"I saw the heavens stir from above, a choir of angels weeping at the misfortune of this miracle being brought to me and me only."
—me, 'The Hollows Of Hiraeth'

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H o l l o w s I n
T I M E
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We talked for hours, right up until it was midnight. That's when we realised it was Christmas Eve.

"It doesn't matter if we work through Christmas Eve," Alexi yawned. "It's Christmas Day that you need the most sleep for." She said, wiping the tiredness from her eyes.

I hummed in response. Usually, I was quite good at staying up late, but as I fell back onto Jameson's bed and curled up, I realised I was a goner. The three continued to talk, whilst I rested my head on my left arm, my hair falling over my face as I fell asleep.

I was awoken by a weird sensation on my face, and when I opened my eyes, I saw Jameson in my line of vision. He was knelt down at the end of the bed, gazing at me. His palm rested on the side of my face, his thumb brushing against my cheekbone. I was warm, and I soon realised that was because I had a spare duvet draped over my body.

"Sorry." He murmured, removing his hand and running it through my hair, which was now brushed away from my face. I was going to tell him that I didn't care, but I was too tired for it.

"Would you like to get into bed?" Jameson asked. I nodded, scrambling over to the top of Jameson's bed, stripping the duvet back and getting into it.

"I meant your–" Jameson broke himself off as I got comfortable, pulling his duvet up higher so that I was warm. I heard Jameson sigh, and then a door close.

"He's gone." It was Lexi. Jameson muttered something in response as my mind began to spin into sleep.

"Did you put her there?"

"No, she got in herself."

"That's kind of cute; join her, I'll take her bed." There was a long pause before I felt the mattress dip in front of me—I was lain on my left side.

"Goodnight." And then the lights went out. But I was already buried deep in sleep by that point.

"Pst, I just saw Santa."

Was what woke me up later, followed by someone nudging my shoulder repeatedly. I swatted the person away, complaining using incoherent words.

"It's Christmas Eve, and I'm not stupid." I responded next, wiping the sleep from my eyes before opening them to see Alexi grinning at me.

"She's up!" She yelled, making me cringe as I buried myself into the covers. She got up off the ground and walked off somewhere, leaving me alone in Jameson's bed.

"I did a head count—I think we're missing someone." It was Jameson. But I didn't unbury myself to see the commotion.

"Relax, I definitely contacted everyone on that list. I made sure of it. They'll be here." With that, their conversation ended and I heard the door shut and footfalls approaching me.

The duvet was peeled off my body, but only slightly. "Good morning, would you like some breakfast?" Jameson asked, brushing my hair back from my face.

I hummed. "What's going on?" I asked, referring to the commotion that I was only just hearing from my room.

"We're planning. Do you want a few more minutes? Or do you want to get ready—you can use my bathroom?" Jameson suggested, quite obviously brushing over the details of what was going on.

I sat up slowly, pushing back the rest of the covers. Jameson straightened up from where he crouched on the ground, but he was still smaller than me by a few inches as I sat up. I leaned down, resting my face on his shoulder sleepily.

"You can have a few more minutes, if you'd like." He offered to me, wrapping his arms around my body.

I shook my head. "I'm fine, but I want to shower—and I need clothes." I said into his neck. Jameson pulled away and held me at arms length.

"What do you want to wear?" He asked, reaching out and tucking strands of hair behind my ear.

I shrugged. "Something warm. You decide." I told him as I tried to keep my eyes open. Jameson smiled, said something about getting some clothes and toiletries, and then got up to leave.

I slipped off Jameson's bed and pattered into the bathroom to empty my bladder. I looked in the mirror as a yawn overcame me, brushing through my greased up hair.

I was startled by a knock, and opened the door to find Jameson holding a bag of my shower essentials. I accepted them and passed on my thanks before shutting the door and getting ready.

Once showered, I timidly cracked the door open, peaking through the inch sized gap to see Jameson's room completely empty. In only a towel, I moved out of the room, light on my feet as I went. I paused when I saw a pile of clothes on Jameson's bed.

I quickly changed before using the other toiletries that Jameson had retrieved for me. A hairbrush, moisturiser, deodorant and...a small black box.

With my heart beating a thousand beats a second, I picked up the box out of curiosity, and then opened it to find a beautiful amber pendant. It was much like the original pendant that I had ever so mysteriously received, but was so much more beautiful.

It looked as if petals and glitter had fallen into the glass as the pendant was crafted, a sunset-envy amber paint glossed over the top. The amber pendant itself was small, but was encased in thick layers of thin silver, intertwined around the amber jewel to appear almost as vines that held onto the amber tightly.

It was gorgeous.

I carefully pried the backing out of the box, only to be greeted with a note on exquisite, fancy card. The card itself had scalloped edges, and had details of ink lace. Details, details.

I recognised the scrawls immediately. The same ones I had read in Jameson's letter to me. His handwriting wasn't atrocious—it was just gorgeously messy.

Amber is one of the oldest substances utilised by humankind for personal decoration and magical use. In addition to being an elemental symbol of memorial and memory, amber is also imbued with energies such as: love, devotion, protection and healing. Amber's warm essence can mend wounds of the heart. Hold amber close to your heart, and focus on ideals such as healing, peace, mending, nurturing.

I frowned, then realised there was another side.

Sky,

Because I never forgot you.
And never will.
I'll always be here for you.
To help you when you need it.
To heal you when you need it.

Hand on my heart,

Jameson.

And that's when I realised that I was about to start sobbing. Before I cried a river, I tucked the note back in the box, gently pulled out the necklace and fastened it around my neck.

I swallowed back the tears before returning to the bathroom to assess how the necklace looked on me. When I saw it, I nearly choked up again. How did I get so lucky?

I smiled, running the pad of my index finger across the surface of the pendant from where it lay in the centre of my chest, around the same place where I could feel my heartbeat beating dangerously fast.

I took a deep breath before leaving the bathroom, and then an even bigger one before twisting Jameson's door handle and being greeted by the commotion on the other side.

I gaped. I recognised everyone here.

I actually recognised them.

From across the room, Jameson's eyes met mine as I became aware of his presence.

His facial expression didn't change, but in the midst of the commotion, I saw the smile in his eyes—and I hoped I was displaying the same in my own. Those same eyes acknowledged that I was wearing his gift, and then a real smile fought its way onto his face.

Whilst I still had his attention, I placed my hand over my chest, to gesture to my heart as I stared over at him earnestly. He returned the favour.

Hand over my heart.

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Aw

Shippppppp

I SHIP

WOW

YE

SKYSON
IS THE ONE

HAND ON MY HEART OMG DO YOU REMEMBER FROM FIRST BOOK

OMFG
OMFG

IVE JUST

OMFG

IVE JUST REALISED

THAT WAS FROM CHAPTER NINETY FOUR IN THE FIRST BOOK

THIS IS CHAPTER NINETY FOUR IN THE SEQUEL

AND ITS HAPPENED AGAIN

AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER TOO

ID LOVE TO SAY I PLANNED IT BUT I DONT THINK I DID

LOOK

OMG

IM NOT FREAKING

-yes you are

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Next update: Friyay
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CHAPTER NINETY-FIVE SPOILER:

Comfort from the wrong man.

Plans being drawn up and calculated closely.

Which lead us to our team.

The team that takes us to the end.

THE FINAL CHAPTER IS:
9 chapters away