We had decided that it was over. Josh wouldn't want to come back to a mother who had broken his heart and a coven who were more than ready to fight against him again. From what Josh had said, Matt was no longer our concern. Calum was dead.

The only thing that we had to worry about now was Michael's whereabouts, but it was too dark to start searching now and we were all exhausted. Of course, Leah protested, but even she knew that we had no chance tonight.

We were piled in my living room now, trying to make sense of everything that had happened today. My mother had turned the fire on, but I didn't need it. As soon as we had sat down, I had buried myself in Ashton's arms, and I had no plans to leave them any time soon.

"I don't understand what happened to Michael." Anna was the first to break the silence. "Was it the necklace?"

My mother was the only one who could answer her. "The necklace originally belonged to Neena, one of the most powerful witches there has ever been. It holds a lot of dark power, which is why I tried to keep it hidden for so long. Our family are descendants of Neena, and my grandmother passed the necklace onto me when I was your age. The first time I touched it, I could feel the influence that it had over me. I was strong enough to resist it, but not everyone can. Michael couldn't, and that's why he changed so quickly."

"If it has so much dark power in it, why would you keep it? Why not get rid of it?" Luke asked, sounding slightly angry. I didn't blame him. My mother knew about this all along and decided not to tell us. I was beginning to realise why I had cut myself off from people; I had learnt from the best.

"The necklace can't be destroyed, and if I were to get rid of it, it could have fallen into the wrong hands."

"It fell into the wrong hands anyway," I said, narrowing my eyes. "Because of you, we've lost Michael." Ashton was slowly running his hands down my back in an attempt to calm me down, but I shook him off in annoyance.

"Lilah," Her voice was soft, the guilt evident in the way her grey eyes glimmered against the dim lights, "you know that I never meant for any of this to happen."

"Well it did," I spat, "and now we're the ones who have to pick up the pieces." I pulled myself off the sofa, knowing exactly where I was going before I got there.

The roof.

It was too cloudy to see the stars tonight, but the moon was still there, as it always would be. It was difficult to remember that the Earth still turned, even when my life had dissolved into utter chaos. Maybe that was why I loved it; it remained constant, even when nothing else did.

"Lilah?"

I shuddered at the sound of his voice, grateful that he had followed me. I couldn't forget the coldness in my heart when I had thought that I had lost him.

I helped him onto the roof carefully. His feet were clumsy and his body weak from what had happened today, but he assured me that he was fine as he sat down and pulled me towards him.

"You need to cut your mum some slack, you know," he whispered, biting his lip as I scoffed.

"Don't. I don't want to talk about it." I sighed as he laced his long fingers through mine from behind me. Maybe he could sense that I needed reassurance after almost losing him, or maybe he just needed to feel my touch as much as I needed to feel his, but he had barely left my side since we left the warehouse. I was glad for it.

He kissed the back of my head gently, and we were silent for a few minutes.

"Ash?" My voice cracked from exhaustion as I spoke again.

He hummed in question, waiting for me to talk.

"I didn't mean what I said yesterday. I don't want you to leave me, and I don't want you to find somebody else."

"I'm not going anywhere." He rested his head on my shoulder, sandy tendrils of hair tickling my cheeks. "It was a stupid argument. I'd rather just pretend like it never happened."

"I don't want to lose you again." I gulped back tears, the weight of day finally dawning on me. I thought of Calum's lifeless body, and how it could just as easily have been Ashton's. I could have been sat on the roof alone now, mourning the boy who I had so easily fallen for.

"Lilah," Ashton breathed shakily. "You're not going to lose me. I'm here."

I nodded, but I still wasn't convinced. We were just fragile humans sat under an infinite blanket of night. We would never be permanent. Our whole lives would be based on temporary things that would never really matter. I used to find that a lot easier to deal with than I did now, when somebody actually mattered to me and I could no longer distance my temporary self away from other temporary beings. I still couldn't regret caring for Ashton, though. A month ago I had tried to distance myself from him as much as possible in the fear that I would feel exactly how I did now. I realised now, though, that loving Ashton was worth the pain it would surely bring, because loving Ashton and losing him would be better than never loving him at all, never noticing the way his eyes lit up when he looked up at the moon, never feeling his hot breath against my neck.

Eventually, I helped Ashton down from the roof, the cold finally cutting through my numb exterior. I pulled on a sweater as Ashton collapsed onto my bed, a small smile on his face despite everything that had happened.

"What are you smiling at?" I asked with raised eyebrows.

"You," he answered as if it was obvious. "I never thought we would get to this stage. I never thought you'd let me in."

I bit my lip and averted my gaze to my dresser, suddenly feeling shy in front of him. Nobody had ever looked at me the way he did now, as if he was picking me apart, seeing every little bit of me. "Neither did I."

"I'm glad you did. You have no idea how you make me feel."

I rolled my eyes at his honesty, placing myself next to him on my bed. "Don't be cheesy. Are you staying tonight?" I yawned at the thought of finally sleeping in my own bed again, my body aching from the all the nights I had spent on Anna's floor. I hoped that Ashton would be with me. I didn't know if I would be able to sleep without him.

"If that's okay. I don't mind sleeping on your couch." His expression told me he had no such plans, his green eyes eyeing the pile of pillows on my bed.

"Don't be stupid." I slid under my duvet and pulled it back for him to do the same. "Get in."

He smirked, and as soon as got in, his arms were around me again. I turned my lamp off, yawning again. I was exhausted, so Ashton must have been on the brink of collapse.

I fell asleep almost instantly, dreaming of fire and rain. It turned out that the two weren't so incompatible after all.

*

When I woke up, a single ray of light beamed across Ashton's sleeping face, causing his skin to shimmer as if it was made up of thousands of stars. His hair was golden, and the ends of his eyelashes were silver against the sun. He had never looked so beautiful, and it took me a moment to catch my breath at the sight.

I reached across him for my phone, my stomach falling when I noticed a text from Anna. I opened it with shaky hands, wondering why she was texting me so early before I remembered that we still had Michael to find.

Meeting at Ivory Lake, 12PM. We need to plan what to do about Michael. - Anna

AN: HIII THIS WAS THE LAST EVER CHAPTER OF RAINFALL THE NEXT UPDATE WILL BE THE EPILOGUE OH MY GOD AJJSHWHS I CANT BELIEVE IVE ACTUALLY FINISHED THIS IM PROUD OF MYSELF EVEN IF ITS POO LOL

IM SO EXCITED FOR THE EPILOGUE I HOPE YOU GUYS WILL LIKE IT OK THANKS LOVE U BYE