And I was. Looking at Brennan, at his kind, gentle smile, I knew that was true.

“We can do this,” I told Brennan softly. “Cadmus is right. We have each other and that’s really all we need. I have faith in that.”

“Then so do I,” he replied, reaching out to grasp my hand. His long fingers encircled mine and I closed my eyes, enjoying the way my hand fit within his.

The familiarity of Brennan’s touch caused warmth to swell in my heart where a deep satisfaction grew. The warmth filled me up and exploded from my fingertips, shocking me with its sudden eruption. The glass balcony doors behind me shattered, the jagged pieces flying around us. I stared at them in astonishment.

“That’s just a small example of what you could happen when you’re together,” Harmonia said quietly.

“But we weren’t even doing anything,” I protested. “I was just enjoying how Brennan held my hand and then—“

“Exactly,” Cadmus interrupted grimly. “You weren’t even doing anything. You certainly weren’t trying to channel Brennan’s energy, yet you did. It’s a subconscious thing for you. You will both have to work hard to overcome it.”

“Yes,” I agreed, scanning the face of everyone surrounding me. “I know. And I’ll do it. We’ll both work harder than we’ve ever worked at anything, won’t we, Brennan?”

He nodded stoically. “Absolutely. Because you’re worth it.”

I looked into his eyes in time to see them turn from hazel to butterscotch with determination. My heart warmed again at the tender look on his face and the chandelier in the bedroom shattered into a million pieces.

I stared at its bare skeleton as it swung frantically above us and sighed.

We had a lot of work to do.

Chapter Nineteen

“I think we should have stayed with Harmonia and Cadmus in the Underworld,” Brennan said nervously as he pivoted in a circle, examining our surroundings. “It’s too much pressure to be back in the mortal world, Em. What if we accidentally hurt someone?”

I sighed, not from impatience, but because I was worried about exactly the same thing. I just didn’t want to completely wreck Harmonia’s home with our energy and it was unnerving to know that Hades was waiting for the first sign of a mistake.

“That’s true, too,” Brennan agreed, reading my mind. “That was annoying. He wants us to fail.”

“Of course he does,” I agreed. “He wants the mortal world to end. He wants all of those souls and he wants, once and for all, to finally overtake Zeus for good. It’s all he’s ever truly wanted.”

Brennan shook his head and stared at the ground below us, wiggling his toes over the side of the cliff we were standing on.

“But why Death Valley?” he asked curiously. “Why did you want to come here? It’s the most extreme place on earth, I think.”

“And that’s exactly why I wanted to come here,” I said softly, staring at the ground below us. “It is extremely remote. So much of it is isolated and desolate, but there is beauty here. Amidst all of the barren nothingness, there is beauty. You just have to look for it.”

The terrain around us was windswept and barren. Hardened sand ripples had formed in the ground, seemingly rippling over the edge of the far horizon. Jagged hills rolled for miles, abrupt and severe, forming angular valleys that were shielded from the elements. There was no one around for miles…the perfect place for us to be.

“I can see your point,” Brennan acknowledged. “And there is beauty here.” With his words, he reached out and touched my face, sliding his fingers down my cheek to the hollow of my neck.

I smiled but didn’t take my attention away from the landscape in front of us. It had never been more important that we stay focused. Brennan replied to my unspoken thought.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ll be good,” he promised, removing his hand from my neck. I felt the absence of his warmth immediately and I longed to have it back. But now wasn’t the time.

“How do we know where we should go?” Brennan asked curiously as he studied the land below us with me. “I know that you can conjure up shelter anywhere. So does it really matter?”

“Yes,” I answered absently. “You forget that Mormo is still hunting us. We’ll need somewhere with good vantage points where we can see him coming.”

“But you have your bracelet back, so that should help somewhat,” Brennan pointed out.

“It will help, yes,” I replied. “But it only gives us a scant moment’s notice. I’d prefer to have a little more of a head’s up than that. Look over there. It looks like a little canyon filled with rock formations. I think we should go there. There’s protection from the elements, we can make a camp on a ledge higher up in the canyon… it should work.”

Brennan followed my pointing finger and gazed at the red rocks in the distance before he nodded. “Yep, it should work.” He held out his hand. “Shall we?”

I smiled and grasped his strong fingers, closing my eyes. I pictured the exact place where I wanted to make camp in my mind and when I re-opened my eyes, we were there.

“I’m glad I’m not afraid of heights,” Brennan said wryly as he stared downward from the ledge we were perched on.

We were hundreds of yards above the ground, on a stone ledge that was only four feet wide. Small pebbles and red rock dust swept across the stone, but that was it. Nothing grew here on the rock. Other shale ledges above us provided shade, which would be nice when the sun was at its peak in the afternoon. It grew very hot here in Death Valley in the day time and then very cold at night. It was a place that could be very dangerous simply because of the elements.

I stared at the back corner of the ledge and squinted. A tent appeared, already assembled. I blinked once and the inside was filled with warm sleeping bags, air mattresses, pillows and an ice chest full of food and water. Brennan stared at me in appreciation.

“Have I ever told you that you’re handy to have around?”

I laughed and shrugged.

“Brennan, this is something that you can do as well. Or, I guess I should say that it is something you will be able to do someday when you have mastered it. All it takes is practice. I’ve had a thousand years of practice, so I’m a little ahead of you.”

“You know,” he replied thoughtfully. “It makes sense that you’re my soul mate. I’ve always been into older chicks. They’re just more mature.”

I laughed again. “I think being with me is slightly different than dating someone a year ahead of you in school. But like I told you before… time is nothing, Brennan. Pretty soon, it will fade away and you’ll see for yourself.”

“But what about my father?” he asked in concern. “I’ll have to watch him die, won’t I?”

I stilled for a moment at this turn in conversation. There were times, because I’d been around for so long, that I had forgotten how to empathize with human emotion. Of course this issue would be troubling for Brennan and I hadn’t even thought about it. I chose my words carefully.

“Yes. You’ll have to watch your mortal father die. But we’ll have to discuss how to handle that particular situation a little later. He can’t know about you… what you are. If you choose immortality and choose to live with me forever, you will stop aging. There will come a point when you won’t be able to visit him any longer, you’ll have to watch him from afar. Do you think you can do that?”

Brennan’s eyes clouded over and I knew he was thinking of his father.

“He’s already lost so much,” Brennan said softly, gazing into the distance without actually seeing it. “My mother, his brother. And now me. But he’s strong. I know he will be fine. I choose you, Empusa.”

He turned to look at me, his hazel eyes appearing as gold in the sun. “I choose you,” he said again. The way he said it troubled me.

“I’m not asking you to choose between me and your mortal life,” I said slowly. “I’m truly not. If I had my way, you could have everything in the world that you wanted. But this is one limitation that we have. We can’t maintain a life in the mortal world and one in immortality. It just doesn’t work that way. It makes my heart hurt to see the pain on your face when you think of losing him, Brennan. You need to carefully consider this. Very, very carefully.”

“But you lived in the mortal world,” Brennan recalled, his forehead wrinkled. “Why can’t we linger here?”

“We could,” I shrugged. “But what you don’t realize now, because you’ve never been to the Spiritlands, is that living here only allows us to be a shadow of our true selves. So much is possible when we’re at home where we belong. We don’t have to hide who we are. You’ll see. If that’s what you choose,” I added quickly.

“I choose that,” he confirmed firmly. “I will always choose you, Empusa. That’s not even a question.”

A part of me that I didn’t even know was there, a small, insecure place, felt instantly soothed with his words. I hadn’t even known that I was uneasy, but now I felt comforted. If he would choose me over his mortal life, over his own mortal father, then I knew he would choose me over anything else that would come.

He stood and balanced on the edge of the stone shelf. “I’ve never been to Death Valley before,” he said, changing the subject as he gazed around us in wonderment. “I thought it would be all desert sand.”

I stood and held his hand as we looked below us. In between rolling hills and mounds of rocks, acres of dark pink flowers grew, their vibrant green foliage waving in the breeze. The air was hot but dry and the breeze felt nice as it rustled my hair away from my face.

“No, it is not all sand here,” I replied. “I believe that Death Valley is the hottest, driest and lowest place in the United States. It is rugged and dangerous, but I think that’s why I like it. That makes it exciting. It’s beautiful, but deadly.”

“Like you,” Brennan observed with a small smile.

“Like me,” I acknowledged with a sigh.

As I spoke, a movement from the corner of my eye caught my attention and I turned. A large black dog sat on its haunches in the distance watching us. Its ears were at attention, its eyes focused unwaveringly upon us.

“That’s a really big dog,” Brennan said with a laugh. “I wonder what it’s doing all the way out here by itself?”

I stared at it again, watching the way the dog’s eyes connected with mine before I sighed.

“It’s my mother,” I told him reluctantly. “Her familiar is a black dog. She uses it sometimes in the mortal world when she wants to be inconspicuous.”

“Your mother is a dog?” Brennan asked, grinning. “Your family just gets curiouser and curiouser, Em.”

“Don’t I know it,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I don’t know why she’s sitting all the way over there. She’s keeping an eye on me. She might as well do it from here.”