“You mean the day of the Alignment…” I looked up at the stars. I’d never seen them appear so multitudinous and glittering before. It was like they had bloomed into an explosion of wonder just to make this night more magical for me and Riley. I wondered what he saw when he looked at them. Could he see the Alignment happening up there? So close to drawing to completion?

“The Alignment’s peak is an hour of great power,” he mused. “When the cosmic pull will be strong and chaos will beg to burst forth.”

“And that’s going to happen on Saturday,” I said. Five days from now. The same day as the Pumpkin Festival. Such a seemingly innocent day… I felt a warmth blossom within me as I remembered that Riley would be taking me to the Pumpkin Ball…

“But I will resist that pull of chaos should it come.”

Because of me… For me… Something he’d desired for more lifetimes than I could even imagine, something that meant so much to him. He would give it up, all for me…

“But what about your family?” I queried. “Will they be mad at you for not going through with it?”

“There will be nothing to go through with. We have secured the Eldritch Grimoire in my uncle’s keeping. The cultists that attacked us are no more. And if there are any other cultists about, they will not have what they need to attempt to take advantage of the chaotic pull. There is no one who can summon me to the call.”

“But hypothetically speaking. Would you family disapprove? Considering you’re defying your original destiny and all, I mean?” Would they disapprove of me?

“Those who slumber would continue to slumber. And those who are awake…” I felt Riley’s grip on my waist tighten painfully and a dark look came into his eyes. “Let them just try to compel me to do otherwise.”

A thrill rushed through me at the thought of how fiercely he would protect me. Risking their disapproval. Putting me over even his own kin. But I didn’t like seeing him troubled, so I tried to steer the conversation back to my curiosities. “So who is awake now? Besides Neil and your sister, I mean.”

Riley’s expression seemed to soften as he thought of his family. “There are several… My grandfather and a few cousins.”

Cousins? Would I be able to meet them? The thought of a being as miraculously amazing as Riley having something so incredibly normal as extended family made me suddenly feel I loved him all the more. How that could even be possible at this point, I couldn’t begin to comprehend. I was gone for him. And that was the greatest truth I knew. I was wholly, utterly his, and I wanted to be part of every aspect of his existence. So many questions! Where to even begin?