The Bloom Series Box Set: Bloom & Fade (68 page)

The sphere slowly dissipated like fog
in a strong wind, leaving behind only small wisps of blue smoke.
The sand beneath it was crystalized. Kamiko was gone.

Colton found it difficult to believe
what he had just done.

“
We did it,” he said
finally.

Haven moaned softly into his neck. He
held her close as they sat down in the sand. Her eyes were distant
and unfocused. Colton shook her gently.

“
What’s wrong? Haven?
What’s the matter?”

He pushed hair away from her eyes and
felt her cheek. Her skin was icy cold.

“
Elena said this would
happen,” she said weakly. “How fast it could hit you once…once you
were the next one in line.”

“
No!” shouted Colton. “I
don’t want you to be the next one in line. I want you to
stay!”

“
I’m dying Colton. I knew
it could happen if Kamiko died. But we did it anyway, didn’t we?
Because we had to. There was no one else to stop her.” She smiled
up at him. “Just you and me.”

“
Then we shouldn’t have
done it! What if you’re not the next Phoenix? Sometimes it doesn’t
choose you, even after you’re dead, right? She said that,
too!
Then
what?!”

“
Take me away from the
building,” said Haven.

Colton stared at her, knowing that
agreeing to do that would be admitting the inevitable.

“
I don’t want you to
leave.”

“
Please,” she said, and
reached up to touch his face.

Colton scooped her up in his arms. He
carried her away from the building, toward the sunset. She rested
peacefully against him, her eyes closed, a small, content smile on
her face.

“
Just here,” she
said.

Colton knelt down and cradled her in
his arms. She turned her head to look at the setting
sun.

“
I just remembered it’s my
birthday,” she said. A small tear rolled from the corner of her
eye. “You tell Noah to be a good boy.”

“
You’ll come back,” said
Colton. The desert wind cooled as the sun approached the horizon.
Colton wiped at the tears that rolled down his cheeks.

“
Tell him I’m sorry about
Mom and Dad.”

“
Tell him yourself,” said
Colton.

She turned away from the setting sun
and smiled at him. “We were meant to be together, you and I. We
finally figured it out.”

Colton nodded, fighting to hold back
his tears. He opened his mouth to tell her he loved her, but it was
too late. Haven was gone.

He closed his eyes, pressed his
forehead to hers, and wept. The last light of day disappeared as
the sun dipped below the horizon, and Colton was alone.

From The Author

Book
Three
is Available

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Indie books live and die
by their reviews. If you enjoyed
Bloom
and have a moment, please
consider writing a review so other readers can discover the
series.

Thank you so much for
reading.

—
A.P.

Author Website

apkensey.wordpress.com

Copyright

This book and parts thereof
may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the
author.

This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarities to
actual persons, organizations, and/or events is purely
coincidental.