He swallowed tightly, hoping his gamble would pay off. If Aumae went back on her word, taking her niece with her and forgetting the human part of Shay behind, then he would have a different war on his hands. This one would get bloody, whereas he hoped the other one still wouldn’t, with Vespar being the exception.

After a few tense moments, watching how Aumae bent her head, hugging her niece, and whispered into her ear, Kellan wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold himself back. He wanted to break in, force the messenger to allow Shay back in, or force Shay to take over again. He remained and then, after what seemed like an hour, Aumae lifted her head with tears in her eyes and looked up at him. She smiled and whispered the words that floated up to him, “Thank you. Thank you for giving me this time with her. She will help you. I promise you this.”

As the last word was spoken, Shay was yanked back from beside him. She sailed down and into her body, where it collapsed to the ground. Kellan lithely jumped to the ground in one leap and entered through the front door. He stepped inside and saw that Aumae had moved Shay’s body, now sleeping, to the couch. She sat beside her and smoothed her hair back, brushing it with her fingers.

He stopped in the living room’s doorway, just watching the tender movement. “Shay already loves you. I can feel it.”

Aumae bent her head, closing her eyes. Her shoulders started to shake, and he heard the sounds of crying coming from her. Sobs then started to wrack her body, and she crumbled, throwing herself over Shay. He turned, knowing his gamble had paid off. The elder messenger would help them and she had persuaded the one inside of Shay to help as well. Because of it, Shay would be strong, even more powerful than he knew. And so would he. The two of them could withstand her father’s arrival now.

When I woke, I found myself on the bed of the room that I had chosen earlier. A blanket had been placed over me, but it wasn’t needed. I was hot, really hot. In fact, I was burning up. Then I heard voices below me. They were soft, as if whispering, but I knew they weren’t. It was Kellan and my aunt in the kitchen. Then, with a gasp, everything rushed at me again. The voices went from soft to loud, too loud. I clamped my hands over my ears and burrowed underneath the pillows, but it did nothing to soften their volume. It was nearly painful now. But that wasn’t the only problem.

I saw everything in perfect detail as if I held up a microscope to my eye. My blanket went from looking like a normal blanket, one that I would admire the colors and textures, to the particles that made up the individual threads. I saw it all, even the dust that rested on each tiny particle. And the smells—I pressed my nose to my pillow, trying to stop from smelling so much, from the dew that still lingered from the morning to the night owls that rested miles away in a tree.

My stomach twisted over, threatening to spill out from all the smells. My entire body was on fire, protesting from all the information that I was taking in. I could feel Kellan’s heartbeat, how it pounded at a regular slow pace and then picked up, sensing that I had woken. Their footsteps pounded like ten herds of elephants, and soon I felt Kellan’s hands on my shoulders.

He lifted me up and held me against his chest, but it was too much. I scrambled away, crying, gasping, “Please, no. It’s too much. I…” I swung my eyes to my aunt and saw the understanding in them. She knew what I was going through, and I choked out, “Help me. Please.”

“The messenger has bonded with her again. She can’t handle everything at once. She senses too much. It’s overwhelming her.”

“I know,” Kellan growled and then stood before me. He tried to look gentle, but the fear was clawing at him. I felt it within him. It was clawing at me, too. He didn’t know how to help me; he didn’t know how to make it stop.

Then he made up his mind. “Out! Now!” My aunt went, but looked back over her shoulder before pulling the door shut behind her. I felt her concern as if it was my own and it shook me. How I could feel that? How could I know what she was thinking, what she was feeling, when she wasn’t me?

Kellan gripped my shoulders and lifted me in the air. He carried me, holding me against his chest, and went to one of my windows. It was opened in an instant, and then he perched there, holding me for a moment, and leapt through the air. The trees moved for us. Some helped us along the way, brushing their leaves against us while other ducked out of the way. We landed in the small pool behind the house with the waterfall beside us.

With one hand on the back of my head, he ducked us both underneath. Immediately, everything went away. It was as if I was normal again, the old Shay who didn’t know who I was. The relief was so powerful in me, I almost started crying, but I opened my eyes and saw Kellan in front of me. He held us on the bottom, anchoring us there, and he watched me, fearful. I felt it inside of me, taking root. I smiled and lifted both of my hands to grasp his face. My thumbs rubbed back and forth at the corners of his lips, and something else started to come over me.

The fervor was deep inside, but it started to climb. Then it matched with his, entwined, and twisted together to build even faster, higher, at a rapid pace. My heart started pounding. I gasped, but water rushed inside. Before I closed my mouth to stop more water from getting in, Kellan slammed his mouth over mine. His lips sucked the inside of my mouth dry, taking the water back out. He moved back once to spit it out, but his mouth was back before I fully realized he had even left. One of his hands gripped the back of my neck and the other lifted me up so my legs wrapped around his waist. He held us steady there, on the bottom of the lake. My arms wrapped around him, but I was lost on the inside of him. Everything was wrapped with him.