After I finished the diner dishes, I retreated to the downstairs tub, lingering long enough to let my fingers transform to dried raisins, and then I wrapped myself in my favorite terry cloth robe, making my way to the bed. Jared was waiting for me, his hair still wet from the shower. I crawled under the sheet next to him, relaxing my cheek against his bare chest.

I breathed him in, focusing on the moment we were in, bathing in the gift of peace and stillness. No one spoke of Others or giants. Just us, in our quiet space in time. It was in those moments that I found Heaven, and he was there with me, I could tell, as he pulled me in closer.

“I’m right here,” he breathed. “Nothing bad will happen to you, I swear it.”

“Don’t swear,” I grinned, my eyes growing heavy. That heaviness rested over my entire body, warm and inviting. Jared’s skin felt like a silky electric blanket against mine, and I let myself sink into it. Any light that seeped through my eyelids extinguished, letting the darkness take me deeper into oblivion.

“Nina,” a voice said somewhere in the shadows.

“I’m here,” I said sleepily.

“You’ve really done it this time.”

“Daddy?” I said, sitting up. I was in my old bedroom. Jack sat at the foot of my bed. He was as I remembered him, his salt and pepper hair perfectly in place, his dark, no-nonsense eyes looking softly upon me, clean-shaven and in his favorite gray suit.

He smiled, but his eyes were sad. “I’m sorry I failed you. You’ll have to save yourself, now.”

My lower lip quivered. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Jack placed his thick hand on my ankle, his expression pained. “I tried, many times. I couldn’t bear to see those sweet eyes sad. I wanted you to have everything, Nina; most of all a normal life.”

I smiled. “I hope it’s nice where you are,” I said, my eyes burning from the salty tears lining my lower lashes.

“The only thing missing is you.”

I laughed once, and looked down to my hands. “I wish you were really here. I need you.”

“Find the book, Nina,” Jack said. The change of his voice made me look up. His chin was lowered, and he looked at me from under his brow—the way he always had when he wanted me to listen.

“Daddy?” I said, seeing movement behind him, slowly approaching us from the darkness.

Shax strolled into the light. His black eyes hadn’t changed.

“It’s time to wake up, Nina,” Jack said with an apologetic expression.

I glowered at Shax. “No,” I said, anger bursting from every pore in my skin.

Shax’s head cocked to the side like an animal. “What is she to us, Jack? Why do you protect her so?”