See How She Awakens (The Chronicles of Izzy #4)(51)
“You know what I think? I think the darkness part of you just makes you an excellent darkness radar. You do realize I’m going to be using you for the rest of my very long life, right? Sort of like a storm forecaster.” Molly paused, hesitating before pressing on. “You know he would’ve wanted you to be happy again, right? I’ll be the first to admit Aberto is a difficult person to be around. He is so secretive and evasive, but he does love you. The way he was after you died-but-didn’t-die, he was like a dog with a bone. He pressed Eleanor, asking her to search wherever she could, and then he’d disappear. Then poof, he’d be down in the catacombs with your body. Cristie would hear him down there talking to you, begging you to come home. Kennan may not have liked him, Izzy, but he did ask Aberto to look after you. He wasn’t a fool, he knew what that would mean.”
“I’m not going to deny there is something there. I would be a big fat liar if I did, but that doesn’t change things. I’m not ready. Truth be told, I don’t know if I will ever be ready to let go of what Kennan and I had.”
“But he is gone, Izzy. Holding on so tightly to what is in the past will eat away at you. Eventually, you have to let him go.”
“And I will, but not today. I don’t hurt like I did, and it is easier since Uriel did what he did.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I guess when I was floating in the chasm, or whatever that place is, Uriel felt pity for me. He eased my pain, tore the grief right from my chest. It was unpleasant.”
“Well, that explains why you are acting like your old self. We were wondering if you’d forgotten everything, and it would all come rushing back, or if something else entirely different had happened.”
“I’ve only been back for like five seconds, Molly. When have y’all had time to discuss me?” The bunch of busy bodies.
“While you were in here getting close to Aberto.” Molly winked at me before standing. “Do you really think I can do this, Izzy?”
“I do.” It amazed me that she would have any doubts. Molly was the most defiant, strong willed person I’d ever met. If anyone could run this motley crew of people, it was her. “I think you being raised away from either faction makes you the best possible choice for the position. Besides, you are able to understand what they are going through better than anyone else could. You know, because you can actually feel it.”
“But what if I screw this up?” Molly started to pace the room, obviously terrified about the position that had been thrust on her.
“Then you fix it and keep going. No one is expecting you to be perfect. And you won’t be doing it alone. You have all of us to help you.”
“You mean, you aren’t leaving?” Molly asked. He question took me by surprise.
“Why would I leave?”
“I thought there might be too many painful memories here, that you’d want to return to the void now that everything had been taken care of.” Molly wouldn’t meet my eyes. As her face turned away, the light reflected off of the moisture pooling in her eyes.
“I’m not going anywhere. Well, I might not stay in this house, but I will be close by. I’m not going to run away any more, Molly. It didn’t do me a durn bit of good the last time I tried it. Nope, you’re stuck with me.”
“Good, because I’d miss you.” Molly sniffled as she threw her arms around me, hugging me tightly.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you, to help you when this started.” My throat felt thick.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there when Kennan died. I hate that you felt so alone.”
“It wasn’t you that made me feel that way. It was the darkness. I know that now.” I pulled back, reluctant to leave the safety of our privacy. “Y’all are my family, and if it weren’t for each and every last one of you crazy people, I would’ve been lost a long time ago. As long as I’m around, I will be there for you, and your kids, and your kid’s kids. Ugh, I’m going to live forever.”
Eternity didn’t seem so long until I started thinking of the lives I would watch come into the world and leave. I would outlive every single person I loved with the exception of one person.
“You need to tell him how you feel, Izzy. He deserves the truth.”
“Stop empathing me.”
“I didn’t have to; it was all over your face.” Molly smiled brightly at me before tugging on my hand to pull me out the door.
“Where are we going?”
“We are going to celebrate you coming back from the dead, of course.” Molly’s eyes flickered with mischief as she pulled me in her wake.
The days unfolded slowly as we tried to bring everyone together. Molly, in typical Molly-fashion, rose to the occasion with more grace than anyone else would’ve ever been able to manage. But the real test was upon us. This was the first time the two groups would be gathered in force. Seers and Guardians were coming in from the edges of the world to hear what was to become of them, what direction their future may lead them in.
“Izzy, what am I supposed to say to them?” Molly had pulled me into the office moments before, fear vibrating from her.
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I can speak first.” I didn’t particularly want to spill my guts about all that had unfolded, but I knew it would make Molly’s job easier. Where I’d managed to break the worlds apart, ripping them to their core to pull the rot away, Molly would bring them back together.