Jane's words rang in Jordan's ears the whole drive home, drumming in tune with the rain outside which had started right after they left the mansion. Coming on the heels of a slew of fantastical revelations, Jane had told Jordan that only he would be able to find Araminta. But Jordan didn't know how. He had no clue. All he had was visions of her twirling away from him and an increasing panic rising in his chest.

"Are you alright, Jordy?" Derek asked, putting a hand on Jordan's shoulder.

The comforting touch jolted Jordan out of his funk. He looked up, realizing that Derek had parked the car. They were outside his house. Through the window, he could hint his family in there, his parents probably busy trying to convince Darcy and Chase to get in bed at a decent hour. Which was usually a fruitless endeavor. But Jordan didn't sense any inclination to go inside just yet. The rain on the windshield poured down in streams, creating a barrier that turned the car into a bubble of safety. Here, he was protected from the questions and expectations of the outside world.

"Yeah... I'm good," he tried, pulling his hand through his hair. He must have been really bad company during the drive home, lost in his own thoughts. His usual poor conversational skills had been non-existent. "I'm sorry I was so quiet."

Derek shrugged. "You don't need to talk for my sake," he assured Jordan, his hand still patting a tense shoulder. "I don't mind silence. But you seem a bit rattled. So I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Jordan nodded. "I just don't know what to do," he mumbled, looking down at his hands. "I don't know how to find her. And it feels like... it's all on me. Araminta's fate is in my hands."

"I get it. It's a lot to take in, everything Jane said, I mean."

"I mean, do you actually believe I will be able to do it?" Jordan asked, wanting Derek to give him the assurance he couldn't give himself. "Do you think I will find Araminta?" Gazing up, he met Derek's eyes, prompting his friend to answer honestly. Jordan didn't want to be coddled. He wanted his lack of confidence to be seen and confirmed.

"I don't know," Derek replied, truth in his voice and gaze. "But I know that if anyone will find her, it will be you, Jordy. You've done everything you can and I know you will continue to do so."

Clipping his seat belt off, Derek scooted a bit closer, stretching his hand across the center console to land on Jordan's leg. Jordan didn't flinch, letting the touch soothe his frayed nerves.

"I could have done more," Jordan mumbled. "I could have... reached out, when she was still here, I mean."

"It's not always easy to approach people," Derek replied, daring to draw circles with his fingers atop Jordan's jeans. The gesture was intriguing, drowning fears and turning them into something else. "Like they may turn you down. I've never been very good at it either."

"But you're so..." Jordan wasn't quite sure what words to use to describe Derek, who to him was everything he himself wasn't. "...you," was the only description he could muster, his brain wiped by exhaustion from the evening. Although "adorable extroverted force of nature" may have been a better descriptor. He flashed a nervous smile toward Derek to excuse his ineloquence.

"I may blather a lot but that doesn't mean anything I say matters." Derek let his hand wander toward Jordan's, who instinctively turned his palm up to meet it. Shivering fingers interlaced in a union of nervousness and anticipation.

"It matters to me," Jordan assured his friend, looking over to meet eyes as dark and twinkling as the night. "Like I don't think I would have gotten this far with my podcast if you hadn't encouraged me. Your first message was like the best praise I've ever gotten. No ever really... noticed me before."

"I see you," Derek assured Jordan and he knew it was true because he could see himself reflected in those eyes. "And I meant every word. Your podcast is awesome. You're awesome, Jordy."

Turning his body toward Derek, Jordan inched a bit closer, leaning across the aisle of the car. Derek's hand moved from Jordan's hand to his shoulder and upward from there. Every touch as soft as the raindrops melting on the windshield, eventually turning into a roaring thunderstorm. Confusion, loneliness, and lust mixed together into a force that pulled them toward one another.

A click as Jordan unfastened his seatbelt. A brush from soft fingers on his cheek. A meeting of longing gazes.

The gap between them was swallowed by bodies yearning for one another. Noses collided as a magnetic force pulled them closer and closer.

Lips met lips and everything changed. Jordan went from being an island to becoming part of something greater. A whole archipelago of hope. The kiss was cautious at first, as they tried out their sails on unknown waters but with each movement they became more confident, plunging into the deep together.

For once in his life, Jordan went with the flow. He didn't worry or hesitate; he followed Derek's lead into the kiss. Deeper and deeper, allowing everything else to disappear. Even their reason for being in the car together disappeared from Jordan's mind. Only curious lips and vibrating touches mattered.

Caw! Caw!

A call from a crow, flapping its wings right outside the window, made Jordan remember Jane's words.

Only you can find her.

The weight of the words made him pull back, startled. He felt guilt guilty that he had forgotten. Araminta had slipped his mind in a moment of indulgence. The insistently pelting raindrops reminded him that she was out there in the cold and it was up to him to find her.

He couldn't do this. Not now. It was too much. Everything was too much. He needed to breathe.

"I need to go," he mumbled, drying his moistened lips with the back of his hand while looking everywhere but Derek. Jordan reached for the doorhandle and a moment later, he stood outside on the street, pouring rain rushing down his shoulders and back.

The regret came instantly. The cold rain tempered heated emotions. But as he turned, he realized it was too late. Derek was already pulling out from the parking space, probably spooked by Jordan's brusque reaction.

There may have been a moment where Jordan could have raised his hand or run after Derek's car. Later that night he would kick himself for not acting swiftly. But Jordan was an overthinker and by the time his mind had spun a million thoughts, it was too late. There were only puddles and loneliness left.

And of course, a cawing crow, watching him from a tree.