“But—”
And with that, he looks at me sharply.
“You are in my world now, Octavia Hadley. You are under my protection, but that means you are also under my rules.”
I watch as Wednesday is dragged away, her screams muted by the layer that lays between where we are now and the rest of them reside. Kendall runs up to her, stands beside her, in her even, but she cannot see him. She cannot touch him. She cannot hear him calling back to her.
I do not need to reach inside his mind to feel his pain. I can see it. For a moment, I understood it. I knew I was going to lose all of them. I was going to lose everything.
I did what I had to.
But now I realize all the while I have been standing on the edge of some abyss, unaware that it is there. I’ve skirted around its edges, I’ve tried to build bridges. For a moment, I was sure I had found a way to fly above it, so high that I would forget that the gaping, endless chasm even existed.
There was a fundamental flaw to that logic, however. This abyss was never meant to be crossed.
Bram exits the garden, crossing straight through people, through plants, towards the door back to New York, and the new lives awaiting us.
For a second, I hesitate. I stand at the edge of the abyss, peering in.
I feel a flurry beside me. My paired have come to stand with me. Even Kendall, his face reddened and streaked with tears. I can see indecision on each of their faces. Fear on some. Anger, others. But none of them asks me why I did it. Instead, I feel an overwhelming calm, and I know.
Wherever I go, they will follow. They have put their trust in me, and I will not fail them.
No, the abyss was never meant to be crossed. After all, how can you cross something that you are already inside?
So instead of fighting it, this time, I plunge right in. There is no other way.
We follow Bram out of the garden, out of our old lives, and into something new. All this time I’ve been a light in this darkness, a target drawing all those who want to destroy us. It’s about time I blend in and disappear. It’s time I learn to adapt.
From the Author
Thank you for taking the time to read the second book in my debut series, Adapt, Book Two of The Forgotten Affinities Series. Book three, Abandon, is available for preorder on Amazon!
If you enjoyed Adapt, please consider leaving a review on Amazon!
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This book couldn’t have been made possible without the support and encouragement of my friends, family, and readers like you.
With love,
Analeigh
Adapt: Book Two of the Forgotten Affinities Series Page 21
