Entropy (The Countenance Trilogy 3) (3 page)

“Primarily, you. Laken and I want answers. You seemed to know us. Laken said you tried to save her. Can you tell us anything else about that? Do you know how she got into the Transfer?”

“No. Just what I told her. I was being held against my will and forced to work with Ezrina. Marshall—the Sector that was with me, he let me know I was in another time. Nothing made sense. But I saw Laken, and something in me wanted to save her. It was my job to load her into the tank, and before I did, I tried to give her CPR. Stupid, right? I mean she had already been dead for who knows how long, and there I was trying to play the part of some Celestra superhero.”

Laken remembers… “Maybe that’s why.”

“Maybe that’s why, what?”

“Laken has her memory. They were unable to wipe it out completely. She remembers everything. I have a feeling it’s because of you. I don’t think what you did was stupid, Skyla. I think you saved her.” My mind reels a million miles an hour. That day Laken and Skyla collided in the transfer was the luckiest day of Laken’s life—or afterlife—and for sure the luckiest day of mine because if Skyla hadn’t inadvertently preserved Laken’s memory, she wouldn’t be trying to solve any mysteries with me, she’d be happily off with Wes tonight doing God knows what just like the Counts had planned. Speaking of Wes—

A blood curdling scream riots over the crowd, and every hair on my body stands on end.

My body locks up. My heart stops as if that was the final straw.

“That’s Laken.”
I ditch through the crowd before I ever get a chance to ask Skyla who the hell that Wes lookalike was. I’m far more interested in protecting Laken than I am in digging around in Wesley’s twisted family ties. But that guy looked far too close a second to ever be a remote relative. It was eerie in every way just to look at him.

“Coop, wait!” Skyla calls out in the distance, but my feet don’t stop moving until I come up on Laken standing alone at the edge of the woods. I pull her into a kiss without hesitating because for the very first time I can say she’s mine, and my heart wants to forget about Paragon and why we’re here and simply bask in the glory of us.

“He was here.” She pants, her face rife with worry.

“Who was here?”

“This guy. He came to talk to that Giselle-Emerson person, and he was wearing Wesley’s face.” She shakes me as if she still hasn’t gotten over the horror. “When I tried to talk to him, he said he didn’t know me. He said he kicked Wesley’s ass and that if Wes isn’t careful, he’ll do it again. And that’s when I screamed. Coop, he looked just like him, you have to believe me.”

“I do.” My hands warm her back. “I saw him.”

“I slapped him and told to him stop faking it.” She presses her lips tight and shrugs. “I just freaked out. The girl I was with swore he was her brother.” She shakes her head. “Do you think this is some alternate universe? Do you think we all have doubles right here on Paragon?”

“No.” I glance back at the crowd. “I think it’s strictly relegated to Wes.” And why the fuck that might be I have no idea.

“Did you find Skyla?”

“Yes. I’m not sure I have all the answers, but I have enough for now. Why don’t we head back and regroup. We can visit Paragon another time.”

“Sounds good.” Laken wraps her arms around me as we head into the black heart of the woods. The pines weave together at their distal points, leaving pinpricks of lavender sky up above. It creates an entire blanket of purple stars against the murky expanse and makes it feel as if we’ve just wandered into some romance novel—hell, it feels like we’re living one. “I love you, Laken.” I drop a kiss just shy of her lips.

“You missed.” She spins into me, her chest bucking with a silent laugh. “I love you, too, by the way.” She gives a coy smile. The fear in her eyes dissipates as she relaxes into me with both body and soul.

“I’d better try again.” I melt my lips over hers, and we press in like candles fusing together.

I love you, Laken Stewart, with all my heart I do.

Laken nestles her body against mine.
I love you, Cooper Flanders, you’re my one and only, now and forever. I can taste the future in our kisses. It’s going to be you and me from this moment on, sort of the way it has been since the beginning. There’s nothing and no one who will ever stand in our way.

Laken and I are finally together.

It feels as if my entire life just fell into place.

That’s because it did.

Wesley

I look up at the blank night sky, nothing but one big sheet of slate ready to crash over my head—and think of Laken.

Where are you?

I close my eyes—try to focus my energy on where she and Coop might have gone next as the scenery transforms around me.

My feet land on solid ground, a door with the number 15 emblazoned on the front appears before me.

A large red sign blinks spastic to my left.
Cider Plains Motel
.

I glance out at the area. The old mill with its archaic silos in the distance, the bridle trail to the left of the street—I recognize this place. My head explodes in a photographic seizure as an entire series of still-lifes flash before my eyes. It all comes back to me in snatches. Laken and me in the park holding hands, a poor man’s bouquet of dehydrated maple leaves cleverly hidden behind my back. Fletch and me in an entire montage to childhood—t-ball, running, fishing in a lake that would one day change our destinies.

My body begins to tremble as I take it all in. A fissure opened in my mind and now a flood, an entirely different existence is filling in the cracks. All of those thoughts that wadded just beneath the surface, those strange dreams that haunted me, those feelings of not quite belonging, all of them explained in an instance.

I launch my body against the door and begin kicking my way inside.

“Laken!” My voice echoes through the still of the night like thunder.

A car alarm goes off in the distance, taking up the slack for the rest of the world. All of creation should scream for the injustice that’s happening here. There isn’t enough rage in the world to convey how I feel.

I push into the door with my arm and think of Coop defiling her with his body until my Countenance strength kicks in. The door flies open as if it didn’t want the beating to continue.

The lights are on, but the room sits empty.

“Laken?” I bolt to the bathroom and throw back the shower curtain.

They’re gone.

I stagger back into the room and note the bedding looks rumpled, but nothing that indicates anything serious.

Maybe there’s still time to tell her she’s right—that I’m going to fight like hell to make sure we stay together.

I close my eyes and think of her, of where she might be and feel myself slipping away.

I’m coming, Laken.

The scenery fills in as a stone-grey night appears around me. Towering evergreens line either side of the road. They drone on in rows like demonic shadows dipped in a fog as thick as the lies I’ve been forced to swallow. A lit sign wafts in and out of existence from across the street,
Welcome to Paragon Island.

Paragon. That’s where Skyla is from.

I step onto the silent highway and feel the gravitational pull as my body hungers for the girl I love—the girl I’ve always loved.

“I’m here, Laken,” I whisper. “I can make this all better. I know I can.”

We’ll navigate this angelic minefield together.

Wesley Parker is back, and Coop better get the hell out of my way because there’s not a damn thing he can do to stop me.

The ground pulsates beneath me. My body glides through time and space, landing me in the woods just shy of a couple engaging in a heated kiss, and my heart sinks like a lead weight because I recognize that cheer uniform, that football jersey belongs to Ephemeral. It’s them—Laken and Coop.

“Laken!” Her name rips from my lungs like a roar, like a cliff side echo, and I suddenly want the world to hear me scream.

They jump apart, and Laken takes a few steps into me.

I come up on her, panting, and she backs away like a frightened deer. My heart breaks. Tears blur my vision.

Cooper swoops in and wraps his arms around her as if he’s trying to shield her from impending doom.

“Laken,” my voice breaks as I take a step forward. I hold out my hand, and she eyes it like a snake. “Please.” I swallow hard. “I remember everything.” Without hesitating I drop to my knees. “I beg your forgiveness. You were right, Laken.”

Cooper tries to pull her back, but she gently removes his hand from her body and drops down beside me.

“Wes?” Her voice trembles as she runs her fingers through my hair. “What do you remember?”

“I went to Kansas. I went to Cider Plains and saw the body—my body.”

“It was fake.” She shakes her head. “You were never dead for long.”

For long.
Those words swim in the back of my mind like a haunting refrain.

“It all came rushing back.” I don’t dare take my eyes off hers. “I remember every single day we spent on that lake—the barn. I remember our first kiss.” I brush my thumb over her cheek because God knows I want to reenact that very moment right now. “I remember the poor man bouquets I showered you with. How you would let me sketch you by the barn, the lake—your bed.” I cut a quick glace to Coop who hasn’t taken his angry stare from me. “Let’s go somewhere we can be alone.”

I rise to my feet and bring Laken up with me, pulling her body tight to mine.

“God, I missed you.” I pepper her face with heated kisses. Nothing else matters in all of space or time, just Laken and me, and the fact we’ve made our way back to one another.

“It’s really you, Wes?” Her voice breaks as she runs her beautiful eyes all over my face at once.

“It’s really me—Wesley Parker.” I pull her hand to my lips and kiss it. “Do you believe me?”

Laken and I just stare at one another locked at an impasse. Here it is, the moment of truth.

She gives a slight nod. Her eyes swell with glittering tears.

“God, I love you.” I step in and land my lips over hers. The entire universe had rearranged itself for precisely this moment. Her lips melt over mine, slow at first then she gives into me, and we collide in a burst of passion. This isn’t anything like one of those kisses we shared last week. Nothing about this is coated in a lie.

My shoulder gets pulled back from behind, and I spin as a fist lands on my jaw.

“You’re going to die, Coop.”

I land my knee in his gut, and he doubles over just as I feed him my knuckles.

“Wes
, stop!
” Laken cries out as if I had hit her instead.

Flanders springs up like a Phoenix like I never even touched him. He lands another blow to my jaw, knocking me off my feet before jumping on top of me, rattling my shirt as if trying to wake me from the dead.

“You little shit,” he seethes at me. “You think I’m going to let you come here and fuck with Laken? You’re a manipulator, Wes, and you always will be.”

I summon my Countenance strength and push him the hell off my body.

“I’m not shitting anyone.” It comes out more depleted than it does a reprimand. “I’m serious, Laken.” Her arms are wrapped around her waist as if she were trying to stave off the shock. “I’m back.
We’re
back.” I stagger to my feet and stumble over to her. “Come with me—let’s get out of here.”

Laken shoots a nervous look to Coop, and he shakes his head just barely.

“I promise I won’t touch you.” I hold my hands up in surrender. I’d surrender every day to Laken if she’d have me again. It’s clear where her heart and loyalties lie. My eyes drag over to Coop. “I just want some time alone with her, man. I’ll bring her right back to Ephemeral. I swear on all nine of my twisted lives.”

“You okay with this?” His features morph in pain as he squints into her.

But Laken doesn’t belt out an enthusiastic yes. She hesitates. And in that moment I realize I’m a little too late with the
I believe you
speech. Cooper Flanders beat me to it.

“I’m okay with it,” she whispers.

Cooper comes over and boldly wraps his arms around Laken as if he owns her, as if he knows she wants him too, and my stomach cycles like I might be sick. He touches his forehead to hers, and she nods. They’re speaking telepathically, cutting me out of the picture without much effort. Something tells me I’m already gone.

Coop walks away, heading deep into the woods as the fog envelopes itself around him like a shadow until he disappears altogether.

“You’re really back?” Laken says it heartbroken as if it were the worst thing that could have happened.

“I’m really back.” I wrap my arms around her and hold on tight as silent tears run down my face, raining over her like fire from my eyes.

Laken sobs silently into my chest, and we hold one another that way a good long while.