Chapter 85

I never realized how heavy something so small could feel until I carried Thompson’s essence in my pocket.

The bottle was not bigger than my palm. It was corked tight, with the faint shimmer of his form curled inside like a restless shadow. Every time I touched it, my skin tingled as if the glass wasn’t meant to hold what was inside. I could almost hear his whisper sometimes, like a memory tugging at me from a faraway corner. I knew it wasn’t real or maybe I hoped it wasn’t.

The day I decided to go to Camellia’s, the sky was the same color as wet ash. Heavy clouds rolled above Riverside, the kind that looked like they could break into a storm any second.

Tessy had been urging me since the night I returned. She’d sat with me, her eyes wide, when I pulled the bottle from my bag. She hadn’t touched it, she just kept staring at it just the way someone might look at fire, knowing it could warm you or burn your whole life to the ground.

“You should take it to Camellia,” she’d said, her voi