While You Were Creeping - Poppy Rhys Page 0,51

liking each other, well...” She shrugged, and a small smile tugged her lips to the side. “Even better.”

I shook my head, digesting everything she’d just said. “So the elves...”

“Yes, that was me as well,” she admitted. “All I wanted was for two of my clients—even if Kye was only a client by unfortunate circumstance and because he wasn’t able to avoid me—to find ways to heal.” She swept a hand toward me. “And it sounds like you have.”

“Not really. I’ve only swapped one hell for another. Thanks, now I just cry all the time, but I can do that anywhere. And I do mean anywhere. The classroom, at the café, in the kitchen, on the street, in the transport—literally anywhere. I seem like more of a nutjob now than when I was flushing toilets.”

“Holly, that’s what I’m trying to tell you.” She moved closer and slowly reached out to rest her hands on my shoulders, carefully, giving me time to step back in case I didn’t want her to touch me. “I want Kye free, just like you.”

“You’d help us?” My whooshing pulse grew so loud in my ears that I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to hear whatever she said next.

“At midnight, set the crystal underneath the four moons. Midnight, no later, and Kye will be free.”

She became blurry in my eyes and then I realized the waterworks had started again. “Fuck, I’m sorry.” I swiped my cheeks with my sweater. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me anymore.”

Dr. Molina warmly smiled and gave my shoulders another squeeze. “Go enjoy your life, Holly.”

****

As I sat in a deck chair, I could hear the old-fashioned clock in the great room chiming.

Ding... ding... ding... it went, striking twelve. Midnight. Exactly what Dr. Molina instructed.

I couldn't take my eyes off the cube. It sat on the wrought iron table, directly underneath Dor Nye’s four big moons. The night sky was clear, moonlight bright and making the snowy backyard sparkle like glitter.

My breaths puffed in front of my face and my hands shook. It wasn’t from the cold but nerves.

What if this didn’t work?

The clock chimed it's twelfth and final time. I held my breath.

The cube glowed momentarily before it quickly died, winking to nothing, but... none of the familiar static followed.

The static that signaled Kye moving from that dimension to this one. It had been a signature strangeness the few times he’d done it.

The cube cracked.

I jumped out of my chair and grabbed it.

Another crack.

And another.

“No, no, no, please stop!”

This couldn’t be good!

It cracked again and slowly crumbled into a pile of glittering dust in my gloved hands.

“No!” I cried, “Please no.”

I panicked, cupping the pulverized crystal that continued to slip through my fingers and disintegrate into the bone chilling wind, until nothing was left when I peeked into my cupped hands.

A hot lump lodged itself in my throat as I frantically tried to understand what just happened.

My hands pressed against my chest that once again felt as if it were caving in. Someone was squeezing my heart and I was sure it would burst and kill me.

I did everything Dr. Molina said. Everything!

What happened—

“I love you too.”

I closed my eyes, hot saltwater slipping past my lashes and growing cold on my cheeks as I calmly turned.

“Please be real.” If it were my imagination, I couldn’t take it.

“Holly, open your eyes.”

“No. I’m afraid you’re just in my head and I’ve finally gone bonkers.”

Warm, rough hands cupped my cheeks and thumbs brushed the cold aside.

“I’m real. I’m here. And I’m never leaving.”

I opened my eyes.

Kye gazed down at me, so close, so warm, and still in his tuxedo, as if no time had passed since New Year’s. I reached up to run my hands over his chest and curl my fingers into his jacket lapels.

No one could make me let go.

Then it registered. He said I love you too. “You heard me?”

A grin tugged at his mouth, his tusks making it appear goofy, endearing me further. God, I missed that wacky smile.

“Aye, I did. And I’m telling you now, I love you Holly Zax, and you’re stuck with my annoying, furry ass until I’m dead and six feet under. Do you hear me?”

I laughed. Wholeheartedly laughed but I heard him. I heard him and agreed with every thread of my being as I bobbed my head like a dope.

I tugged and tugged, standing on my tiptoes to meet him halfway for a much-needed kiss.

This. This every day. I could never give this