Endlessly (Paranormalcy 3)

"That is the question, isn't it. " Reth's tone was as ill-tempered as his look. He sat on the couch and then, glaring at me as if daring me to mock him, he lay back on it, his breathing still shallow and rapid. "I plucked her body from the Center on our second visit there, lest she fall into Unseelie hands again. Imagine my surprise to return here today and find her awake. "

"You woke up all on your own?" I didn't know whether to be elated or scared. I mean, sure, Vivian and I had become friends, sisters even, in the time since I stopped her from killing paranormals. But that had been in the safe confines of our dreams. Vivian out in the real world. . . "safe" was not a word that sprang to mind.

"I wouldn't say all on my own, no. And have you seen yourself? You're lit up like the Fourth of July!"

I looked down self-consciously. I'd been trying to ignore it, but I was pulsing with light. Not like when it had been concentrated in my wrist and heart from Reth, or the pale, barely there shimmer of my own soul. No, I was filled with all sorts of sparks and swirls of color if you bothered to look and could actually see.

Which Vivian, being another Empty One, could.

"Umm, yeah. I didn't want any of this, not really. " Only kind of a lie. "There have been a few. . . complications. "

She lifted her eyebrows at me, a wry smile on her face. "I know a thing or two about complications. "

"Yeah. So. You? Awake?"

She took my hand, hers freezing in mine, and pulled me over to the couch. "Gosh, your hands are burning up. It feels amazing. Sit down. I'm exhausted. " Vivian leaned back and I noticed she was even paler than me, which was saying something. She looked winded, though all she'd done was stand for a couple of minutes. "Guess being asleep for a few months and losing the energy from hundreds of souls doesn't do wonders for your body. "

"Guess not. " I shifted uncomfortably, wondering if maybe she'd like to take some back so we'd be even. Added a whole new layer to the eternal problem of sisters taking each other's things.

"Still, I've got one of my own now. " This time her smile wasn't vicious or hard at all, but full of wonder as she blinked languidly. She pulled down the top of the long white hospital gown she was in and we both looked at the smooth skin over her heart. There, pulsing ever so faintly, dimmer even than David's tiny candle flame of a soul, was a light.

"Viv," I said, looking up at her with tears in my eyes, "your soul. "

"I know, right?" She beamed. "Guess I do have one, after all. "

"But how? I mean, why now? Do you think it was building up?"

"No, I know exactly how I got it. And now I finally understand why you weren't dying when I met you, and how you kept getting brighter without taking souls from others. " She reached over and tugged the neck of my shirt down to mimic her own, poking the area above my heart with one cold, bony finger. "See, right there. The others are trying to hide it, but I can see it. And it's brighter, even, than the last time I saw you. "

I looked down and put my hand over my heart, wanting to hold my soul there, to cradle it. Vivian and I knew how precious they were. "It is, isn't it?" I hadn't wanted to hope, but now that she confirmed it, I agreed. I was brighter. Me, not just the extras.

"Yup. Because, lucky Evie, I was right. Everyone loves you. Or enough people, at least, for your little sucky Empty One soul to grow all by itself. I never had that. "

I looked down, feeling guilty. Even with my bizarre life I'd always had it better than her, always had people who cared about me. "So you mean the people who loved me put it there?"

She shrugged. "Heck if I know the mechanics of it. Probably. I'm guessing you loving them helped, too. "

I felt warmer than I ever had before. Because this meant that not only did Lend fill that hole inside me, but Raquel did, and David, and Arianna. And, most important of all, it meant that I had never truly lost Lish. If I had a soul because of the people who loved me and who I loved, then a huge part of it would always be hers.

"So, thanks," Vivian said.

"For what?" I looked up at her, confused.

"For being stupid enough to love your crazy, murdering lunatic of a sister and being such a pathetic dork that I couldn't help but love you, too. "

"That's why you were disappearing," I said. "You were waking up. "

"Because of you. "

This time I was the one to wrap my arms around her in a huge hug. "I'm so glad," I said, my face buried in her hair. "But please, promise me no more killing, okay? I have way too many other things to worry about. Please be a happy thing in my life. "

She laughed, pushing me away. "Ouch. You are all elbows. And no worries. I'm not about to risk my own kick-A soul to mix it with some lame vampire mess. It's too pretty. " She let her head flop back against the couch and closed her eyes. "Besides which, even if I wanted to go hunt for some souls, I'm pretty sure a legless werewolf could outrun me. All your little friends are safe. "

I breathed a sigh of relief, watching her face for any sign she was lying. It remained completely smooth and calm. I wasn't about to invite her to a sleepover with Arianna or anything, but I had to hope that she was sincerely changed. It was all I could do.

"What's going on that's got you so stressed? Dark Queen stuff?"

"Oh, if only that were all. " I explained the entire situation to her from start to finish. At one point I thought she'd fallen asleep, but her eyebrows remained drawn over her closed eyes instead of relaxing. "So," I said after what felt like forever, "I'm going to open up the gate. Tonight, apparently. "