The Far Second of Eternity by Keana Doyle

Author:Keana Doyle [Doyle, Keana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pepperback Press, Inc.
Published: 2023-12-19T00:00:00+00:00

18

I had fully intended on eating dinner in my room, but Cooper showed up at my door. The snorty snaggle-toothed snotface.

“Wow, that’s a mouthful,” he commented from the doorway. “You kiss your momma with that mouth?”

My head went up as I blinked. Apparently, I’d been mumbling out loud as I’d looked for rubber soled loafers. They fit nicely over the warm socks, and with how much the ship was tilting from the waves, it was a good choice.

He got a look from me. “Whyyyyyyyy are you dragging me to dinner?” I whined and disappeared into the bathroom to run a brush through the mess.

“Why are you so averse to going?”

I shoved my head out and stared at him incredulously from behind the weeds of my hair. “I’m not even dignifying that with an answer. And this? This is a singularly lousy idea.”

“It’s going to be fiiiiiiine, really,” he said with laughter in his voice.

“Ah huh. Sure.”

“You worry too much,” Coop informed me.

“Apparently, I’m on the payroll of ‘worry too much’,” I retorted and mumbled. “Someone needs to be.”

“I heard that,” he quipped.

“Good. You were supposed to,” I replied coming into the bedroom, my hair in a simple braid. “There. Am I presentable?” I’d noticed that dinners tended to be dressy casual. Though jeans, a pale green thick cowled sweater, and loafers seemed safe.

“You look fine, not trying too hard, nor as um, colorful as you were this morning,” he answered, trying not to laugh again.

He got a mock glare and narrowed eyes.

I’d been asleep since Dobrek had dropped me off in my room before lunch.

Neither of us decided to mention earlier.

He seemed fine, and he’d showered and dressed in a collared shirt, sweater, and jeans himself. We headed to the dining room and the silence grew awkward. “Spit it out, Josh.”

“Ah, how are you feeling?” he questioned tentatively. “Is there a plus one for dinner?”

I stopped walking. “I’m okay, Coop, and that? That was Me.

“She? Us?” I titled my head and stared upwards trying to explain. “Me exists far below the surface, like bottom-of-the-ocean dwelling, yet everywhere. As if you were staring at a map of who I am, Me would be in the deepest part where they label uncharted waters with ‘here there be monsters’, not that Me’s monstrous or anything, more like she doesn’t think like I do.

“Me isn’t a persona like I am, like Eliora, or any of the others, those are transitory, nearly Human lives I live. They grow, they exist, they die, and a new one is born. Her? Me is my eternal core, who does not surface often, and honestly, that’s best for all of us.” I kicked at nonexistent dirt on the floor, my gaze on my feet. “He—he nearly killed me, Josh.” The last part came out in a hoarse whisper.

The ship tilted again and forced me to grab the railing.

“Hey, you’re okay,” he reminded me. His hands went to my shoulders, forcing me to look up at him as he rode the hallway.

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