For a long moment, no one moved.

Hale kept Evelyn’s hand cupped between both of his, knuckles pale from the pressure of holding on.

Gray stood a short distance away, shoulders sagged, eyes wide behind fogged lenses—like he’d just run a marathon through a collapsing star and couldn’t believe they’d all crossed the finish line.

Evelyn took her first full breath.

It hit her like a second arrival—

the weight of air

the coolness in her lungs

the grounding gravity of being embodied ...