“And why was that?”
“Because she knew that no matter how much I love and trust you, there was a part of me that worried you wouldn’t be there when I turned that corner.” I saw no reason to lie. “The biggest part of my heart knew you’d be there, and yet there was this little shard that started poking my innards when I saw your reaction to finding out she expected us to pretend to get married.”
“Bay, I reacted that way because I thought it was cruel and mean for both of us,” Landon explained. “It’s not that I don’t want to … .” He broke off.
“I know it was mean.” I softened my voice. “I don’t think she meant for it to be mean, though. It was supposed to be an exercise in acceptance.”
“I understand that, but it was still mean.” Landon pushed himself to a standing position, ignoring the way Nikki glared after him. “I don’t like it when she messes with us on stuff like this. I want to be able to choose our own course and not let her push us. I think that’s fair.”
I squeezed his hand. “It’s more than fair. But that exercise was for me, not you. I’m sorry you got caught up in it.”
“You think I don’t get it, but I do.” Landon lowered his voice as he leaned closer. “You’re working hard not to worry about me disappearing. You’re almost there. Aunt Tillie wanted to push you over the edge.”
He understood more than I ever gave him credit for. I was always amazed when he figured things out, as if he could see directly inside my soul.
“It was still a little mean,” Landon said. “But I get it. As for the other thing … I’m always going to be there.”
“I know.” I smiled. “I think I’ve known since the moment you came back, although I didn’t want to allow myself to believe it.”
“Oh, will someone please gag me?” Nikki complained. “I can’t watch one more second of this tripe.”
“Join the club,” Thistle said dryly. “Can you two stop stroking each other and focus on the bigger picture? We need this Aunt Tillie to take us to the other Aunt Tillie so we can take down the main Aunt Tillie. That won’t happen if we keep hanging out here.”
“Did you follow that logic?” Landon asked.
I nodded. “Sadly, I did. She’s right. We have to find the other Aunt Tillie. The most evil one.”
“What will you do when you find her?” Nikki asked.
“What do you want us to do?”
“Make her pay for putting me in the well.”
“We can do that.” I tilted my head to the side. “We need you to tell us where they are if you expect us to help you get your revenge.”
Nikki blew out a sigh. “Fine. I’ll tell you. In fact, I’ll do better than that. I’ll show you.”
And just like that, I knew we were back on track. “Then let’s do it.”
NIKKI LED US THROUGH the woods, sticking close to the path as she cast the occasional derogatory look in my direction. I finally couldn’t take her cold silence any longer, so I decided to engage with her.
“What do you know about me?”
“You were married to my nephew until you divorced him for that one.” She jerked her thumb in Landon’s direction. “My nephew was a complete and total psychopath. He impregnated women and threw bar glasses across the room for sport. All he had going for him was a nice set of dimples.”
“I didn’t really know him very well. I can’t comment on his character.”
“You were married to him.”
“It’s difficult to explain.”
“Well, I knew him,” Nikki said. “He was a pus-filled little jerkwad. I always hated him.”
“Even before the brain transplant?”
“He was worse before the brain transplant.”
“Well, I guess I’m glad I didn’t know him then.”
“Yeah, he was a real piece of work.” Nikki leaned closer. “But he was nowhere near the douche that guy is.”
I knew she was talking about Landon. The jab should’ve upset me, but it didn’t. I figured she was merely spouting the script Aunt Tillie wrote for her. “I guess, from your point of view, that’s probably true.”
“What about from your point of view?”
“He’s a hero. He’s my hero.”
Nikki smirked. “I guess there are two sides to everything?”
“I guess so.”
The rest of the trip took only five minutes. By the time we hit a cabin – one that wasn’t much different from the one we were at previously – I started to get a feeling for what we were up against. The landscape, which had been lush and full of color only moments before, was now covered with a powdery substance that couldn’t exactly be described as snow.
“What is this?” Landon leaned over and ran his fingers through the substance. “It’s not even wet. It’s like … laundry detergent flakes or something. In fact … .” He lifted his fingers to his nose and sniffed. “It smells like laundry detergent.”
“And it’s not cold,” Thistle noted, lifting her head to the sky. “It feels exactly the same as it did before, only there’s snow.”
“Where else would Aunt Tillie hole up to make snow sharks?” I asked.
Landon dropped the fake snow on the ground and made a face. “Are sharks going to hop up out of this stuff and try to eat us?”
“That might be fun,” Thistle said, staring into the white fluff. “At least this stupid story would go out with a bang.”
“Do you think this is it?” Marcus was hopeful. “Is this the end?”
I nodded. “This is the big finale. What else has she been building toward if not this?”
“Then let’s get this done.” Marcus was more determined than I’d ever seen him. “I’m so ready to get home.”
“You realize we’re probably still going to wake up with hangovers, right?” Thistle prodded.
“I don’t care.” Marcus was firm. “A hangover is better than this. I’m ready to be done.”
“Then let’s be done,” a woman announced as she strolled out of the bushes to our right. Because they were barren and provided minimal cover, I had trouble believing she’d been there the entire time. Of course, that hardly mattered now.
When she turned, when her gaze landed on me and then Landon, I realized we weren’t quite yet done with the drama.
“Oh, crap!” I made a face as I shook my head. “Why are you back?”
Eden offered me a chilly smile before her expression warmed and she focused on Landon. “It’s been a long time, Jericho.”
“It has,” Landon agreed. “It’s been, like, three hours.”
“It’s been three years,” Eden corrected, her temper flashing. “I mean … I spent one year locked in a cave with a mountain man who turned out to have a heart of gold before he died, another year working as a waitress on an island after a bout of amnesia and then another full year dealing with the aftermath of my return from the dead.
“Speaking of that, shouldn’t you be surprised to see me?” she continued. “The last time we interacted was the day before I fell from a bridge and it was assumed I’d died in the water below. It should’ve been a traumatic experience for you.”
“Oh, right.” Landon slid me a sidelong look before making the universal “she’s loopy” sign and twirling his finger close to his ear. “I was totally gutted about that. I felt terrible about your death.”
“Yes, and this is supposed to be our big reunion,” Eden said. “You’re supposed to take one look at me, fall to your knees, burst into tears and propose.”
Landon raised an eyebrow. “And who told you that?”
“Um … the script.” Eden made a face. “The only reason I came back was to make sure I was billed as the leading lady. Geez.”
“Aunt Tillie’s world is starting to fall apart,” I noted. “This happened in the fairytale world, too. The actors became real and the bleeding was pronounced at the end.”
“That’s music to my ears,” Landon said. “But we still have to get through this scene. We still have to get our hands on Aunt Tillie.”
“Why do you think I’m here?” Eden asked. “I’m the one who is going to catch her.”
“In a weird way it makes sense,” Clove offered. “She was one of the first people we saw. We’ve come full circle. Now she’s here at the end.”