“Will you bring him home with you?”
“I’ll try,” he promises.
That’ll have to be enough.
Dare walks me out of the hospital and to his bike, handing me my helmet. I wrap myself around his waist and we ride with the wind in our faces.
Freedom has never felt so good.
LIVE FREE. I understand that phrase now more than I thought I ever could.
When we get home, Dare pauses.
“I want to stay with you when you read the journal. Is that ok?”
He’s hesitant and sweet as he lingers on the bottom step of my porch. I’m self-conscious that he thinks I’m so fragile, but I nod anyway.
“Ok.”
He follows me to my room and sits at my desk while I curl up on my bed.
“Just pretend I’m not here,” he advises.
I shake my head, but that’s exactly what I do.
I ignore the sexy British heartthrob sitting two feet from me, and instead, focus on saving my brother.
To do that, I dive into his journal. I’ve only got a quarter of it left to read. I begin skimming through it, and it weaves its way back and forth between being lucid and crazy.
Ignore her.
Ignore it all.
Deus adiuva me. God help me. Me. Me.
God help me.
Nocte liber sum.
By night I am free.
I have to protect my secret. Have to have to have to.
This gibberish continues for pages, with pictures and phrases and words, until I come to one particular page. There’s a drawing of me and Finn, sitting on top of the cliffs. Finn is throwing his medallion over the side.
She needs it now. Not me not me not me.
Protect her from me. Protect her from me.
Protect her from me.
Love is stronger than death than death than death.
Love is stronger than death.
End this end this end this.
End this all.