Chapter 128: It’s Your Time

DESI

Lucy moves closer and reaches out but stops short of touching me. “We love you. You know that, right?”

I nod because I know that’s what she expects of me. But do they really? Can anyone love me?

I roll the question around in my mind. Taste it.

And I realize.

They do love me.

And I know it.

I know it.

And so I say, “I love you, too.”

And then,

“Thank you.”

My whole being flares with warmth. I feel it slip through me like liquid honey until every part of me feels impossibly warm in this wasteland of cold nothingness.

“Keep shining, baby,” Lucy says, drifting away from me. “I’ll send Michael. He’ll come for you. But you have to keep shining, okay? Let your Halo become a part of you - of every part of you. Can you do that, baby?”

I look at Aaron. “Can I do that?”

But his eyes are closed again. The light Lucy shared with him is already gone - already found its way into me. Panic rises inside me. Aaron’s going to die. He’s going to burn himself out for me.