So yeah… I’ve come to terms with it.
But me coming to terms with it isn’t the issue.
Reid hasn’t.
That’s the problem.
I see it every time he goes quiet, every time his jaw tightens like he’s holding something back.
Which is why I brought us out here.
Not because I planned it out. Not because I thought it through.
Just because I knew this place might give him something the rest of us can’t.
“Jesus, Tal, where are we going?” Luke complains, his boots crunching loudly behind me. “You shouldn’t have invited us if it was going to take us to the edge of civilization.”
“I didn’t invite you,” I say without looking back. “I invited Sierra and Reid.”
“Yeah, well, that was hurtful. I thought we had something.”
“You almost broke my nose.”
“I thought we were past that.”
I smirk to myself. I knew he’d come anyway. That’s part of it. We don’t really do separate anymore, whether we admit it or not.
Behind me, Sierra stumbles.
I turn instantly, but Reid is already there, his hands catching her waist, steadying her before she can fall.
“Got you,” he murmurs.
She smiles up at him. “Thanks.”
Then her eyes flick to me, a quick wink that lands somewhere low in my chest and stays there.
“I’m with Luke on this one,” she says, catching her breath. “It feels like we’ve been walking forever.”
“It’s been three hours.”
“Exactly.” She laughs softly, brushing hair from her face. “I know you hike all the time, but this is… a lot. For normal people, I mean. That said, I thought it’d be denser.”
So did I, the first time.
But the forest opens differently here. Sunlight cuts through the canopy in narrow beams, striping the ground in shifting gold. The air feels lighter, clearer—like something ahead is pulling us forward.
The light starts to crisscross more tightly.
We’re close.
“We’re almost there,” I say.
“You said that half an hour ago,” Luke mutters.
“Well, we were. But we’re really close now.”
I keep going until the trees thin and we break through.