Argan held her close and bounded off of the ground into the air. Skylar felt the sensation of flying but couldn’t see anything. After clearing away the clouds in her view, Argan landed them in a familiar pasture. It was Joel’s farm. She saw two children playing in the field, under the great oak tree.
“I’m going to love you forever, Skylar,” eleven-year-old Argan said in the glistening sunshine.
Before their eyes, Argan aged.
“I’m going to love you forever,” twenty-one-year-old Argan said.
“I’m going to love you forever,” thirty-year-old Argan said.
Skylar’s profile was visible and she was holding a baby in her arms. Argan caressed the baby’s head.
“I’m going to love you forever,” sixty-year-old Argan said. Three children played in the field behind them.
One-hundred-year-old Argan beamed at Skylar. Then he returned to his eleven-year-old self. “We are timeless, you and I.”
Skylar looked beyond the field of their future selves to the infinite sky above. She knew Cassie was there. She understood this was all a plan, her plan. Every wrong turn or seemingly bad choice had led her to this magical end that had been waiting for her since time began. Oh, how she wished she hadn’t wasted so much energy fighting the things she’d thought were wrong. It was always right. It was all right.
She opened her eyes and they were back at the well. It felt like a long time had passed, though she knew it must have been only minutes, maybe seconds. The fire had extinguished itself and the room was quiet. She and Argan fell to the floor, breathing heavy, one on top of the other.
Skylar rolled off of Argan and sat beside him. She rested her elbows on her knees to catch her breath. “Now what?” she asked.
He looked at the well. All that remained of the cascading fire was a faint glow deep within the well. “Throw it in?”
“I’m not Frodo, Argan,” she said, dusting off her bottom. “And that’s a one-shot decision. If it’s the wrong one, we’re done.”
He nodded in agreement.
Skylar threw it in.
“What?” He was dumbfounded.
“You’re right, so I made a wish,” she said. They both peered in. “Besides, if I kept the stone, I’d be just like Magus, believing my power was outside of myself in some trinket. Throwing it in means I control my own destiny.”
“Gutsy move.” Argan smiled and kissed her.
The light from within the well lit up the room as it rebuilt itself. The embers of the flames burned off the millennia of accumulated debris. Pink, gold, and red coral fanned over the walls and hung like a canopy over the stone well. The shattered throne repaired itself from the floor up. Once it was fully restored, Skylar was surprised to see that it was made of simple packed sand, its only decorations shells and starfish.
They got to their feet and watched the room transform into a life-size sand castle. Skylar looked at Argan; he was grinning widely.
The well transformed itself into a large, multi-tiered marble fountain. Sand dollars fanned the top, and underneath, two staircases made of slipper shells cascaded to the bottom. Fine veins of gold and silver ran through the stone. Instead of fire, a cool stream of healing waters flowed from the top and formed a crystalclear pool of turquoise water underneath.
In a moment of exuberance, Skylar jumped in. The water made it just to her shins. “This is amazing!” She laughed like a kid.
Argan followed her into the water. She splashed him playfully and he splashed back. They were eleven again, giddy with the moment. He splashed her once more; this time the water reached her head. Blue crystals dripped onto her forehead.
“You look like a sea goddess,” he said to her.
She laughed.
“I’m serious.” He touched her hair, now glistening with crystals from the water.
She pulled a strand of hair forward in front of her face and giggled. “That’s me, just crown me queen of the sea.”
“Or the Sky,” he said, drawing her to him. He kissed her where they stood in the water. His eyes were intense, and she blushed.
“Argan, this is Sophia’s temple,” she said, seeing the desire grow in his eyes. “It’s sacred. And she’s probably here, watching us, right now.”
“Then she will be quite pleased,” he said. He pulled his gray shirt off over his head, exposing the rest of his brawny physique.
“Really, Argan, I don’t know—”
She didn’t get out another word. He kissed her again on the mouth and she enjoyed the salty taste.
“You don’t know what, Sky?” he asked, pulling her shirt over her head. He kissed her neck and started his way down toward her breasts. As she ran her hands through his long, black hair, she looked up at the moon, shining down into this incredible sand castle, and knew it was perfect. There couldn’t be a more sacred act than making love to Argan here in the water. The connection of man and woman, the joining of opposites, the divinity of sex—it was the expression of everything they had worked for.
“I don’t know if I’m ever going to want to leave,” she said, kissing him.
He shed the rest of their clothes and laid her down in the shallow water. He pulled her legs around his waist. The moonlight reflected off the droplets of water on his skin, looking like thousands of tiny stars all over his body. He was stronger than she had remembered. With each thrust within her, he grew bigger and her moans grew louder. She relished making sounds in the temple. They were sounds of passion, of joy.
The speed of Argan’s thrusts increased and he picked her up, still within her, and carried her to the edge of the water. She rested her head in the sand as he circled one nipple with his tongue, the other with his fingers. Her excitement crested and exploded in an orgasm, sending choppy waves through the calm water of the pool.
She rested in the water, fully open and fully satisfied. Argan held her body close to his as he thrust only once more within her. His own orgasm sent the water in the pool over the side and onto the floor of the temple.
She grinned. “Definitely different.”
“This was always me,” he said. He looked at the pool, which was now almost empty of water. “Well, maybe.” A smile crept across his face. They lay there, entwined, as the fountain water refilled the pool.
“This is so perfect,” Skylar said. “I was serious when I said I don’t know if I want to leave.”
He looked up at the sky shining through the open ceiling. “That doesn’t sound possible. I mean, what would we do every day?”
“What are we going to do back home?” she asked, stroking his hair.
“You don’t have to decide now,” he said. “We could go on a vacation.”
The thought of travel reminded Skylar that the world was far from perfect back home. But she was curious if she had helped to fix it, even if just a bit. She sat up and started to dress. “Argan, we’re not done. The globe back at the lab showed the world falling apart. Fires, melting ice caps, burning rivers—it’s quite a mess.”
He sat up and dusted sand off of his hands. “Well, I guess the moment’s over.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “But there’s more to do.”
Sophia’s image burned into the air like a glimpse of an angel, and she slowly became more corporeal. Argan sprang up and grabbed his pants. Skylar had never seen him move so fast; she laughed loudly.