My eyes widen as I gape at the golden key laying in Raph’s palm. The engraving of the sun on the bow is near identical to the row of suns tattooed on Raph’s side. A million conflicting thoughts and feelings race through me. This key is my way home, back to Earth. Back to my life. If someone had asked me a couple of months ago if I wanted my old life back, I’d have said yes in a heartbeat. Now … now, I don’t know anything anymore.
But that’s not what Raph is asking me. He’s asking me to take him to the one place that for so long has been my anchor. The place that is most sacred to me. I’d never felt the urge to share it with anyone else before, but just then, I can’t deny that something inside me does want him to see it. I’ve walked that familiar stretch of coastline each year alone for the past ten years, but now I want to walk along that shore with him by my side. The realization is insane, but undeniable all the same.
Some part of me recalls Magnus’s warning about Earth not being safe for me anymore. I consider telling Raph, but remember Magnus’ words about the fact that the other Dynasties didn’t even know about this supposed threat. Not that I really know anything about it either. In fact, some part of me still doesn’t even believe that it’s true. Still, I don’t think Magnus will be very happy about this little outing.
“Wait, isn’t it forbidden to go to Earth without special permission from the Dynasty heads?” I find myself asking.
Raph just waves a hand dismissively.
“What they don’t know …” He flashes me another wicked grin and the last of my resistance falls away. Damn those dimples.
“Okay,” I say finally.
Raph smiles back at me and it’s not that arrogant smile which is infuriatingly beautiful but a small, intimate smile, which feels like it’s meant for me and me alone and it makes his beauty all the more devastating.
He gets up then and holds the key out in front of him. At first nothing happens but I can sense Raph’s focus and then I can feel the air around me shifting like it did that day in the abandoned playground when Magnus opened the portal last.
The atmosphere splits open and I can’t believe my eyes. I’d seen this happen once before, but the sight is still such a shock to my system. What feels like a storm blows through my bedroom and I let Raph take my hand and lead me into the portal.
Starlight and rainbows surround us and I clutch onto Raph for dear life as we fall through the breathtaking spectrum of the vast universe.
The last time I did this, I was scared out of my mind, but Raph’s arms are tight around me, holding me to him, as if he might never let go and the fear that I’d once felt is replaced by his warmth, his light and this time, I let myself feel it as he leads me through the void between our two worlds.
24
It was morning when we left Eden, but it’s twilight when we reach Earth, although the journey feels like it lasted only a few minutes. I don’t even try to figure out how the whole inter-dimensional travel thing works.
But I’m glad for the twilight because Rockford Cape has always been the most beautiful at sunset. The sky is a glorious mix of blue and violet, with steaks of pink against the backdrop as twilight descends on the rickety pier. The amusement park’s lights reflect off the calm waters, making the scene look almost magical, although not in an otherworldly way. The scene is breathtaking in its natural beauty.
Beside me, I can feel Raph’s excitement and wonder. He quite literally seems like a kid at an amusement park.
We’re on our second round of this ridiculous fishing game where you have to pick out prizes with a fishing rod that I used to love so much when I was a kid. It hits me then how surreal all of this is. Never in my wildest imagination could I have thought that I’d be standing here with Raph, playing tacky amusement park games and enjoying myself more than I have in a long time.
We ride on the Ferris wheel where Raph finds the dizzying view from the top exhilarating, whereas I quake at the height. Then he humors me by going on the ghost train with me which used to scare me shitless when I was a kid, but as I got older, realized was nothing more than a track lined with glow in the dark skeletons and plastic mannequins dressed as witches. We gorge on cotton candy, popcorn and hot dogs and then go back to playing a couple more games.
The whole thing is so normal, so human, that I could almost imagine that we’re just two normal teenagers on a date. But of course, we’re not, and there’s nothing normal about Raph. I don’t fail to notice the looks that people are giving him, which reminds me of that. It’s similar to the look that people were giving Magnus when he came to Rodeo Ricky’s that night a few months ago—as if they can sense that Raph is totally out of place here, in this world. As if they can sense that there’s something about this guy that makes the very air around him come alive.
But it’s more than just that, most people, mostly female, are openly gawking at him. As if they can’t help but look at him in the same way that they wouldn’t be able to help being drawn to an impossibly bright flash of light. They have no idea who he is, but it’s as if some primal part of them can sense the power and air of regal authority that surrounds him. As if there is some age-old instinct inside them, compelling them to bow down and worship the god walking among them. Raph certainly looks the part, too, with his halo of golden blonde hair, tall powerfully muscled body, face like an angel and those impossibly blue eyes. Hell, it’s impossible not to think that he’s some kind of higher being.
The looks are disconcerting to say the least, but Raph doesn’t seem to notice, or at least he pretends not to. He’s spent his entire life being the center of attention and under constant scrutiny. The stares don’t seem to faze him at all. I used to find it arrogant, but now I think I find it admirable—his ability to stay unaffected in the face of such scrutiny.
Despite enjoying myself, Magnus’s warning eats away at the back of my mind and I swear there are some moments when I can feel eyes on us, watching. But I brush the paranoia away. The only people watching are the people gawking at Raph and as disconcerting as that might be, it’s hardly dangerous.
Raph hands me the fuzzy teddy bear that he’s just won.
“What’s this for?” I ask, examining the stuffed animal dubiously.
“Birthday present.”
“It’s not my birthday,” I reply dryly.
He flashes me a wicked grin.
“I know it’s not.”
My eyebrows raise in surprise. I’m pretty sure I haven’t told anyone when my birthday is. Only Magnus knew and that was from getting his hands on my birth certificate.
“How do you know when my birthday is? Right. I remember. You’re a stalker.”
He laughs in response.
“It’s pretty hard not to notice when someone has the exact same birthday as me.”
If I had been surprised earlier, now I’m utterly shocked.
“What? You have the same birthday as me?”
“The 31st of March, down to the very second.”
“That’s … more than a little bizarre,” I reply.
His smile only grows wider.