“That doesn’t even make sense.” A moment passed and my father peeked around the bed. “Would it be easier for you to see me as Peanut? I can change back into him. I just cannot maintain the projection for very long.”
Understanding struck me upside the head. “That’s why you were always disappearing! Even back in the community. I just thought you were off doing...ghost things.”
“The projection requires my attention. Not a lot, but enough that it can be a distraction. Do you want me to change back to him?”
“No. That would...that would be even weirder, and I don’t think I can deal with that.”
He nodded and then sat at the foot of the bed. He was silent.
I wasn’t. “What about the whole purgatory thing? When you said you were sucked into it?”
“That did happen when Zayne Fell. Not to me, but to those who hadn’t moved on.” He rested his hands on his knees. “I thought it would be important for you to know the impact of his Fall, even if it was temporary.”
Okay. Well, impact known. Not sure what that changed, and for some reason, that seemed like a random, nonsensical thing a parent would try to teach a child.
“You avoided Zayne after he Fell, because he would’ve known, wouldn’t he?”
“He wouldn’t have known it was me, but he would’ve sensed something was not quite as it seemed. That would’ve been an unnecessary complication.”
“And Gena? She isn’t a ghost. It was just an excuse for why you couldn’t be around.” It became clear. “Because of Gabriel being around? Was that why you were...gone more than you were here?”
He nodded.
Another thing struck me. “My mother—”
“She is at peace,” he answered quickly. “Happy and comfortable.”
My heart was pounding again, and I wasn’t even sure if it slowed down. “Do you see her?”
“I do,” he said, surprising me. “I like her. She was not chosen at random.”
“She wasn’t?”
Michael shook his head. “No.”
I started to ask more questions about that, and then decided, in that moment, I didn’t think I could handle hearing about my mother and father’s love affair.
I could only deal with so much.
There was something I needed to ask. “Why has she never visited me?”
“It is the same reason why Zayne’s father did not see him when he was in the Heavens,” he said, and I jolted. “Because she knew you would not be able to let her go. You would be stuck, and that pain, that grief and that love and want would’ve trapped her. She wouldn’t do that to you.”
A knot formed in my throat. “Does she know how sorry—”
“What happened to her was not your fault. She never thought that. Not for one second, and she would be furious if she knew you believed that.”
Tears blurred my eyes. She totally would be furious.
“The actions of others caused her death. You were just a chink in that chain, just like her. It was those who wielded that chain who are at fault. Deep down you know that.” His voice softened. “But sometimes no ownership in the end results is worse than the guilt of being the cause.”
Ugh.
He sounded so...so wise, and it was weird and wonderful, but mostly weird.
I swiped at the tears. “Why?”
He seemed to know what I was asking. “Because it was the only way I could have any relationship with you. The only way I could know you.”
The knot swelled in my throat. “And Zayne?” I asked hoarsely. “You made sure he could Fall so he could be with me.”
“It was a small gift I could ensure.”
A small gift? A wet laugh left me. “And the stars? That was you.”
He nodded.
“And you...you are the reason why I’m alive right now.”
“Partly.”
I blinked. “Partly?”
“I had help from a certain human with a new lease on life.”
“The Crone,” I realized.
Michael inclined his head. “The potion she gave you didn’t just bring Zayne to you. It bound you to him. Similar to the Protector bond, but stronger. You carry a part of his essence in you. As long as he lives, you live. You are marked.”
I pressed tingling fingers to my chest, to where the strange scar had taken shape, right where the light that had come from Zayne had hit me. Suddenly I remembered the look Tony had given the Crone when she told me I needed to draw my own blood.
My wide eyes shot to where Michael sat. “I...I didn’t die, then?”
He shook his head. “You were weakened and slipped unconscious while the bond repaired the damage done.”
“But I thought an angel blade could kill anything?”
“The bond between you and Zayne supersedes all.” He paused. “Well, almost everything. If you were decapitated, then...”
I blinked slowly.
“You have his lifespan, Trinity.” Those all-white eyes bore into mine. “You do understand what that means?”
My heart skipped a beat. “I’m... I’m immortal?”