Waking up the next morning in a room that made me remember just how alone I was, only one thought immediately sprung to my mind. Today was either going to be the best or worst day of my life.

I sat up in the bed for a while, trying to sort out my thoughts and make myself look like I wasn't crying or whatever, when a knock sounded on my door. "Come in," I called, barely wiping away tears, which were so pointless because there was no reason why I should be crying. I assumed it would be Eliza, and I didn't really care if she saw me like this.

It was not Eliza.

Thomas opened the door and slipped inside quickly, closing it after him. He stopped and leaned against the wooden door, as if catching his breath. "Hey. I am sorry for bothering you so early."

I kicked off the blanket and shot to my feet, which I regretted fervently as the blood rushed to my head. "No, no! It's fine. Can I help you with something?"

Thomas tilted his head back to look up at the ceiling. "I wish." He sighed and stepped over to the bed, but must have thought better of it and conjured up a chair for himself right across from me. We couldn't have been more than a few feet apart, yet it almost felt like miles. "I forgot to ask how the guards are treating you. They are not too bad, I hope?"

"You don't have to do that," I said, falling down to the bed. "Talk that formally I mean. I won't judge you too much."

He laughed and let himself relax into the chair. "Sorry. Old habits you know? The guards?"

"Hmm? Oh, they're not too bad. They just kinda make me nervous, but I'll get over it. I'm strong." There was something bugging him, I could see it. I wanted nothing more than to reach out my hand and place it against his cheek, but that would have been entirely inappropriate. "What are you here to talk about?"

"Oh, uh, I guess I'm just burning my bridges, so to speak. Or maybe not. I'm not really good with Earth expressions." He let out a breath and shifted so he was sitting on his legs. "Alexander, the possibilities that I won't be chosen as lord are slim to none."

"Great way to start."

"Yeah, well. I do try. Anyway, these past few months have been... quite frankly? Awful. I—it reminded me of before. Before you lost your memories. You hated me, and that was fine, because I mostly hated you. But this time it was so much different and I just... I don't know. I guess what I want to say is that I don't want us to end things on a bad note, if it comes to that."

My stomach plummeted. "Right. No, I agree."

Thomas nodded, almost disappointed. Was he expecting me to say more? "Right. Well, I was wondering if we could be friends again? Even if we only have a few days left with each other?"

He was certain he wouldn't be coming home with us, so certain that it was impossible to argue with him, to insist that there was still a chance he could escape Avionerra and come home with me.

The full selfishness of my words sunk in, and my throat constricted. I should be happy and supportive for him, and yet here I am. He doesn't owe me anything, not after the way I treated him. Let him go. I just needed to be happy for him.

Thomas was watching me carefully, and I realized with a start that I had left his question unanswered. "Yes. Yeah, I would like that a lot."

"Right." Thomas rose from the chair, and his smile didn't feel exactly genuine. "Well, thanks, Alexander. I hope this isn't the last time I ever get to talk to you or anything." He added a laugh for the last part, trying to brighten something that could very well be our future. "I'll see you later?"

"Hopefully, right?"

He laughed again. I watched as he turned to go, ready to walk right out of my life. I couldn't let this happen, I wasn't ready to let go of him. Not yet not when I still needed him—"I hope you don't become lord."

Thomas paused, turned to look at me, and smiled. "Yeah. Me neither." But instead of leaving like I expected, he walked over to me and moved his head close to mine. "Come visit me tonight," he whispered. "Find James. He'll show you where to go."

Heat rushed to my face as Thomas smiled at me like he hadn't said anything at all, and quietly slipped out of the room. I was left staring at the spot he had just been, hardly able to function. Not after he had been so close.

~•~

I hugged my arms, trying not to move around too much. Not like I really had anywhere to go; the room was so crowded I could feel the anticipation dripping off of the Avion in front of and behind me.

To my right, Lafayette sighed in annoyance. "When will this thing start? I want to get home."

"Be patient, Lafayette," Eliza reprimanded from my other side. It wasn't really hard to tell she was excited. "I'm happy for Thomas. I really hope he becomes lord. I think he'd be good at it."

"Don't we all?" I said in pleasant agreement, though I completely disagreed. I wanted him to come home with me. Us. With us.

The room we were in wasn't exactly special on its own, but apparently, the trunk of the tree that was keeping the entire castle up ran right through the center of it. I craned my neck to get a better look at it, but the all mighty tree of power looked like just a regular tree. The only thing special about it were the strands of crystals draped around it like Christmas tree lights. They even glowed light tints of blue and purple too. But those were placed there by Avion; I watched them do it.

So there was nothing about the tree that set it apart from any other tree besides the legends I'd heard from James while we were walking down here. When I had muttered my comments and thoughts about that, instead of getting angry at me like I would have expected him to do, he just stared at me and told me that's exactly what Thomas thought.

"But Lafayette's right," Eliza said after a minute. "When is this thing starting?"

"Hey, where's Angelica?"

"Up there," Eliza said with a nod up to a balcony across the room. Angelica was sitting there, along with other Peritum that looked like the kind of people who believed they were better than everybody else.

"How come she got special privileges?" Lafayette asked, though it sounded more like a joke than anything else.

"I don't know. I guess she asked for them or something." Eliza sighed in frustration and closed her eyes. After a moment or two, she frowned. "I can't feel anything."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't feel anybody's thoughts. Usually all I have to do is reach out and they're there, but now I can't hear them."

"There must be a spell or something," Aaron said from Eliza's left.

"But why would they have a spell up to prevent that?"

"Probably because thoughts are people's privacy? And they deserve to have some?" I questioned, earning myself a jab in my ribs. "Hey! How do you have such bony elbows?"

"Oh you'll live. Did you talk to Thomas last night?"

"Yeah, a little bit."

"And?"

"And nothing," I said, choosing to leave out his visit earlier that morning. She didn't ask about that anyway. "Why?"

"Come on. Nothing happened between you two?" Lafayette pressed. "Can you get back together with him please? Your silent fighting is really getting on my nerves."

"You're one to talk," Eliza muttered under her breath, making me smile. "But he's right, Alexander."

"Can we stop talking about this? It's none of your business."

Eliza opened her mouth to say something else, but thankfully, something landed on my shoulder. I jumped in surprise, but grinned as I took in the tiny form of Belletra. "Hey, girl," I cooed, picking her up lightly. "Long time no see, huh?"

She glared up at me, then pecked my hand.

"Divinity's children!" I hissed in pain. "What was that for?" But I knew what it was for. "Well, do you have any idea when this thing is going to start?"

She didn't say anything, because she's a bird.

"Are you talking to that thing?" Lafayette asked.

"Yeah. It's Belletra. You know, one of the birds that's around Thomas all the time? There's her and Amica?"

"I know their names," Lafayette said. "I just do not understand why you are talking to it. Are you actually expecting a response?"

"I don't know anymore." Belletra returned to my shoulder just as darkness suddenly swept over my vision. A litany of gasps rose up, and a hush fell over the crowd. Just as swiftly as the darkness came, a small blue dot of light appeared in the air above our heads. It rested there by itself for a moment, before another one popped up a few feet away. One by one, hundreds of similarly shaped lights sprung up out of the darkness, some blue, and others white, red, and yellow.

It took me a second or two to realize they were stars. The ceiling was quickly becoming a miniature night sky.

"Woah," Eliza breathed in awe.

"Yeah," I agreed, unable to say more and break the sudden spell we had fallen into. The lights above glimmered with all the strength and power of real stars. It would seem disrespectful to look away, so I kept my eyes trained on the glorious displays of magic.

I was starting to understand why they were so important to Thomas.

Finally, when the last star flickered on, the entire room was illuminated by the multicolored lights, but the display wasn't over. The crystals draped around the tree started to glow brighter, framing the size of the massive trunk. I smiled in awe, absolutely taken by the lights. It was kind of hard not to be.

And then, across the room, a set of wings started to glow, the final addition to the show of lights. I felt my body stiffen as the sight of the luminous feathers sunk in, and the tall, graceful shape of Thomas.

"God, he's beautiful," I murmured underneath my breath, not thinking about what I was saying.

"What was that?" Eliza whispered.

"Nothing!"

Belletra chirped, and I bet she'd be rolling her eyes if she could.

"Uh-huh." Eliza turned away from me and smiled, looking very satisfied for herself in a way I found infuriating and kinda cute at the same time.

Whispers sprung through the crowd as Thomas started forwards, the glowing white of his wings brighter than anything else in the room. He walked with a steadfast determination, but he was so stiff and calculated and perfect. He was panicking. I knew he was. He kept his eyes on the tree in front of him, and I wanted nothing more than to push myself to the front of the crowd and reach out to touch him as he passed.

Finally, after what seemed like hours and mere seconds all at once, he reached the base of the tree. I sucked in a deep breath and straightened my body. For a second, I almost thought about crossing my fingers, but I wrote that off as a stupid idea.

Eliza grabbed my shoulder, and I didn't brush her off even as she squeezed it.

A heartbeat passed where nothing happened. A heartbeat of hesitation, a heartbeat of fear. Not just from him, but from everyone gathered in the room. I could hear the hushed whispers of anticipation and worry drift away from every mouth in the room. I could feel the wonder and puzzlement and emotion.

Then, Thomas reached out slowly and brushed his fingertips against the tree.

I waited in silence, hardly able to breathe. I could feel my heart beating in my chest, but I stood still and waited. Waited and waited, because that's all I could do.

Nothing happened.

I let out a sigh of relief and unclenched my fists. Quiet murmurs of disbelief took over the room, but I hardly cared. Thomas stepped away from the tree, and although he had his back to me, I could practically feel the waves of relief rolling off of him.

And then, a scream echoed through the room, coming from nowhere and everywhere all at once. Thomas backed away from the center of the room and spun around, trying to place the source of the scream, but I already knew who it belonged to.

After all, I had heard it before.

The exact same blood curdling scream from the night Thomas was almost killed in the maze. Where he almost died trapped, alone, because we couldn't get to him.

Without warning, Thomas fell to the ground. His wings curled over his body to protect himself, but there was no protection from this unseen assailant.

I started forward, ready to push through the crowds to get to him, but Eliza grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back. "Let me go!" I hissed. "I have to—"

"Look at the tree."

My stomach plummeted at the four simple words. I turned to face the towering trunk of the tree, and all breath left my body. The wood had turned a vibrant, vicious white light, burning in the darkness and vastly dwarfing the gleam of the fake stars above.

I couldn't speak, but the room erupted into cheering and applause.

I stared at Thomas. The spasms had left him, and he now sat up in the middle of the empty space with his back facing the tree. I wish I knew what he was thinking.

Thomas's mother appeared out of nowhere next to him. She helped him to his feet and hugged him tightly, but Thomas made no move to hug her back.

His eyes sought mine out as the tree dimmed and the lights returned to normal. I had no doubt that the two of us were thinking the same thing.

I felt myself go numb.