“Yeah. They’re fine. Everyone’s fine,” I told them. “They were released to the Light. Me, my dad, Darcy, Aaron, Jennifer…everyone. We ended up there.” I cleared my throat. “Everyone except Krista.”

There was a quick pulse of sadness, of dread. Until today, Krista had been one of our own, someone worthy of protecting, of loving. It was going to take a while for any of us to accept what she had tried to do.

A crackle split the silence. Bea’s voice rang through our walkie-talkies. “Tristan? Are you there? Over.”

He tugged his radio off his waistband and hit the button to talk. “I’m here. Everything okay? Over.”

“Not exactly,” she responded. “We managed to subdue part of the crowd, but the twins are on their way to you with about a dozen others, and they’re not happy. Over.”

“Damn,” Joaquin said. “What’re we gonna do?”

I felt the velvet bag hanging heavily from my wrist. “We’ll use these.”

I held the bag up, and Tristan’s eyes widened. Joaquin leaned over and opened the knot cinching the top together. Dozens of gold coins glinted in the sunlight. Joaquin took the bag and held it with both hands.

“Where did you get these?” he asked.

I smiled, my eyes shining with tears. “From my mom.”

“You saw your mom?” Tristan was stunned.

I took a deep breath. “Yeah. She gave me a choice: stay in the Light, or come back here and be with you guys.”

In the distance, a truck engine roared. The visitors were coming. My heart thumped with trepidation, but I knew it would be okay. It might get a bit messy, but we would calm them, we would usher them, and they would go to the Light. Everything was going to be fine. For the first time in forever, I truly believed that.

Tristan held our hands up between us and kissed the backs of my fingers as he looked into my eyes.

“You could have been with your family,” he said as he slowly processed the gravity of what I’d done. “But you chose to be here.”

“I chose to be here,” I replied, “because you are my family now. And this is where I belong.”

The sun broke over his handsome face as he smiled and pulled me to him, holding me against his chest so I could feel the solidness of him, revel in the perfection of the moment.

We were together now—together in our world, together in our mission, together in our love—and nothing was ever going to tear us apart again.

Rory and Tristan.

Forever.

The first car appeared over the ridge, and Joaquin stepped up next to me, squaring off as if readying himself for a fight. I stood between him and Tristan and plucked a coin from the velvet bag with a small, determined smile.

“Boys.” I flipped the coin and caught it as two car doors slammed and the twins marched toward us. “We have some work to do.”

As this bittersweet project comes to a close, I give huge and heartfelt thanks to the Lifers—

Lanie Davis

Emily Meehan

Sarah Burnes

Katie McGee

Logan Garrison

Laura Schreiber

Sara Shandler

Josh Bank

Les Morgenstein

Lizzy Mason

Jamie Baker

Kristin Marang

Liz Dresner

And my incredible fans, who are forever in my heart.

KATE BRIAN is the New York Times best-selling author of the Private and Privilege series. Her other novels include Fake Boyfriend and Megan Meade’s Guide to the McGowan Boys.

For more on Kate Brian and the Shadowlands series, visit www.shadowlandsbooks.com