EVA

IT WAS THE FIRST TIME that they'd walked to work together, and it felt like a crime that they hadn't done it more often.

Jensen was the perfect company. Though the remaining distance to the library was short, he kept their pace so that they could enjoy each other's presence while also getting to their destination in plenty of time. It still went by too fast.

Eva was impressed at how easily he conversed, filling the right moments with banter yet not blabbering on for so long that they missed the sights around them. Havenwood had such beauty early in the morning, when the sun's rays washed the world in a golden hue. It looked deceptively warm for such a chilly October day, but the latte she clutched in her hands and the company she held kept her cozy meter at just the right level.

They rounded the final corner to find the library a block away, its clock tower standing tall above the squat building. The sun perched upon its roof, casting long shadows down the street while searing her eyes at the same time.

Eva turned toward Jensen, hoping for relief from the direct light, and was surprised to find him staring ahead in unbothered bliss. Judging by the smile on his face and the glow to his skin, he was content to bask in the blinding light.

Except, it wasn't just his skin visibly enhanced by the sun. Even his hair, usually a flat light brown, bounced with golden highlights she had never noticed before—and while she had always been enamored with his oceanic eyes, that morning they glistened with so many different shades that it was hard to focus on only one.

It was moments like that when she wondered how Jensen Hawthorn was real.

"Something on your mind?" he asked.

From so close, his musky cologne enveloped her, melding with the sweeter, smoky smell that drifted off his flannel shirt. While Eva had caught him lighting up behind the library on numerous occasions, she had never once noticed the stale smell of tobacco in his company; she had only found the same fragrance that wafted closer to her in that moment.

Something about it was intoxicating.

So much so that she didn't realize she'd been smiling giddily until Jensen's chuckle gave her warning. Days away from him made her forget how well-acquainted he was with her awkwardness, turning her brain into an echo chamber of Bobbi's teasing words.

"He's not my type" was the biggest lie Eva had ever told, yet she'd managed to say it with such certainty that she'd almost convinced herself it was true.

As they approached the library steps, Jensen paused, shifting the coffee cups in his hands as he awaited her response. It was easier for Eva to take in the world around them while in the shadow of the stone canopy, though she still fought the urge to rub her eyes. Without the brilliant light bouncing off his features, he had lost his sun-kissed glow, as if the colors that suddenly appeared had never existed at all.

Maybe she was losing her mind.

But if she had drained what was left of her sanity, there was no harm in taking the one chance her normal self would have lacked the courage to attempt.

"Actually, there is." Eva sucked in a deep breath. "I've been meaning to talk to you about this for a while now, and—"

"I'm not getting a pink slip, am I?"

Eva blinked. While she hoped his words were laced with sarcasm, his near-blank expression gave no indication of satire. She couldn't help but notice the way he gripped his cups tighter and tensed the muscles in his forearms beneath the rolled-up sleeves of his charcoal flannel.

"No!" Eva shook her head frantically. "Absolutely not. We would never even think of... it's not that serious."

Attempting to hide her flustered expression, she continued up the steps and motioned for her companion to follow. His shoes scuffled along the stone walkway, but his movements dragged slower than normal. She unlocked the front door for an excuse to breathe.

Did he really think she was going to fire him?

"What I want to ask," she said, "is if you want to meet up sometime?"

Eva held the door wide enough for Jensen to walk through with his hands full. Instead, he stopped at the top step, staring at her with a quirked brow.

Despite her experience with men being primarily fictional, something felt off. Were guys seriously so oblivious in real life?

"Do you want to go out for a drink tonight? Spend the evening outside this dusty old place?"

Jensen's lips formed a small "O" as the light bulb seemingly went off over his head. The relief crossing his face was a heavenly sight, but he remained firmly planted on the top step to ponder his response. The simple softening of his eyes when they drifted from her face, followed by the way he shifted his weight idly, diminished any confidence she had.

She didn't need to hear his response for her hope to shatter.

Jensen must have noticed the way her smile fell and how she suddenly became interested in the details of her shoes, because he stepped closer, eyes wider than a wounded puppy. "I would love to—"

"But." Eva finished the sentence before he had the chance.

Jensen winced. "I'm not sure it's a good idea. My life is a mess right now and..." He licked his lips absentmindedly, as if weighing his words. "It's a bad time."

The rejection stung, and she felt his guilt in the way his words cracked, but he didn't continue. Eva opened the door wider, nodding for him to go inside.

Jensen gnawed on his lower lip before taking the hint and walking past her toward the circulation desk. Eva sighed in relief. If he hadn't, she was sure he would've done the same thing he always did when trapped in an awkward situation: ramble apologies and kind words until his face got so red that his head nearly blew from his shoulders.

It didn't happen often—usually when he had an uptight patron trying to weasel their way out of a late fee due to their cousin's wife's daughter's parrot's funeral—but she could tell by his rose-tinted cheeks that he wasn't far off.

When he held open the circulation desk door with his leg, Eva switched to a safer topic.

"So," she said, scooting past so he could close the door. "You're double-fisting your coffee this morning? I take it you didn't sleep well?"

Thankfully, his lips flickered with the beginning of a smile. He glanced at the marker scribbles on the sides of his cups.

"Actually," he said, setting the left one on her desk, "the second cup is for you."

Eva's brows lifted in surprise as she glanced between the extra-large coffee in her hand and the one beside her keyboard. She sat in her office chair, passing him a genuine smile.

"For me?"

Jensen plunked down beside her. "To make up for leaving you short-handed."

Eva laughed and unpacked her breakfast wrap. It was only a moment after she took her first bite that Jensen's computer whirred to life. She peeked over to find him pulling four familiar books from his satchel.

"Diving into Astraela again?" she asked.

Jensen set her books on the shelf with a chuckle. "I told you: you're a great writer."

"When did you borrow those?"

"Last week, after Jade brought them back."

Eva's brows scrunched together. She distinctly remembered putting them on the shelf minutes after Mrs. Singer and her daughter left because she had taken the time to fan through each book. It was almost instinct; her preteen patrons had habits of marking the pages with notes of appreciation for their librarian to read.

There had even been one from Jade near the back of the fourth book, begging her to finish the final novel before proclaiming: Themrys is life.

"You could've told me you wanted them before I reshelved them."

"Mmmhmm," Jensen mumbled through a mouthful of his buckeye latte. "It was a last minute decision. Worked out, because they kept me company while I was holed up at home."

Eva shook her head skeptically, but it wasn't out of the ordinary for her coworker to pluck books off the shelf after hours. It wasn't the first time he'd had sticky fingers for a quick read and certainly wouldn't be the last.

When he brought his computer program up and grabbed the book on top of his pile, Eva trained her curious gaze on the cover. It was one of the darker color schemes of the series, with smoke curling around her silhouetted heroes. It was easily her favorite, gracing the front of her first book: Eternal Corruption.

Gears whirred in Eva's brain while she thought back to Bobbi's video.

The Corrupted. The Darkness.

It wasn't possible... but it was worth a look.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, making Jensen jump as he set the book aside. "Can you pass that to me?"

Jensen glanced down at the cover, likely questioning why she would want to peruse a book that she wrote. "Knock yourself out."

With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the book, and she caught it between her palms. She wasted no time peeling back the battered cover and flipping page after page.

"Looking for something specific?" Jensen asked, scanning the next book from his pile.

"You could say that."

It felt like she'd paged through the novel for an hour before she found the part that had stuck in her mind.

The scene took place just before the climax: Thana and Emrys had run into the deepest part of Fromir Woods, searching for a rogue Shifter that had maimed several people outside the Elysian Lily. Emrys had flown off ahead in a fiery streak, leaving Thana with a trail of embers to follow in the pitch black woods.

The snippet that caught Eva's interest, however, took place once Thana caught up with her friend, who had the creature smoldering on the ground before him:

__________

Emrys bent down, pressing his fingers to the wolf's forehead. Patches of fur still aglow with tiny, flickering flames sputtered out.

Even from feet away, Thana could make out bulging sacks littered across the Shifter's body. Though half-charred from hellfire, a viscous substance smeared their surface. Gooey tendrils stuck to Emrys' fingers when he pulled them away. The fire in his eyes flared while he wiped his hand along the grass.

"What is that?" she asked. Truthfully, she wasn't sure she wanted an answer.

"I don't know, but it feels... familiar."

"Has it come from Hell?"

Emrys' glowing eyes darkened. His worry lines grew deeper as he examined the beast, rubbing his face in thought. Even if his memories from Hell were clouded, Thana was hopeful that the sight would trigger something from his past.

"It's too foggy." Emrys pulled himself to his feet, ushering for her to come near. "Can you get a good read on it?"

The unamused grimace that befell her lips must have been cartoonishly serious, enough to make Emrys laugh. She ignored him and knelt beside the wolf. Uncurling her fingers, she rested her palm just over the Shifter's abdomen, where dozens of tumors had clustered.

Thana closed her eyes. A tingling sensation swept across her fingertips and crept up her forearm. Darkness swelled in waves, drowning her senses in a suffocating abyss. It swallowed her hand first before cascading up her arm and grasping her chest until her heartbeat thrummed with a pulsating evil.

She couldn't breathe. She couldn't see.

Thana was certain that her heart would've stopped beating had a blast of heat not set the surrounding world on fire. It wasn't until the darkness faded and she saw the golden glow of Emrys' eyes that she could breathe again. She gasped, forcing air into her burning lungs.

Emrys shook out his hand, showering sparks from his fingers. Charred grass streaked toward the Shifter, now ablaze ten feet away.

"What was that?" Emrys' expression had gone wild with fear. "What did it feel like?"

Panic gripped Thana's chest as the memory of the darkness threatened to strangle her once more. She shook her head violently to keep herself in the present, safe in the company of her dearest friend.

"Death."

__________

The excerpt brought no comfort. Eva closed the book and rubbed a hand across her face. The gunk in Bobbi's shop bore perfect resemblance to the nastiness from the books. It shouldn't have been possible.

Maybe she had been writing the series for too long.

When she looked back at Jensen, he had finished checking in the fourth book and scooted his chair backward to place them on the reshelving cart. She whistled for his attention before tossing Eternal Corruption into his outstretched hands.

"Not going to finish your own adventure?" he joked.

Eva shook her head. Ironically, the library was not the optimal place for reading, with mounds of other tasks requiring her attention. Deep-diving into Astraelan lore could wait until evening when she returned home to snatch her own copies.

__________