. Do you know what’s happening to you?”
One blink was enough for this. But I felt like it wasn’t enough. The yes-no bit was fantastic; however, I wanted to do more, to tell him more. Inching closer to my crystal casing, I willed more frost into stretching on top of the first layer, which had already begun to melt.
“Here goes,” I whispered, and wrote another message.
Zeriel frowned as he read it. “Reapers + Fae…” He didn’t immediately get it, but I was patient. He looked around, his gaze darting from one crystal casing to another. “You mean there are Reapers here?”
I made myself blink once. The answer made him break into a cold sweat. I could see the tiny drops of sweat blooming on his temples.
“There are Reapers here… for the fae, you mean?” he replied. Yet another blink in return. “Oh… That’s not good. They’re… They’re here to reap you all, aren’t they?”
The answer was yes, and it tore me apart on the inside to see him descend into a state of panic. It didn’t last long, fortunately. His love for me was too strong to let him lose his grip.
“I admit. You scare me a little,” Seeley muttered behind me, and I shushed him, as Zeriel seemed to be formulating another question.
“Do you know when they’ll take you? The Reapers, I mean,” he asked, and I blinked twice. “Okay. Do you know what they’re waiting for?”
That was an easy one. I managed to write another message in the frost.
5,000,000.
As soon as he saw the number, he knew. He’d had an inkling before, much like everybody else in GASP, but, this time, he’d learned it from me. Zeriel understood that, as soon as the number of affected fae reached five million, it would kill us first, before anyone else, leaving our bodies for the Hermessi to do with as they pleased.
“So, our suspicions, our theories… they were all right.” He sighed. “Once the Hermessi hit five million fae, your souls will be permanently separated from your bodies and… and you’ll die, while they’ll use said bodies to… to finish the ritual. It’s all true. For a while, I didn’t want to believe it, but… dammit, Vesta, I’m not letting you die.”
I blinked once. “I don’t expect you to,” I whispered.
“Reapers are waiting for you to die,” Zeriel said. “But you’re not going anywhere without me, you hear me? I love you, Vesta, and I am going to be here, fighting until my dying breath, to keep you.”
Seeley cleared his throat. “I have to say, he’s taking this a lot better than most people would.”
“Most people? I take it you’ve seen stuff like this before?” I asked.
“Yes and no. I’ve come across a couple of hauntings. Most souls weaken if they’re out for too long without moving on,” he explained. “But there are some… powerful, determined people who even in death seem to defy all reason. Their spirits grow stronger and angrier—that being the downside to a mighty soul, I guess. And you, my dear Vesta, you would make quite the poltergeist, if left to your own devices.”
“I’m inclined to take that as a compliment.”
He smiled. “It was meant as one.”
My eyes closed, prompting Zeriel to place his palms on the crystal casing. “Vesta, are you okay?” He was understandably worried, while Seeley chuckled.
“What’s so funny? I can’t do that again, for some reason,” I grumbled, feeling strained and stretched beyond my comfortable limits.
“You’re tired, Vesta. Operating your body from the outside is a tough gig. Yeah, you did it on your first try, and, again, kudos to you. But still, it takes its toll. You need to rest a little if you want to do it again,” Seeley said.
It made sense. It explained the growing exhaustion expanding through me and making me feel like I was being wrung like a wet cloth. I managed to draw a small heart in what was left of the frost on my crystal casing—my last attempt to tell Zeriel that I was