her dark magic and that she was weak. Too weak to capture anyone or even to get herself out of there. That sounds like she’s also too weak to worry about hurting either one of us.”
“Charlie, if our being together can cause something bad to happen to you, I can’t take that risk. I can’t let you die again. I can’t spend the rest of my life without you.”
“Nothing is going to happen to me. We are safe now. She has no power, no control over us.”
His eyes cut deep inside of me. His tone is pleading.
“If she gets any part of her darkness back, the first thing she will do is come after us.”
He continues to argue. “How will she get it back if you wear it around your neck?”
I shrug my shoulders. I reach up and pull the pendant out of my t-shirt and squeeze it tightly in my fist as I contemplate his words. The pendant reacts, as always, to my touch and warms within my grip. The gentle heat suddenly turns burning hot, forcing me to drop it.
“Oww!” I exclaim, looking at my palm.
“What’s wrong?” Charlie asks.
“The pendant … it burned me.”
I lower my hand so that he can see it. My palm is scarred with the symbol the pendant features.
“Don’t touch that thing again. Not until Eliza takes whatever she put in it back out. Maybe you shouldn’t even be wearing it.”
“I have to. My dad told me never to take it off. It has a protection spell on it to keep me safe.”
“How is it going to protect you if the thing that is trying to hurt you is in there with it?”
I swallow hard. I can feel my forehead tightly scrunching.
“Just don’t touch it again,” he says. “You were fine before you did that.”
I nod my head and try to relax my tense muscles. We sit quietly for a moment before he breaks the silence.
“Emma, whatever is on that pendant, I don’t care. It’s not going to stop me from wanting to be with you.” He slides his hand around the back of my head and pulls me closer to him. “Zoë and Eliza aren’t going to let anyone hurt you, or me.”
I feign agreement and gently nod my head as I lift my gaze to meet his.
“I love you, Emma. Nothing is ever going to change that. I think we’ve already proven that to the universe.”
I love you. Those three little words make me throw out all of my convictions. Fire burns deep within me and I lose control. I lower my lips to his let him kiss me.
“Sorry to break up the party,” Dr. Nolan interrupts, “but I have to get Charlie back to his room. It’s almost time for lights out.”
Charlie slowly leans back in his chair and I reposition myself in bed. “You two lovebirds can see each other again tomorrow morning. I think you’re both scheduled for therapy at the same time.”
Charlie pushes his fingers between mine and gives my hand one last squeeze. “See you later,” he says softly.
I force myself to smile back at him as Dr. Nolan wheels him out of the room. “Oh, one last thing. You and I have an appointment together after your therapy tomorrow morning. They’ll bring you right to my office when you’re finished.”
“Oh. Okay,” I say, expecting the appointment to be more like an inquisition. I guess today was my free pass.
I settle into the bed and use the remote control to dim the lights in my room. The clock on the wall reads 8:47 pm, but it feels like midnight. I’m exhausted from my first day back in reality and want nothing more than to fall asleep. My busy mind has other ideas though.
My thoughts turn to Dr. Milton. I had expected him to be one of the first faces I saw when I woke up, but now, more than ten hours later, he has yet to make an appearance. I wonder if his son, Paul, was one of those who returned today. If he is, then that is surely where Dr. Milton is. I don’t even want to think about the other option.
I wonder if I will be able to dreamwalk tonight or if it will be just like the night before we went into the pods. I expect that dreamwalking won’t be allowed. There’s too much risk involved. An entire unit of walkers recovering from an extended walk surely would not be permitted to journey out