Court of Nightfall (The Nightfall Chronicles #1)(30)

"Scarlett, would you like to see the stored video archives you had me record when I was last activated?"

My heart stuttered. My parents were on that video. Their last moments on earth. But I couldn't open that vault of emotion with everything else going on. I'd need time. Space. A place to face whatever feelings that video brought up. "Later, Evie. Right now we have to go home."

After running through the last of the pre-flight checklist, I stuck the key in the ignition and pressed the button, then took the stick in hand—though it was really a steering wheel more than a stick, the old language held—and I taxied, accelerating until I had enough momentum to take her to the sky.

The Chancellor had assured me he'd already had someone call in my flight plan, so barring any unintentional trips over major airstrips or into international airspace, I could count on a smooth, quiet flight home.

The hours flew by, my mind drifting to flights with my father and Jax, moments of greatest happiness for me. My mom had never enjoyed flying much, but I could live in the sky if given a chance, and Jax and my dad felt the same way.

It bound us together, gave us something no one could ever take away from us.

A thought, unbidden, came to me in a moment of stunned awareness. If I was truly becoming Nephilim, that meant I'd be able to fly. With wings. My heart beat against my chest at the thought of my wildest most unattainable dreams coming true. Maybe this curse wasn't all bad.

I daydreamed about that for hours as I flew home.

It was late, the sky black as pitch as I landed in my backyard. The reflective paint on the airstrip was my only guidance to not crashing into my house by mistake. In my rush to come home, I hadn't considered the perils of landing in the dark.

It wasn't my smoothest landing. My hands shook, heart racing, as the Cessna jolted to the ground, but we both survived my clumsiness and within a few moments I found myself standing outside my front door, my hands shaking again, but for entirely different reasons.

I pressed my finger against the lock and the door clicked open, the living room instantly lighting up so bright it blinded me. I squinted until my eyes adjusted, then looked around.

I expected things to feel… abandoned. Tragic. Like something horrible had happened here.

But everything looked so normal that it was almost worse. It was like my parents could come downstairs at any moment, asking where I'd been. With the darkness outside obscuring the signs of fighting, of death, you could almost pretend the last two days had just been a horrible nightmare.

Almost.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and walked through my house. Running my hand over the old blue couch in our living room as memories of movie night with my parents and Jax threatened to undo me. Straightening a family picture on our wall, my parents still very much alive, smiling down at me. Picking up the shoes my dad had left by the stairs—something my mom hated because someone would always trip. I clutched them to my chest now, the black scuffed leather of his soles still stained green by the grass.

Taking a deep breath, I put them back where he'd left them, unwilling to change anything tonight. One step at a time. I'd stay the night, which had seemed like a great idea until I'd gotten here and realized just how lonely it would feel. But I had no choice. I'd stay, pack, say one last goodbye, and lock it up for good.

Or at least for a while.

On the couch, my purse from last night still rested on its side, the contents almost spilling out. I'd almost forgotten about Jax's gift to me, back when he was just Jax, not a Teutonic Knight. I pulled out the silver gift bag and removed the wings, pinning them on my shirt. I ran a thumb over the carved metal feathers and tucked the memory of those moments before the battle into a safe pocket of my mind. Those were the last moments of normalcy, of happiness, I had.

A light flickered from our wall and I walked over to the grey screen, which blinked with a green light. I activated it and watched as the image of Dr. Crayton appeared. He looked bewildered as he spoke his message to us. "I have good news for Miss Night. Against all odds, Miss Night passed the vision test. I will issue her a special exemption to get her pilot's license, should she still wish it. Congratulations."

The image flicked off and I stood still, silent, at a loss for what to think. My dreams had just come true and it didn't even matter anymore. I focused my attention back on my house, on what I'd come here to do.

Near our bookshelves, my dad had set up a little table where the two of us had played chess late into the night. I walked over to it slowly, knowing this would hurt the worst. We had been mid-game, our pieces spread over the board, before he died. I'd have to decide, take the set or leave it as it was? I didn't know. Couldn't imagine leaving my home, leaving everything here as if nothing had happened.

From the corner of my eye something flashed and I looked up, startled out of my melancholy. I'd left the front door open for fresh air, and I could have sworn something moved past the house outside.

I poked my head out the door but didn't see anything unusual. Must have been a trick of the light. I thought about closing it, but I wanted the cool draft to clear out the stagnant feel of the house. We often left our front door open on nice nights as we watched a movie or dined on the porch.

I moved to my mother's desk where she had tools out for making her handcrafted jewelry. I rubbed the ring I wore on my middle finger, one she'd made me for my 16thth birthday. A Celtic pattern of links with a Ruby cross. The Templar symbol, I realized.