“Oh yes, you were too cool for us,” Lilah said. “I remember now. You were probably stealing our unicorn cookies and running off with that jerk friend of yours. What was his name? Verne?”
“Jeez, don’t hold back, Ly,” Archer said. “Tell me what you really think.”
Lilah smiled sweetly. “Asswipe?”
“Nice.”
“It’s a term of endearment.”
Archer shook his head. “Sounds like you missed a lesson or two at school.”
“Ugh, school,” Lilah groaned. “Do you think we have to go back on Monday?”
“I hope so,” Ridley said.
“Only you would say that,” Lilah accused with a roll of her eyes.
“Look, I don’t know about you, but I still plan to graduate—if at all possible.” Ridley turned the stem of her wine glass, her eyes following the scratches on the plastic surface. “Hey, do you think if I let everyone know I’m an elemental I’ll be seen as cool or even more of an outcast? Not that being considered cool has ever ranked particularly high on my priority list.”
“Hmm, I guess things are going to be quite different,” Lilah mused. “Even if I don’t show everyone my weird yellow magic—which I’m not planning to do, by the way—there’s the fact that I’m the daughter of the guy who made the Cataclysm happen.” She pursed her lips, absently running one hand over the bump beneath her T-shirt, where Ridley assumed her mother’s stone heirloom pendant lay. “I guess that puts me very firmly in outcast territory.” She turned to Ridley. “Will you be my friend?” Her tone was light, almost teasing, but Ridley could see the plea in her eyes.
“I’m already your friend, nitwit.”
“Nitwit. Wow.”
“It’s a term of endearment.”
Lilah laughed so hard she almost choked. Eventually, after Ridley smacked her back, she calmed down and sighed. Looking out across the wastelands, she said, “The city looks so different without the wall.”
“And without the storm clouds,” Archer added.
“It’s beautiful,” Ridley murmured. The sun had disappeared on the other side of the city, lighting up the sky with an expanse of color. Bright yellow bleeding into orange-pink bleeding into purple. Ridley leaned her head on Archer’s shoulder. “What about you? Any plans yet? You’re still staying, right?”
“Wherever you are, that’s where I’ll be. Until you get tired of me.”
Ridley tapped her glass against his. “Not gonna happen.”
“But aside from that, I do actually have a plan. It begins with an interview.”
“An interview? Where?”
“The Rosman Foundation.”
Ridley straightened, her mouth falling open. “That’s my thing! You can’t take my thing!”
“Hey, I’m sure there’s room there for both of us,” Archer said with a laugh. “I’m not taking anything. I just … I kept trying to figure out what the heck I should be doing with my life now, and I kept coming back to that. I have no idea what I’d actually do there, but they’re all about creating new opportunities for people—in a whole variety of ways—and that sounds … I don’t know, really fulfilling.”
“Archer Davenport,” Lilah said. “I don’t even know who you are anymore.”
Ridley stretched up and kissed Archer’s cheek. “I love you. And you’re right. I’m sure there’s room there for both of us.” She nestled against his side again. She was about to lift her glass to her lips when she remembered something. “Hang on, weren’t we supposed to toast to something?”
“Oh yes,” Lilah said. “We were. To something epic.”
“You pick something,” Archer said to Ridley.
She looked at her glass, considering. “Well, we already toasted to a new world the other night. So … I guess … to the future.” She lifted her plastic wine glass, remembering the last thing Archer had said to her in his live video message. “To the future we dreamed of. The future we’re in now.”
“To the future,” they repeated. And together the three of them raised their glasses.
OTHER BOOKS BY RACHEL MORGAN
Thank you for reading Ridley’s story! If you enjoyed it, I would SO appreciate a review somewhere online.
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If you’re looking for more from Rachel, have you read Creepy Hollow, her first series? A hidden world of magic, fae, romance, action, plot twists, and more. With over half a million copies in the hands of readers worldwide, you don’t want to miss out on this addictive YA fantasy series!
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Start with The Faerie Guardian.
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Otherwise, try out City of Wishes. This Cinderella twist involves a human slave, a world of fae, vampires and shifters, and a Godmother who rules the illegal wish trade. Elle is desperate enough to wish for her freedom—but every wish comes with a price. Is she willing to pay it?
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Start with The Memory Thief.
Acknowledgments
This is the book I thought would never be finished. It has seen a coronavirus lockdown, Riley sick (multiple times), me sick (multiple times), Kyle in hospital (a hiking accident), teething, sleep regression, numerous changed publication dates, Riley’s first birthday, and—most of all—me figuring out how to be a mom and an author at the same time.
Pretty sure I haven’t got that last one down yet!
So thank you to God for getting me to the end of it. Thank you to Kyle for doing Riley night duties so I could get enough sleep for my brain to function during the day. Thank you to all those involved in getting this finished book out into the world. And thank you to you, my dear reader, for still being here!
About the Author
Rachel Morgan spent a good deal of her childhood living in a fantasy land of her own making, crafting endless stories of make-believe and occasionally writing some of them down. After completing a degree in genetics and discovering she still wasn’t grown-up enough for a ‘real’ job, she decided to return to those story worlds still spinning around her imagination. These days she spends much of her time immersed in fantasy land once more, writing fiction for young adults and those young at heart.
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Rachel lives in Cape Town with her husband, daughter, and three miniature dachshunds. She is the author of the bestselling Creepy Hollow series, and also writes sweet contemporary romance under the name Rochelle Morgan.
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Find more info on Rachel’s website
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