“My brother, Rider, worked for the department of defense. We both did. So did our father, so did our grandfather.”
“Rider,” Vee said, her brows drawing together slightly. “Eve asked about that name when we were driving back here.
Royce nodded, his eyes serious and sad. He held up the picture in his hand and extended it out to Vee. She took it gently.
“That is my brother Rider, just before he graduated college,” Royce said. “And that was his girlfriend, Emma. Your mother.”
Vee’s eyes studied the picture for a long time and she didn’t say anything. I knew how smart Vee was, how things just seemed to click for her.
But this was a matter of family and emotion. And those things were far from her.
“Vee,” I said. Her eyes darted to me. “That means Royce is your uncle. You’re family. Blood family.”
Again, her brows drew slightly closer together and she held my gaze for a moment.
Royce took one hesitant step toward Vee. I looked over to him to see a single tear clinging to his eyelashes.
“Vee,” he said, his voice hoarse. “This means you are my niece.”
He tentatively crossed the space between them and even more carefully pulled Vee into a hug.
She didn’t hug him back, not right away. She stood there stiff and awkward for a long moment.
But then her fingers curled tightly around the picture and she drew her arms up and behind Royce’s back.
Her eyes slid closed and they stood like that for a long time.
Well how about that? Eve had had family all along.
THE END AND BEGINNING
PART TEN
I took firearms with me, my clothing, basic toiletries, two days’ worth of food. And Bill.
He didn’t need to tell me that he couldn’t stay in the city either. Bill and Eve had shared a connection from the moment she found him spying on Eden in the woods when she was just a girl. They’d been a team for years.
He and I rode out to the lake in silence that was, in a way, comforting.
The two of us worked quietly that day. He took his things into the house next to mine. It wasn’t far away, but enough distance that we would have privacy from one another. We spent a few hours apart. I put all of my clothes in the empty closet and in the empty dressers.
Settling into a new house. The movements felt so normal and so foreign.
When I’d put my things away, I went outside to find Bill already chopping wood with an axe he’d found. I helped him stack the wood, a pile on my porch and a pile on his. By then the sky had grown dark.
We went our separate ways for the night.
I was resigned that I would have dreams about Eve every night until I could dream no longer.
Thankfully, the ones I had that night were not of the torturous sort.
I dreamt of the night I had given her the necklace I had carved. The black stone wings. How we’d watched Eden that night, just the two of us in the dark, the stars twinkling above us.
It was the first time I’d attempted to show her how much I cared about her. Before West showed up with his notebook full of truth. Before Eve knew what she was. Before the world spiraled out of control.
The following day Bill and I chopped more wood. We stacked it.
Bill went hunting while I made a list of more things we would need.
Medical supplies.
Matches.
Water containers.
And so many other things.
Bill came back with two foxes. We cooked them in the open fireplace at his house and ate a silent meal.
On our third day since moving out of New Eden, Bill and I decided to head back into the city for the provisions we needed. He added a few items to our list I hadn’t thought about.
We parked in front of the hospital instead of pulling into the underground garage.
There were people going in and out of the hospital, moving things out. We’d started to set up so many homes before Eve had been taken. Before she had returned. Before the Beacon had gone off. Before she’d contained an entire army in the desert. Before we returned to NovaTor.
Before she died ten days ago.
This was going to be my life from now on: separated into before and after.
Bill and I climbed out of the car and walked into the hospital. Two women gave me sad, compassionate looks as they carried boxes outside.
“Avian.”
I turned to see Lin sitting in a chair in the lobby. It looked like she had been watching everyone as they moved.
“Hi,” I said, trying to manage a smile as she walked over to me. Bill disappeared down a hall.
“Hey.”
“Have you already finished moving out?” I asked, shoving my hands into my pockets.
She shook her head. “You know, I grew up here in Los Angeles, among millions of people. But after everything we’ve been through the last six years, I can’t bring myself to go back out there. It scares me too much. I know they’re dead, this time they won’t be coming back. But I just can’t do it.”
I nodded my head. It was understandable.
“Which is why I wanted to ask if Tristan and I could move out of the city, with you?” she said with an uncertain look on her face.
This took me by surprise. “Really?” I asked. “I mean, it isn’t really the most cheerful place to be right now.”
She nodded her head. “I understand that,” she replied. “But, I don’t know, it would be nice to still be near Eve, in some form. And the lake seems like a good place for…a new beginning.”
I looked to my left as Tristan stepped into the lobby. He crossed to us and put an arm over Lin’s shoulders. “I’m guessing she just asked about moving out with you?”
“She did.”
“If it’s an intrusion, that’s totally understandable,” he said. “I know you’re going to need some time, but, well, we want to be there to support. I think it could be a good way for some of us to move on with life. Start our own new society.”
They looked at me expectantly, hope in their faces.
“I’d be happy to have you,” I finally said, trying to smile.
“Really?” Lin asked, a hopeful, appreciative smile spreading on her face.
“Really,” I said, this time actually managing a genuine one.
Lin leapt at me, crushing me in a huge hug. “We’re all going to be okay,” she said quietly. “We’ll keep living and moving on. It’s what Eve would have wanted.”
“Yeah,” I said. My throat felt tight.
A shrill wail sounded through the lobby and Lin released me.
“Poor Creed,” Lin said as she returned to Tristan’s side. “No one has been able to calm her down since the funeral.”
“Is she okay?” I asked, my brows furrowing.
“Dr. Sun can’t find anything wrong with her,” Lin said, concern in her eyes. “She seems perfectly healthy, especially all things considered. But she’s just upset, all the time.”
I nodded, knowing exactly what was wrong. She knew Eve was gone too.
“I’m going to go check on her,” I said, taking a step toward the medical wing. “You two get packed. We’ll head out in the morning. Bring clothes, supplies for your house, food to last a while.”
They both nodded and I set off down the hall.
Creed cried and screamed the whole walk to the medical wing. I stepped in her room and found Dr. Sun and another woman inside, frantically checking her.
“Oh, Avian!” Dr. Sun jumped violently when she saw me, placing her hand over her heart. “You scared me!”
“Sorry,” I apologized. “Is Creed okay?”
Dr. Sun gave a heavy sigh. “Yes, as far as I can tell. She’s not even colicky, and she’s been taking a bottle on her own. I don’t know why she’s so upset all the time.”