LOGINFor a moment, Rei couldn't breathe.Mara stood at the edge of the garden, one hand pressed against her mouth, her eyes fixed on the little girl beside Adrian.Elias was behind her.He looked from Mara to the child, then to Rei.“What did you say?”Mara didn't answer.The little girl stared at her.Then she took one small step forward.“Mommy?”Mara made a sound that was somewhere between a sob and a gasp.“No.”The child stopped.Rei moved closer to her mother.“Mom?”Mara shook her head, tears gathering in her eyes.“No, no. That's not possible.”The little girl looked down at her own hands.“Did I do something wrong?”Adrian reached for her.“Lily, wait.”She looked at him.“You said she would remember.”“I thought she would.”Mara took another step.“What's your name?”The girl hesitated.“Lily.”Mara closed her eyes.“Lily.”She repeated the name as though it hurt to say it.Elias came to stand beside her.“Mara, sweetheart. Look at me.”She didn't.“Elias,” she whispered, “I had
Chapter 106For one impossible second, nobody moved.The man standing in the doorway wore Dominic’s face.Not a face that merely resembled his. Not a distant relative or a brother separated by generations. It was Dominic’s face as though time had taken a knife to it and carved away everything soft.The same strong jaw. The same gray eyes, though these were threaded with silver. The same dark hair, now streaked with white at the temples. A scar crossed his left cheek, disappearing beneath the collar of his dark coat.But Dominic was standing beside Rei.The man in the doorway smiled at him.“Hello, brother.”Dominic shifted Benjamin higher against his chest. His free hand moved instinctively toward Rei, but he stopped before touching her.“Don't,” Dominic said.The stranger tilted his head.“Still giving orders?”“Only when someone needs to hear them.”The man's smile widened.Then his gaze moved to Rei.“And hello, wife.”A cold sensation crawled along Rei's spine.She stepped forward
Chapter 105Nobody spoke.The teenager stood beneath the trees, his gray eyes fixed on Dominic.He looked about sixteen or seventeen. Tall, lean, with dark hair falling across his forehead and a scar that disappeared beneath the collar of his shirt. His clothes were unfamiliar, dark and worn, as though he had traveled through places where sunlight had never existed.He didn't look like a monster.He looked like a boy who hadn't slept in years.Dominic moved slightly in front of Rei.“What's your name?”The teenager gave a humorless smile.“You gave me one.”“When?”“In the world you don't remember.”Rei shifted the little girl in her arms.“Tell us.”The boy's gaze moved to her.“Call me Adrian.”The name seemed to make the silver-eyed children behind him stir.One little girl began crying.Another turned away.The two Jonahs stood close together, watching him.The first Jonah finally spoke.“You're not supposed to be here.”Adrian looked at him.“Neither are you.”Jonah shook his hea
Chapter 104The baby opened its eyes.Silver.Not the soft silver of Hope's eyes. Not the strange shifting silver that sometimes appeared in Benjamin's.These were Rei's eyes.The exact shade she had seen in the mirror every morning of her life.Dominic stepped closer, keeping the little girl safely in his arms.“Who is that baby?”The woman with black hair smiled.“Your daughter.”Rei felt Dominic's hand reach for hers.“We have daughters,” he said.“I know.”“Then explain yourself.”The woman tilted her head.“You always were impatient, Dominic.”He stiffened.The woman took another step.“You held me once. Before the first world ended. Before the Between learned how to separate memories from possibilities. You promised you would never let anything happen to me.”Dominic stared at her.“I don't remember you.”“You weren't supposed to.”Her smile disappeared.“You weren't supposed to remember any of us.”Rei looked at the baby.The child was awake now, watching her.She didn't cry.S
Chapter 103Dominic didn't move.A small hand was wrapped around his.The fingers were cold.Far too cold for a living child.Rei dropped beside him, reaching for the little girl's wrist.“Don't pull her!”Dominic looked at her.“I wasn't going to.”The ground cracked again.A child's face appeared beneath the roots.Dark hair.Silver eyes.A small scar above her eyebrow.Dominic stopped breathing.“Seren?”The girl looked up at him.Her eyes filled with tears.“You remember me.”Dominic's expression broke.“Of course I remember you.”“No, you don't.”Her grip tightened.“You remember the other one.”Rei felt Dominic go still.The little girl looked past him, straight at Rei.“You got to keep her.”Rei swallowed.“Sweetheart, I don't know who you are.”The girl shook her head.“You do.”Her voice trembled.“You just don't remember.”The silver roots began twisting around Dominic's wrist.Rei grabbed his forearm.“Let go of him.”The girl looked at her.“I don't want him to leave.”“I
Chapter 102“DON'T LET HER WAKE UP!”Benjamin's scream ripped through the garden.Dominic instinctively pulled the baby against his chest, turning his body to shield him from the hospital room.But the woman on the bed was already awake.Her silver eyes moved slowly across the garden, studying the children, the broken branches, and the faces gathered around the staircase.Then her gaze settled on Rei.A faint smile touched her lips.“There you are.”Rei felt Dominic's hand tighten around her arm.“Who are you?” he demanded.The woman ignored him.She looked at Benjamin.“My goodness,” she whispered. “They brought the little one back.”Benjamin began trembling.Rei stepped closer to Dominic.“Ben, sweetheart, look at me.”The baby's eyes remained fixed on the woman.“She knows,” he whispered.Rei froze.Dominic looked down.“Ben?”“She knows what happened.”The woman on the bed slowly sat up.The white-haired entity stumbled backward.“Don't,” she whispered.The woman smiled.“You've m







