“As soon as he was sure that you were going to be okay, he came up here and started cleaning up your room,” Oscar chimed in.
Tears stung my eyes, and a wave of love flooded my heart. Of course Devon had done all this. Because that’s just the kind of great guy he was. I didn’t know how I was going to repay him for this, but I would.
I ran over, threw myself into his arms, and hugged him tight. “Thank you,” I whispered. “Thank you so much.”
“I’d do anything for you, Lila,” he whispered back.
I stood on my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his. Devon pulled me closer and I melted into him, both of us swaying up against the doorframe for support. I kissed him again, then again, then again, a dizzying rush of feeling roaring through my body, hotter and stronger than even the magic running through my veins— “All right,” Oscar groused, buzzing around our heads and breaking the spell. “That’s enough of that. There’s still work to be done around here, you know, so we might as well get started on it.”
Devon and I broke apart, both of us grinning wide.
“To be continued later?” he asked.
“You’d better believe it.”
Oscar snorted and rolled his eyes before flying across the room and dropping Tiny off in the corral, just like usual. There wasn’t any grass for him to munch on yet, but Tiny nodded his green head and let out a snort of approval. He was glad to be back home.
And so was I.
After promising to meet me on the roof later tonight, Devon went back downstairs to check on the guards and pixies. I took a long, hot shower, while Oscar fished through what was left of my clothes to find me something to wear that Blake hadn’t ripped to shreds.
An hour later, I was in my usual gray sneakers, gray cargo shorts, and a pale blue T-shirt. But instead of going to find Devon and the others, I went to the library, opened one of the balcony doors, and snuck off into the woods. It didn’t take me long to reach the Sinclair Family cemetery and my mom’s tombstone.
I stood in front of her marker. The sunlight streaming in through the trees made her name stand out like polished silver against the black stone.
“Well,” I said. “I guess you know everything that happened last night. How it all went down. I hope you’re proud of me. At the very least, Victor will never hurt anyone again. I just wish . . . I just wish that you were still here with me.”
“She’ll always be here with you, darling,” a voice called out behind me.
I turned around, and Seleste and Claudia stepped through the open gate and into the cemetery. Claudia was wearing another white pantsuit, while Seleste was sporting a gauzy white dress and carrying a white wicker basket full of red roses, just as she had been the very first time I’d seen her at the Draconi Family cemetery.
“See?” Seleste said, giving Claudia a smug smile. “I told you she’d be out here.”
Claudia shook her head, but there was a smile on her face too.
Seleste skipped over and hugged me. Then she dropped down on her knees and started humming while she arranged the red roses all over my mother’s grave. Claudia walked over and the two of us watched her work in silence.
Victor had finally been defeated, but my mom was still gone, and I would always carry the hurt and pain of her loss with me. But for the first time, a sense of peace was mixed in with my emotions too. I’d kept my promises to my mom and Claudia. I’d avenged her death, and I’d kept my friends and Family safe from Victor.
And I knew what my mom would tell me if she was still here—that it was time for a new start, a new beginning, a new chapter in my life. One where I could focus on all the good things that I had, instead of all the things that had been taken from me.
I stayed quiet and still until Seleste had finished arranging the roses in a large star pattern. She got to her feet, standing beside me and Claudia, and the three of us stared down at my mom’s tombstone.
“I still miss her,” Seleste whispered. “She was my best friend.”
Claudia reached out and squeezed her hand. “Mine too.”
“Mine three,” I added.
“But we still have each other,” Seleste said. “And Deah and Devon and all the others.”
“That we do.” I nodded. “That we do.”
I held out my arms, and Seleste and Claudia linked theirs through mine.
Together, arm in arm in arm, the three of us walked out of the shadowy cemetery and into the warm summer sun.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE