“I guess we’ll go back to traveling around.” He stares down at his root beer. “I know he’s anxious to start hunting again.”

My heart jerks, and I try for a reassuring smile, but it crumbles. I don’t want him to leave. But Liam’s his family, and family sticks together. I won’t come between that.

“You’ll be able to help him now,” I say, trying to focus on the positive. “He can teach you even more about your powers.”

He nods, but he doesn’t seem as excited as I expect him to. In fact, he looks a lot like the boy he was when he first showed up at Ravenfall: lost, with the world spinning out of control around him.

He tries for a smile, and it’s almost as bad as mine. “I had this idea, where I could start a new journal for myself, and you could do all the drawings, and it’d be both of ours.”

My throat tightens. “Well, this way, you both get to keep your parents’ journal with you.”

Colin plays with the trinity knot around his neck at the mention of his parents. “What do you think Liam meant, death is only temporary?”

I sip my drink. “Do you believe in an afterlife?”

“I think so.” His hand closes around the charm. “I’m just not sure about in what form.”

“I don’t really think the form matters,” I reply, tipping my bottle at Max. “I mean, Max would say it’s a black cat.”

Max cracks open one eye. A smile creeps across Colin’s lips.

“And Aunt Elaine would tell you it’s a giant library,” I continue. “All I know is this life isn’t the only one, and for as much as we know, there are still powers at work that we can never understand. And as far as I’m concerned, they can stay that way.”

Colin smirks. “Of course. Because where’s the fun in knowing everything?”

I grin. “See? You’re learning.”

“It’s been known to happen,” he says, sipping his drink.

I lower my feet to the ground. “I have something for you.”

I pull a thin wrapped present out of my pocket and hand it to him. For a moment he simply looks at it, and I worry I’ve made him feel awkward by giving him something. Is it too much? Do friends do this stuff for each other?

Finally, he says, “No one outside my family has ever given me a present before.”

I stiffen, already kicking myself for doing this wrong yet again. Panicking, I reach for the present, but he pulls it away, a smile building on his face.

“I didn’t mean it that way,” he says. “What I meant was, thank you.”

The tension floods out of me, and I slump in my seat.