Hereafter by Jennifer Snyder Read Free Book Online

sharpness constricting his words.
    Evelyn had forgotten to mention that. Panic filled my mind as the possibilities of what that could entail surged through me. I reminded myself of the state I had left my father in, and the panic dissipated to a mere dullness that was easily forgotten.
    “If I stay…my soul will be at risk for being corrupted anyway. It’s tormenting to see my father broken and miserable because of all he has lost in just a few months. And when he moves from my house, from our home…it will be the end of me, because it means that he’s moved on. It’s bad enough seeing Kami laughing and enjoying life without me,” I whispered, willing him to understand where I was coming from.
    “So don’t visit them,” he insisted.
    “I can’t help visiting with them. If I could, it would make this all a lot easier, but I can’t. They’re the last remaining remnants of my life. Being in their presence gives me a shadowed sense of normalcy, even if it’s tiny. Don’t you do the same?”
    I didn’t know if he did. This was a conversation we had never had before, but I prayed he could relate even a tiny bit.
    “Moving on is part of death and it’s something we all do, dead or alive. Eventually we all have to move on, Rowan.”
    I hated what I was about to say next, because I knew the emptiness that it would awaken within him, but the words were true and needed to be said nonetheless. “But it wasn’t my time. This wasn’t supposed to be what my hereafter was like. If my mom wouldn’t have—” I cut myself off the second my eyes raised to his face.
    Guilt pinched at my soul, and I hated myself for the memories I knew I had dredged up in his mind, memories of his death and how he had been cheated.
    Jet shoved his hands deep into his front pockets, his jaw clenching and unclenching as he refused to meet my eyes. “It wasn’t my time either, but I’ve accepted that. Why can’t you?”
    I turned to face him completely, my eyes locking directly with his as soon as they shifted back to me. “I just can’t.”
    Jet sighed and ran his fingers through his hair before shifting to sit on the sand. Silence crafted a void between us as we continued to stare at one another. I wasn’t sure if he was angry still or if he was just thinking of the situation from all angles. I left the water’s edge to sit between his knees and rested my back firmly against his chest, enjoying the feel of him pressed against me while thinking this could be the last time.
    Jet wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer to him. “Well, I’m not letting you go by yourself.”
    I closed my eyes and smiled at the implication of what his words meant—that he would take me. I lightly stroked my fingers across his forearm and snuggled in deeper to his chest. Dark clouds rolled through my mind as I suddenly questioned whether or not gaining my life back was worth giving up this—giving up him.
    “If it works, do you think I’ll remember you after?” I wondered out loud in a faint whisper, hopeful.
    “Probably. I’m sort of a hard one to forget,” he murmured in a cocky tone against my ear.
    I slapped against the top of his hand playfully and smiled. “I’m being serious. I won’t be a Link anymore, so I know I won’t see you, but will I remember you? Will I remember any of this?” My smile faded quickly, and I felt Jet’s thumb begin to caress my forearm gently.
    “I’m not sure,” he answered solemnly. “But I can tell you this, you will always be with me, Rowan, always—right here.” He pulled away and drew my hand up to cover his heart. There was no heart beating rapidly beneath my palm, but I knew exactly what he meant—I would always be weaved within the threads of his soul.
    I could say the same about him.
    “Good, because that’s right where I always want to be,” I whispered and then pressed my lips to his.
    We parted soon and I wondered how alive I would feel once we were no longer able to touch or