“No, let’s just grab a maid’s uniform from the cart in the lobby. We don’t have time to shop,” I remind Miku.
“There is always time to shop,” Miku, Ameana, and Isabelle all correct me.
I look to Rio for his help but he agrees with the girls.
“It’ll take fifteen minutes,” he says.
The guys wait while the girls go inside a small shop and pick out a few items. What was supposed to be fifteen minutes is actually an hour and a half. But I didn’t complain because well, when you get electrocuted repeatedly, the least your boyfriend can do is wait while you shop.
When Emmy comes out of the store she has on new clothes, smells like spring flowers and the color is slowly coming back to her face. I hold her close and ask how she is feeling.
“The way any girl would feel after taking down a super Demon—hungry,” she says.
I hold her tighter than I should given what she’s just been through.
“That was…close,” I whisper to her.
“Very.”
Next, we drop off Tony and Isabelle before we head to Adam City. Although Tony doesn’t say it out loud, I can read the relief on his face when he lands safely on the ground.
“Hey, thank you for helping us,” Rio says to him.
“You showed a lot of courage for a Seller,” Ameana agrees.
“It was nothing. I was never scared.”
We all look at each other and agree to let Tony think what ever he wanted. After all, he was instrumental in us getting the Amulet. He saved us with his mixtures and his knowledge of the market.
“You guys wanna stick around for a little while?” he asks eagerly.
“We have one other matter to see to,” I respond.
“Oh yeah, the secret part of the mission,” he replies.
“Yeah, kind of,” Emmy replies.
We turn to leave when he calls us back.
“Hey, you remember the story I told you guys earlier?” he asks.
“You mean about your best friend?”
“Yeah, could we keep that just between us?”
We all agree to do as he asks.
“I don’t feel bad about it or anything. I mean it was a long time ago. Who really remembers their human lives anymore, right?” he says mostly himself.
Then Emmy walks up to him and hugs him. He’s surprised by her affection but returns it nonetheless.
“You were closed for days. You lost a lot of business,” Isabelle observes.
“Oh well,” he says.
The team exchanges a glance and decides to help Tony out. The Twins buy mixtures and Holders they don’t really need. Ameana buys Samson string, Jay and Isabelle look for something to purchase as well. Emmy takes my hand and we quietly sneak out of the shop and into the alley.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” I ask her again.
“I think I need to sleep for a year but yeah, I’m fine.”
“We survived it.”
She bursts into tears so suddenly, it startles me.
“Emmy, what is it?”
“Nothing. I’m just so happy we made it. For a second there, I wasn’t so sure.”
“So these are tears of happiness?”
“Yeah.”
“Good, but I’m still not a fan of seeing you in tears. Happy or not.”
“Sorry.”
She wipes her face and holds on to me tightly.
She asks me what caused her to end up on the side of the cliff. I fill her in on the flower and its effect. She scolds herself for doing something so reckless.
“It’s okay, you were just trying to find something good in the middle of all the darkness that surrounded us. I can’t blame you for that,” I tell her.
“Still, I’m done smelling flowers.”
“Who did you see in your hallucination?”
“Reese.”
“Oh, but you looked sad. I would have thought seeing Reese again would have made you happy.”
“Yeah, it did. But he started telling me stuff…”
“What stuff?” I ask.
“He told me how he kind of liked me.”
“So Reese saw you as the girl that got away.”
“I guess.”
“What about you, is he the guy that got away from you?”
“What do you mean?”
I mean would the two of you be together now if he hadn’t died?
“Never mind,” I say out loud.
“Marcus, what is it?” she asks.
“How often is Reese on your mind?”
“We were friends.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“I think about him once in awhile.”
“He kissed you.”
“That was a long time ago. Anyway, he’s gone now.”
“I don’t want to be the guy you settle for.”
“Seriously Marcus? I was the one who made the first move. Do you remember that? Do you remember your ex smashing my head against the wall because I asked you out?”