Unraveling of Avery Snow, The (17 page)

“Avery, he might not make it,” he said with tears in his eyes.

I hurriedly got dressed and tossed a few things into a small bag. Finally I grabbed May, rushed outside, and put her in Landon’s car.

We set off for California
, and as we drove there, we held hands. We were not going to let each other go. No matter what would happen to Dallas, we would be strong for one another. And we would be strong for Dallas.




“
Lillith!” Gunther screamed. He stormed into her quarters as she was dressing.

“Excuse
me; can an angel get some privacy?” She went about her duties as his face grew hotter. He was extremely angry about something, that was clear, but Lillith didn’t have time for his dramatics. Landon remembered her and she was going to see him. First to slap him for putting her through what he did, then to kiss his stupid face.

“
Lillith, please tell me you had nothing to do with this. I can’t bear to think that one of my own betrayed me,” he said while she ignored him completely.

“Gunther, give me a break! Gosh. I didn’t know anything. He pl
ayed me as well as he did Avery.” She pinned her dress together. “I can’t lie and tell you it doesn’t please me.” A smile crept up on her face at the thought of how well Landon had kept the secret. She was a tad proud of how devious he had been. But then again he only kept it to protect Avery. He was a strong Affinity. That was more than obvious to all of the angels. No one had ever seen such a strong human before; one that could survive a memory shaving.

“Gunther, you asked for me?” It was Amanda. She was stand
ing in Lillith’s room as well.

“Can’t anyone tell I am dre
ssing here?” Lillith snapped. No one seemed to care about her privacy at this time. This was huge news. Amanda rolled her eyes at Lillith and faced Gunther.

“Yes
, Amanda, it seems that Landon Cooper has somehow been the only human in existence to be immune to memory shaving,” Gunther’s voice boomed. “And I simply do not know what to do. We must hold a council meeting to discuss our options.”

Amanda bit her nails impatiently before givi
ng her two cents on the subject. “If I may, sir, why must we do anything? It seems that Avery and Landon are happy to be reunited.”

It was possibly the smartest thing Amanda ha
d ever said in Lillith’s opinion. She hated to admit it though.

“Yeah, why can’t we just leave them alone for
once? We are always trying to keep them apart. It seems like such a minor thing,” she declared.

Gunther gave
Lillith a look that could kill, but then nodded his head. He had finally seen enough of these humans for now. They had other things that were more important at the present time.

“Fine.
We shall not do anything at this time. But we must track down the Dark Guide and make sure she doesn’t do any more damage than she already has,” he concluded.

“Who,
Sarafe? She won’t touch them again. John has an eye on her,” Lillith said with assurance.

“No, actually he doesn’t. She just rammed her car into Dallas’ motorcycle while
Ianni was on it with him,” Gunther informed the angels. “Luckily our Ianni is fine. But I am not so sure about Dallas. It seems we may be seeing him sooner than we would have hoped.” He turned and walked out of the room, leaving the two Spirit Guides alone. They looked at each other in shock and dismay. It was the first time they were ever speechless.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Circumstances

We arrived at the hospital before visiting hours had ended. Thankfully the drive down wasn’t awkward. We caught up on each other and what we missed in the past few months. Landon had found a house to fix up and sell in California. It was, as he said, “Worth all of the work.” I listened to his plans and stared in awe at the Landon I missed. It was crazy to see that he was back to normal and had been all this time. We hadn’t really talked about Dallas. I was sure he knew that I still had feelings for him, but my feelings were not as strong now as they once were. Something deep inside me told me I belonged right where I was, with Landon.

We walked into the hospital and the first person to greet us was
Ianni. She was a mess. Her face was tear-stained and she could barely talk. I hugged her and realized she was bandaged from her shoulder to her wrist. She winced once I grabbed her. I let go immediately.

“What happened to your arm?” I asked.

She shrugged and grabbed Landon, pulling him aside. I could still overhear them from where they stood.

“How bad is it
, Ianni?” Landon asked.

“Bad. I hate to be the one to tell you all this, but he is in a coma,” she
said, her voice shaking. “His injury to his brain is so bad that they induced a coma. She came out of nowhe—”

“Who?”
I interrupted, just as much a part of this discussion as they were. I hadn’t even had time to process yet why Ianni was here at all. Until now. She was with him. She was injured because she was on the motorcycle with him. “Ianni, who came out of nowhere? Why are you hurt?” I knew the answers, but my mind had a slower time to process.

She bit her lip and answered, “
Sarafe. She hit us on the bike. We were driving down Main and she came out of nowhere.” Her eyes watered. “I don’t know how I survived; the impact was so strong. I woke up on the ground and Dallas was lying unconscious.”

“Wher
e is Sarafe now?” Landon asked, his temper building.

“I have no idea. She hit us and took off. When I woke up she was gone,” she cried.

Sarafe tried to kill them just like she promised me she would do. Why did I think that she would just go away? But one thing I had learned about her was she was a coward. She always ran away. She ran after she hit me and after she came after Ianni and me in the parking garage. She never stayed to fight. It gave me an idea for later, but now I had to focus on the here and now.

Landon walked towards the front counter and asked for Dallas’ doctor. He was family and they would tell him everything. I waited patiently with
Ianni as she sobbed quietly next to me. My anger towards her hadn’t reached full affect yet, but I was getting there. She was dating my ex. It was something that was a strict no-no with girlfriends.

“Avery
, please talk to me,” Ianni whispered.

“How can I talk to you?” I started. “You’re with my ex. It’s just weird
, not to mention something friends never do. Why couldn’t you stay with Beau?” I stared at her with my tired eyes. I hoped she understood what I was saying without having to say it.

“Why though?
Why can’t I be with him?” she asked. She apparently didn’t understand what was so weird about it. So I had no choice but to inform her.

I sighed.
“You’re sleeping with someone I slept with. That’s just gross and now I have a strange feeling about it all. It’s girl code that you don’t sleep with someone’s ex, Ianni.” Her face paled at my words. It only confirmed that she had slept with him, which made it even harder for me to sit here with her.

“We are in love
, Avery. I know it’s hard to understand, but it’s true,” she started. “You both were over each other, or so I thought. He asked me to go with him to New York and I did. Beau had just dumped me and I took it pretty hard. Dallas asked me to go with him to see the new restaurant opening.”

“So you
… what? Went to New York and fell in love?” I was being harsh, but I couldn’t help it.

She covered her face with her hands and cried. I wanted to console her but I didn’t. I had to give this time. Right now the person that mattered was the one in the coma.

I left her sitting in the waiting room and I went over to Landon as he spoke with Dallas’ surgeon. All I heard as I approached was: coma, head trauma, and prepare for the worst. Landon stood strong as the doctor left, but once he was behind the doors, he turned and fell limply into my arms. I held him as he broke down. His quiet tears stained my shirt, but I didn’t care.

“Where is he now?” I asked. He caught his breath and dried his eyes.

“He said I can go in after an hour or so. Once they get him settled.” I nodded like I understood, but I didn’t. None of this was understandable. We sat back down and waited to see him.

Finally
, after what seemed like hours, they came out and let us know we could see him. Ianni had fallen asleep in the chair across from me. I shook her and she woke up. I could see the bruise on her shoulder peeking out from her bandage. Even if I was upset with her, I was happy her injuries weren’t as bad as Dallas’.

Landon’s mom, Lisa, was here now and she and Landon were the first two allowed back to see him while
Ianni and I waited in a different waiting room for ICU patients.

“Are you ever going to forgive me?” she asked me. I purposefully and stubbornly avoided her gaze. I wasn’t ready to talk about it yet. “Come on
, Avery. After all, you and Landon are together, right? Don’t I get to be happy?”

“I don’t know what
me and Landon are right now. All I know is he came out to see me and he told me he never forgot me, even after the memory shaving.” I told her everything that had happened. She needed to know what was going on with us, and for a moment I felt like I could see Dallas and Ianni happy together. Then I realized that a part of me still loved him. It was very possible to love two people because I did. Even though I let our relationship die that day in the forest, I still loved him.

“So the shaving didn’t work?” She wasn’t exactly asking me, she was more pondering how it could have happened. “I
foresee a visit from Lillith very soon and she won’t be very happy with Landon once she sees him.” I hadn’t thought about poor Lillith. She had been struggling to get Landon to remember. I thought she might have taken the loss of his memory the hardest. He must have really tried hard to ignore her. That couldn’t have been very easy.

“Avery,” Landon called to me from a door. “You both can come in
, but one at a time.” I looked at Ianni sitting like a ragdoll with no purpose and told her to go in first.

“Are you sure?” she asked. I only nodded and she went in
with Landon. The door shut behind them and I sat alone.

I went outside to check on May
, who still slept silently in her crate. Getting in the car, I pulled her out and cuddled her to comfort myself. I finally got the chance to let the tears fall from my eyes. I couldn’t do it before because Landon was there. How was I to let the emotion play out when we had just admitted we loved each other? That even though I was with Dallas my soul ached for him. Like it had once before.

The outcome then had been just as tragic as it
was now. It was so terrible when I left him that he hung himself in the barn. Now I left and he may die because of me; because of a Dark Guide who is literally hell bent on killing all of those I care for. Yeah sure, the circumstances are different, but the ending may still be the same. Dallas will die and Landon and I will live with regret.

Chapter Thirty

Stuck In Between

Landon rapped on the window and I jumped. I had fallen asleep with May in the backseat of his car. I rubbed my eyes and opened the door. He looked ragged, but he still gave me a smile.

“Hey, I went to find you and I got worried,” he said as he climbed in with me. “Are you okay?” His cousin is in a coma and he asked if I was okay. I smiled at him
and nuzzled his neck.

“I’m fine, just tired,” I murmured
sleepily. He rubbed my back and sighed. He knew I was full of crap, but I couldn’t sit here and go on and on about my problems. Not with Dallas in the state he was in.

“Avery, what happens to us now?” he whispered in my ear
, giving me chills. “What will happen once we leave here? Do you want to be with me?” I laughed at him, not because he was being humorous, but because I wondered the same thing.

“I don’t mean to laugh
, but I want to know the answer, too. I just don’t want to assume that we will be together after this.” I hoped that he understood what I meant. He leaned into me and kissed me with sadness on his lips. I felt his anger towards Sarafe and his love for me at the same time. I didn’t want to rush into anything like I had before with Dallas. Look where that got me.

“Avery,” he said as he pulled his lips from mine. “I am not going anywhere that you’re not. I hope you know that I meant what I said last night. I love you and I would never leave you unless you ask me to.”

“I just need time to make sense of all these feelings inside me. I love you, I do, but I can’t make any plans until …” I couldn’t say the rest.

“Until we find out what will happen to Dallas.” he finished. I nodded
because it was the only response my body could make. I didn’t know if I could be strong enough to see Dallas die. I had lost my mother and my friend Lucy, and now I would lose Dallas.

“Avery
, I don’t blame you for still having feelings for him,” he said, his voice strong. “Heck, until a few months ago I thought I would be attending your wedding someday. But I do know that you love me, too. I see it in your eyes and felt it in your arms last night. We will do this together.” I reached up and kissed him, trying to make him feel my love for him in that kiss. He closed his eyes and we snuggled for a few minutes together.

We walked back into the hospital a little stronger than we had before. This
time we used each other as strength. It was my turn to see Dallas, but I wasn’t quite ready to make Ianni leave his bedside. I looked in to see him lying there with her head on his chest. Each labored breath he took, her head rose and fell along with it. The machines that were helping him breathe looked monstrous. I hated to see him like this, so I backed out and let Ianni have her moment with him.

As I went to the coffee machine it d
awned on me that she really might love him. Who was I to deny anyone of a love like that? So many people wanted Landon and me to not be together. Why would I want the same for her? She deserved to be happy, that was for sure. She laid her life on the line for me. I couldn’t deny her happiness for a future. For goodness sake, she wasn’t going to be able to move on after her life ended here. Ianni didn’t have a soul. Once she died she ceased to exist. Maybe if Dallas made her life that much more worth it, they belonged together.

I poured the stagnant smelling coffee into a cup and added as much sugar as I could. Once it was a little
more bearable, I drank it down. The drive had me so exhausted, among other things, that I was desperate to get caffeine.

“Ugh, that coffee is terrible.” I turned around and Dallas stood before me in his white hospital gown. I dropped the coffee and ran to him. He scooped me up in his arms and stumb
led backwards. We almost fell; he was too weak to hold me. I steadied us and looked at him. His face was bandaged, but he was walking and here. He made it!

“How is this possible? You were just unconscious in the other room?” I asked him. He smiled
quizzically.

“What are you talking about, Avery? I feel fine,” he assured me. Once he looked himself over he noticed the hospital gown he was wearing and the road rash on his body. His smile faltered at his current
state.

“Oh
, I guess I’m not okay.”

“It’s okay
, you’re just still confused. Let’s find your nurse,” I suggested and we walked back down the hallway. I couldn’t find anyone; the hospital was like a ghost town. He shuffled slowly behind me and I turned to make sure he was keeping up okay.

“Where is
Ianni? She was just with you, so how did you get out of your room unnoticed?” I asked. It didn’t make sense how he could get up without her seeing him.

“I don’t know. I just remember riding my bike with her and waking up here,” he said as he leaned on a wall for support. “I suppose you know about
Ianni and I now.” I nodded. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I think I love her.” I let him talk even though it injured me a little. I swallowed hard, fighting the tears back.

“If you love her t
hen I am happy for you,” I told him honestly.

“Nothing ever happened while you and I were together. I just want you to know that,” he said as he wiped sweat from his head. “It just sort of happened.”

“We have to find your doctor or a nurse,” I mumbled. “You sit here and I will find someone.”

“Okay.”

I ran through the halls and back towards his room. He was wandering around the hospital and no one cared or noticed. Once I found his room I saw Landon waiting outside. He looked pale and tired, but he snapped up when I came closer.

“Hey, no one cares that Dallas is walking around alone?” I said with conviction. He looked up at me confused.

“What?”

“I went to get coffee and Dallas is w
andering around the halls.” He shook his head and opened the door to Dallas’ room; there he was in his bed still. The same machines hooked up to his body. The same deadly look he had only minutes before. The lively Dallas I encountered in the hall wasn’t here in this room.

“Do you feel okay?” Landon asked me as he supported my unsteady body.

“You don’t understand. I saw him just now in the hallway. We talked,” I stammered. “He told me he loved Ianni.”

Landon led me to a chair in the room where
Ianni sat now looking up at me confused. They all thought I was crazy. I could see it on their faces. I sat down and Landon got me a glass of water. I knew what I saw; it was Dallas.

“You don’t believe me
, do you?” I asked Landon.

He shrugged and handed me the water. “I do believe you’re tired and you need sleep. We all do,” he answered.

“Well I believe her,” Lillith said as she burst into the room. Feathers flew everywhere. She was like a woman on a mission and that mission was to let everyone know she was present and accounted for. Landon covered his eyes in shame. He had been lying to his guide for so long he knew what was coming.

“You do?” I asked her. She nodded as she flowed into the room, her feathers now hidden behind her cloak.

She turned towards Landon. “You and I need to talk! But first, Dallas,” she went to his body and stroked his head, “is stuck in between right now.”

“Where?”
Landon asked, his mouth falling open. Only one person I knew was there; my mother. She had been there because she made a deal with a Dark Guide. Once my soul and Landon’s returned to Heaven she would then join us. But for now she would remain there. The in-between was a sort of middle of Earth and Heaven. It didn’t make sense to me why Dallas would be there. He didn’t make any deals. He was the target of an insane Dark Guide.

“He is there because he has unfinished business with your world. Once it’s settled he will
either heal and stay on Earth, or his wounds will claim him. If that happens, he will come Home.” Ianni sobbed quietly as Lillith spoke. I patted her back gently, unable to stand seeing her cry.

“What business must he finish?” Landon asked
curtly.

“Someone must kill
Sarafe. Once she is dead he will feel free to move on,” Lillith said as she approached Landon. “How could you do what you did to me?” Her voice rose as she got closer. He backed up, fearful of what she would do.

“You have to understand
, Lillith,” he begged.

“Do you know how hard that was for me? Do you?” Her voice grew desperate. “I was lost without you
, Landon.” She reached out and he grabbed her, pulling her into a hug.

“I am so sorry.”

I turned towards Ianni, giving Lillith her moment with Landon. Ianni’s face looked drained. I knew what had to be done and she did as well. We had to kill Sarafe. But with us being mortal it would prove to be a lot more difficult than last time.

“Dallas is still w
andering the halls of the hospital. We have to talk to him,” I suggested.

She shook her head. “Only you can. Because you’re an Affinity you have strong gifts. His soul is very weak so you can talk to him. Did he really say he loved me?”

I nodded. I had to forgive them both or I wouldn’t have a clear enough head to face Sarafe. “I will make sure you both get a happy ending. Even if it means I don’t get one.” I stood and walked out of the room. I didn’t even say goodbye. I knew what I had to do.




I found Dallas in the hall where I had left him. This time
, once I saw him, he knew why he was in the state he was in. It was written on his face. I approached him cautiously. I didn’t want to freak him out with my plan. He stood and met me halfway.

“I
know,” he said.

“I suppose you do. You know you’re stuck
, right?” He nodded. “I can’t promise my idea will work, but I can promise I will try.” I leaned into him and his arms wrapped around me. It was the last time they ever would. Even if he survived he would never hold me like this again. He would hold Ianni. I was thankful he had someone to be with.

“I am sorry for how it ended,” he said as he kissed my cheek.

“It’s okay. We both knew it had to end at some point.” It was the first time I had realized this for myself. We would never have been the couple we each wanted. It had to be Ianni and him, and Landon and me.