The Hollow Gods by A. J. Vrana

Author:A. J. Vrana [Vrana, A. J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781733386821
Publisher: The Parliament House

25

Miya

The night was as quiet as freshly fallen snow. Only the sound of footsteps and the pitter-patter of rain on pavement trickled into Miya’s awareness. She pulled her umbrella from her backpack and offered to share it with Kai, but he shook his head, looking almost offended.

“I’m not a cat,” he told her, so she shrugged and raised the umbrella, happy to hog.

She was bothered by how still her heart was, how absent she remained of any transformative emotion. She’d expected her whole sense of reality to crumble, and yet everything remained intact. This was all, somehow, acceptable. Perhaps it was because the wolf was a recurring theme in her life. Perhaps it was fate; the encounter from her childhood might have been a premonition—a sign of what was to come.

“Do you believe in fate?” Miya asked when the crickets got too loud, knocking around the inside of her skull.

Kai’s brows slowly knotted together. “Don’t care—don’t really think about it,” he said gruffly.

“Really?” She turned to him. “You never think about whether things were meant to happen? Or if it’s all just coincidence?”

“Nope.” He shrugged. “Don’t see the point. Even if you knew, so what? Fate’s just a nice way of saying you’re a hamster on a wheel. Nothing you do matters. And if everything’s coincidence, that leaves you with about as much control as fate.”

This was the most he’d spoken to her without spewing venomous sarcasm. If anything, he actually sounded earnest, like he was willing to have a conversation.

“What about freedom, then?” Miya probed.

Kai shut his eyes and leaned his head back, relishing the raindrops. “Nobody wants freedom. They just like the idea of it.” He cracked his eyes open and looked at her, demanding her attention. “What people want is to feel safe.”

“So, you don’t believe in freedom?” she asked.

“You’re missing the point, Lambchop.” He pulled a hand from his pocket and poked her cheek. “Things like fate and free will are just ideas. Shit people make up to feel better because they don’t want to be honest about how cruel the world is. If there’s such a thing as fate, it’s nothing more than your beginning.”

“Fate is the beginning?”

“Something like that.”

“Why did you come with me, then?” Miya challenged. “Wasn’t that a choice you made freely?”

His lips curled in a mischievous smile—like he was willing to play along, for now. “I didn’t want to, remember?”

Miya pushed back with growing confidence. “You didn’t want to, but you did. Why?”

“I can trust you.”

“How would you know that?”

His eyes narrowed to a cutting glare, though his tone remained sincere. “Because you’re not afraid of the dark. You came looking for it.”

“So?” She frowned.

“Well, you found it,” he scoffed. “And I bet you aren’t willing to share.”

He was right—Miya didn’t dare tell anyone about him, and not for entirely selfless reasons. Just like the wolf from her childhood, she wanted this secret to be hers. Even now, there was an urgency crawling up her spine. She wanted to slow down,

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