Stay the Night

Phillipe followed her through the halls and down to the basement level. He stood beside her as she used a poker to open the door to Geoffrey's furnace. Only then did he speak. "Could you synthesize more of the serum, Alexandra?"

"Maybe." She tossed the box into the flames. "Let's not find out, okay?"

Cyprien's seneschal bowed to her, and then left her alone to watch everything burn until the evidence of her discovery was destroyed.

Alex turned away from the furnace. She put her hand in her pocket, curling her fingers in the emptiness there, and then headed for the stairs.

Epilogue

Luisa Lopez knew when the security guard outside her door dozed off. He took a nap every night just after midnight, when the lights were low and the nursing stations were quiet. At twelve thirty she eased out of the hospital bed, her legs shaking with the unfamiliar strain of bearing her weight, and reached for her wheelchair.

She didn't worry about falling. Her gift of foresight had shown her doing this a hundred times.

The year she had spent at the Lighthouse had also taught Luisa which corridors the nurses used most frequently, and when hospital security made their rounds. It had taken her only a few weeks to work out the best time and route to make it from her room to the gardens. Even so, Luisa could hardly believe it when she wheeled herself through the automatic doors at the back of the building.

The voice inside her, the one that spoke to her whenever her eyes turned white and the visions came, murmured in the back of her mind. One day he'll come to you. He'll wear a black coat and gloves. He'll watch you from behind the camellias. He won't be afraid.

Luisa ignored the voice and smiled when she saw that her friend Liling Harper had kept her promise to install lighting around the flower beds and pathways through the gardens she had planted. Liling would be coming tomorrow to read to her again.

She never doubted that the shadow prince would come to her someday. In the dreamlands they had become friends, true friends who could look into each other's souls. It was just hard to wait for him to accept his gifts enough to return to the mortal world. Luisa couldn't tell from her visions how old she would be when she finally met the shadow prince, but she had the sneaking suspicion it wouldn't be for a very long time.

Hell still be young and handsome, and I'll be a scarred, white-haired old lady.

She found a spot under a trellis of moonflowers and sat there in the fragrant shadows to watch them bloom. After a few minutes her head nodded as she slipped into a light doze.

He came out of the night and into her dreams as he always did. You're here.

Where else would I be? Luisa held out her scarred hand. When he made no move to touch her, she added, I was right about the baby deer, wasn't I?

You were. His big hand made a shadow over hers.

Still so cautious. She bridged the gap between them and stiffly curled her fingers through his. Unlike the others, his flesh was still warm.

I remember when you came to read to me. Even then, I could hear the pain in your voice. She felt her eyes change as he knelt down before her wheelchair. Glowing light covered the hazel of her irises, until her eyes appeared solid white. Someday we'll find each other, and then we can have a real visit.

You'd want me to come to you? Doubt still lingered on his face. You're not afraid of what I can do?

She shook her head. You only have to be careful not to touch me. She saw his frown and rushed to add, Only because Liling and Valentin will know. They'll smell you on me. Her other hand was still bandaged, but she pressed it against his cheek. I'd be glad for you to visit me any time.

The shadow prince put his head in her lap, and they sat there like that for a while. She could barely feel his thick, coarse hair against her damaged fingers, but she stroked his head anyway.

The bright eye of the moon watched them as the crickets stopped chirping and the night held its breath.

He lifted his head, tried to speak, and then kissed her mouth. Close your eyes, he whispered.

Luisa did. His hands felt so warm, so gentle, and then the light she had seen in her dreams shimmered inside her, spreading and enfolding her in Stardust and moonbeams. She had expected pain but there was only life, streaming into her until she thought she would burst.

She felt petals brush her skin as the moonflower began blooming and growing all around them, budding new leaves and flowers and twining around her chair. Luisa felt laughter bubbled up inside her, and for the first time since they had hurt her, she set it free, along with every dark thought, every sorrow, every worry.

The shadow price kissed her again. Be happy, Luisa.

Luisa opened her eyes, waking from the dream. She still sat in her wheelchair, alone under the moon. She reached for the wheel and then saw her hand. The scars were gone; her twisted fingers were straight.

It was only a dream.

She removed the bandages from her other hand, unrolling them carefully. The stitches from her last surgery fell into her lap, no longer holding her healed, flawless skin together. She felt the brush of them against the back of her hand, where all the nerves had been burned away.

Luisa gripped the arms of the wheelchair and slowly stood. Her legs held her easily, effortlessly. The constant, nagging pain in her arms and back no longer throbbed. The knee she hadn't been able to bend did so, smoothly and without a twinge, as she took her first step away from the chair.

Carefully Luisa walked over to the reflecting pool. There in the mirror of water and moonlight she saw her face, smooth and dark, and her eyes, bright with tears.

"All their hard work, gone like that." She imagined going back to her room and letting them see her like this. But no, that would be a cruel thing.

Luisa glanced up at the moon. She knew what she had foreseen, the days and months and years and centuries and millennia of change ahead. But this one decision, at least, would not change anything for anyone but her. The path she chose tonight would either end with a peaceful sleep, or take her on a journey into eternity.

Be happy, Luisa.

"I will, John." Luisa looked back at the Lighthouse one last time before she walked away into the night.