Page 184 of Victorious

“I forgive you,” he said, untying the knot.

It wasn’t a command, but the power of the words was overwhelming. Eli swayed. Then steadied himself, breath hitching in his chest. Gabriel couldn’t see his face. He didn’t need to. The relief was written on his body, as stark as his scars.

And just like that, he felt the fight finally go out of Eli Ever.

Felt the rope between them slacken and fall.

Gabriel smiled as the weight lifted from his shoulders.

And Eli sank to the floor.

XXXINOW. THEN.MEANWHILE, ON THE ROAD …

SERENA was so glad the sleek blue sports car had stopped for her.

Well, she thought, it had stopped.

Now her palms slid over the wheel, and the engine purred, and the trees blurred into stripes beyond the windows.

She heard the sirens, and she didn’t.

She saw the road, and she didn’t.

The world outside the car slid in and out of focus, layered, merged. Reality, a medley of what it was and what she wanted it to be. Neither. Both.

But that was fine. Serena knew where she was.

Where she was going.

To take Sydney back.

To take her home.

And they’d be happy this time.

She would make sure.

The rest didn’t really matter.

Serena lowered the window, and let her fingers play against the air.

She’d always loved driving. Got her license the day she turned sixteen, and a car to go with it, and after that, she was happiest on the road. A body in motion. Propelled. It was better that way. Bad things happened when she stopped moving.

There’d always been a crack inside her. A fissure between what she craved, and what she had. What she wanted to feel, and what she did. Every time she stood still for long enough to think, the crack widened a little more, into a rift and then a canyon, and she would stand there on one side, and look across the gulf, and tell the things and people all the way across to come to her, and they’d try, only to fall into the space between and it made her want to—

The road ahead crumbled suddenly into a deep ravine, and Serena veered, but as she did, the road became a road again.

Tricky new power. Had to be careful. Focus. It didn’t help that her mind kept trying to show her other places, other times, like the parking garage, the gun pressed to Sydney’s forehead, the fear in Sydney’s eyes.

But no, she thought. No, that didn’t happen.

And just like that, the memory was gone.

Wiped away like steam on a shower door.

Serena could do that now.

Change what was real, and what was not.