“Do something!” I shout.Jeb finally looks my way. “Al, we’re trying.” For the first time, I get a glimpse at his face. He looks just like the little boy in the pictures at his house. Lost, tortured, haunted. The only difference is the blood on his cheek and the labret glistening beneath his lip.

"The decision falls to you. She’s too weak to make it for herself. Red’s greed and vengefulness saw to that when she made Alyssa’s heart the battlefield.”“I’ll do whatever it takes,” Morpheus and Jeb answer simultaneously without hesitation.

I turn, concentrating on Jeb. “No matter what you think happened between the two of us, I love you. We share battle scars and hearts. I don’t want to lose that.” He studies my necklaces and the soldered clump of metal at my neck. “Yeah, I see how well you took care of my heart.”

“I would’ve followed you anywhere,” he mumbles, his voice raw with agony. “All I ever wanted was to spend forever with my best friend. With the girl who gave life to my paintings. But I’m not the one who inspired your mosaics, am I? It was always Wonderland. That’s why you chose him.”“Chose him? It was a kiss, that’s all—”“It’s not the kiss. Sometimes words are louder than actions.”“Words . . . ? What words?”“The promise you gave him that you couldn’t give me.”

“Remember what you said the last time we were together?” I whisper, my mouth at his shoulder, aching at the proximity and heat radiating there. I want to lift to my tiptoes and press my lips where his hair curls against his nape, want to feel him tremble at my touch like he used to. “You said you don’t give up without a fight. That was a promise.”

“He’s already been found, like I said,” Jeb answers, his attention on the hand pressed at my neck. He narrows his eyes, and with a subtle flick of his fingers, Morpheus’s shadow rises from the floor and wrestles Morpheus away from me.Growling, Morpheus shoves the dark silhouette aside, then glares at Jeb. “Amateur. Cheap parlor tricks.” Jeb gives him a vicious grin. “A pupil is only as good as his tutor.”

"Please look at me. I missed you. I was so worried about you.”“Really? Which one of us are you talking to?” His attention crosses to Morpheus, who smirks conspiratorially.

Morpheus takes in my dour expression and turns back to Jeb. “My word. You’re leaving her in my care? How very mature and trusting of you, pseudo elf.” He grips Jeb’s shoulder. “If you’d like to get an early start, you can forgo the new clothes. She won’t be wearing them once you’re gone, anyway. Consider it my contribution to the cause.”

Jeb moans, wraps my legs around his waist, and holds me tight. He breaks contact just long enough to whisper, "Where'd you learn to kiss like that?""You taught me." I recover my senses and realize what I said. "In my dreams.""Oh, yeah?" He nudges the indentation on my chin with his nose. "Been dreaming of me, too, huh?""Ever since the day we met." Finally, the truth.He flashes his dimples. "Guess it's time for us to make some dreams come true, skater girl.