Survivor - By Kaye Draper Page 0,79

a look. “Are you saying it’s time to give up and let her go?”

I shook my head. “No. I’m saying that she doesn’t exist. It’s only me. It’s only ever been me- just the person I am now.” I sighed, knowing I was doing this badly. “I just want you and Mom to see me. Right now. Right here. As I am. There is no other me- no other reality. It is what it is, right here in this moment.”

I looked down at our clasped hands and the shiny koi charm that rested between our wrists. “This was always what was meant to be. The other stuff- all those what-ifs- those are just things we created in our heads. They were never real, so we shouldn’t be disappointed in things that never existed in the first place.”

My dad chuckled. It was a dry, hesitant kind of thing, and I brought my eyes up to meet his. “You’ve changed,” he said, sounding awed.

“Yes.”

“You’ve grown- a lot.”

“Yes.”

“Is it because of him?” He and Mom both continued to treat Peter like he was some kind of criminal, but I thought they might be starting to see how much he meant to me.

“No,” I said truthfully. “It’s because of me. He just gave me a little push.”

Dad slipped his wire-rimmed glasses off and rubbed his eyes. “Then I hope he knows how thankful I am,” he said, surprising the hell out of me. “And I hope you know that whatever you do and wherever you go, I’m proud of you.”

I blinked fast to fight back the tears. “And I’m proud of you Dad,” I whispered softly. I was sure he had doubted himself and blamed himself endlessly since my injury. As a parent, he had probably always wondered if he were doing all he could to help and protect me. But he was able to see that I was standing on my own two feet now, and that the responsibility was no longer his.

I slipped from the study some time later, feeling as if a burden had been lifted. The weight in my chest that was my family was still there, but the feeling of it had shifted. Its cold, hard edges had become soft and warm, so it was easier to bear.

Every time I faced down a fear or a worry, I felt stronger; my footing felt more sure. I slipped into bed, knowing it was probably the last time I would see my old room for a long time, and welcomed the deep sleep that shouldn’t be mine, accepting who I was for this moment.

Chapter 19

I was awakened a few hours later by the buzzing of my cell phone. “Peter?” I wasn’t really surprised that he would call me at this time of night. After all, it wasn’t as if he would be asleep, and I normally didn’t keep human hours. All the same, a shiver of fear spiked through me. Something was wrong.

“Melody, I need you to come home,” he said urgently. “We’ve found them and we are moving on them tonight.” Then ones who were stirring up trouble for the coven. The man from my nightmares. I knew they’d been searching for him, though they kept me out of it. I was surprised how quickly they’d found him.

“I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

I tucked my phone away and slipped on a pair of jeans and an old t-shirt. Then I hastily scribbled a note to my parents and left it on the dining room table. It said only that I had returned home. I couldn’t manage to think up a good reason for leaving in the middle of the night.

A light, misting rain was falling, and the sidewalk and streets were shiny black in the streetlights. My steps were silent as I wrapped my aura around myself and blurred into the night, jogging to Peter’s house within minutes.

When I arrived, there were several of the coven milling about outside the door. Peter was waiting for me inside. His chilling silver eyes met mine, already anticipating the fight. “We just got word that one of the lesser covens in our area is under attack. It’s likely Lee and his followers.”

I nodded and reached for my long leather boots, sitting on the rug by the door. They would be more appropriate for a fight than the flip-flops I had on. Peter took my hand, halting my movement. “You are staying here.”

I shook my head and gave him a defiant look. “I