“No, you kissed me,” Hylas said.
“I did no such thing,” Tobias said. “I gave you back your heartbeat.”
“Which is beyond fantastic, but you did so by putting your mouth on mine,” Hylas said. “That constitutes a kiss, no matter where you’re from.”
“It does not,” Tobias said. “You put your tongue in my mouth.”
“So?” Hylas said. “You started it.”
“Absolutely not,” Tobias said. But then he began to laugh, big, sobbing gusts of laughter as he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. There. Now things were closer to all right again.
Hylas hugged him tight, neither of them caring about all the broken glass right then. “I missed you, too, Tobias,” Hylas said as Tobias squeezed him back. When Hylas stood back again, he eyed Tobias critically. “So. Wings. You have them and I don’t. That strikes me as totally unfair.” He yawned and rubbed his eyes with a huge smile.
“If you had wings, you’d fall asleep mid-flight and then where would you be?” Tobias asked. “It makes perfect sense for me to have them and for you to not.”
“Who knows?” Hylas asked. “In a cornfield, in a lake… the middle of some kid’s bris. Bet that’d be weird.”
Tobias slid down the wall, laughing again, happier than he could ever remember being. He had his brother, the other half of himself, back again and it was the greatest feeling.
Hylas crouched down beside him and leaned against his shoulder. “Should I call you Thanatos now?”
“Should I call you Hypnos?”
“No way,” Hylas said. “Hylas is a much cooler name.”
“So is Tobias,” said Tobias.
“Not really, actually, but it does have a certain ring to it,” Hylas said. “Not to mention, people would think the sudden name change was weird.”
“There is also that to consider, yes,” Tobias said.
“You got any pot?” Hylas asked after another minute.
“Of course I don’t,” Tobias said.
“What about Dawn Marie?” Hylas asked. Then his eyes got wide. “Shit, dude, we did it again with not thinking things through. People are going to flip their shit when I suddenly reappear from being dead. And then there’s my grave. Fuck. Oh, that is fucking weird. What’s in that coffin do you think?”
“Your human body,” Tobias said.
When he thought about it, it was weird, but he would get over it and so would Hylas. Everyone else—that was going to be an interesting problem to solve. Dawn Marie wouldn’t be a hard sell, but everyone else was indeed going to flip their shit. Hylas was completely right when he said they did not think things through sometimes. But that was for another day. “I think people will learn to deal with it. We’ll think of something… probably.”
“Fuck it for right now though, yeah?” Hylas said.
“Yes,” Tobias said as he stood up. “Let’s go see if Dawn Marie has some pot.”
“She’s gonna freak out.” Hylas sounded more amused at the prospect than trepidatious. “But wait. You said ‘let’s’. Does this mean you will also be partaking for a change?”
“I think I might,” Tobias said. “I owe Dawn Marie a bacchanalian frolic, too. Might as well get that out of the way while I’m at it.”
“That is going to be stupendous, watching you frolic,” Hylas said. “Because it’s you and you never frolic.”
“Tonight, we frolic,” Tobias said as they came to stand outside Dawn Marie’s door. He stopped with his fist raised to knock and looked at Hylas. “Welcome home, Hylas.”
“It is good to be back,” Hylas said.
Tobias knocked on Dawn Marie’s door then, curious to see the expression on her face when she saw Hylas standing there with him. He listened to the thump of her boots on the wood floor coming closer. As the knob began to turn, the crows began to call out all at once. Tobias closed his eyes and smiled at the sound of their voices raised in celebration.
Author’s Note
Hi! Thank you for taking the time to read my book, it means a lot to me. If you liked it and have an extra minute or two, please consider leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Reviews help other people find my books and as a starving author, more reads means more Ramen for me. Thank you for you consideration.
About the Author
Justine Sebastian began writing at the age of four. It took her quite a few years longer to realize she might actually be able to make a living doing so. She was born and raised in the Deep South. She does indeed have an accent. When she is not writing, she is a creepy neighbor.
Also by Justine Sebastian
Bitter Sweets
The First Incision
A Slave to Clay
Strange is the Night (short story)
Sparrow Falls Series:
Shades of Night (Sparrow Falls Book 1)
Table of Contents
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Falls the Shadow (Sparrow Falls Book 2) Page 41
