Stubborn as Mules

MICHAEL

I was told she was awake, but she hadn’t come to see me. And so, I went to her. I knew where she was, could feel her presence, her spirit, as clearly as if she were a blinking light on a map in my mind. I stepped through the golden gates of Valhalla, ignoring protocol and taking advantage of the sisters’ depleted numbers. I walked the long corridors toward the room that had once been Mahria’s, but now was Desolation’s.

Fiahre fell in step beside me. “You look well.”

I glanced at her but didn’t answer. Ahead, I saw the door to Desi’s room and my footsteps slowed. Her presence wrapped around me, I felt her everywhere now, and I knew she’d feel the same. Knew she’d know I was here. I waited for her door to open, for her to come running down the hall, to fly into my arms.

But I’d walked ten feet, twenty feet, her door an arm’s reach away, and still it remained closed.