“If I leave you, they’ll kill you.”
Luca twisted. The man put him down but held his wrist. “How the hell do I know you won’t kill me?”
“I told you—”
“You talked to my brother, which is a lie.”
The man forced him closer. “I’m telling you the truth.” Heat from his body pushed back the chill.
Luca hated how good it felt. “Sure, you are.”
“Listen to me. Your brother—”
Luca yanked, breaking out of the man’s hold and turned to run.
“Disneyland,” the man said.
Luca froze.
“Koda said if you didn’t trust me to tell you Disneyland.” A flash of lightning revealed the man’s face. Exhaustion marred his features.
“H-How… how…” The attendant hadn’t meant to be cruel when he turned Luca away from the ride, telling him to come back when he’d grown a few inches. How could he have known that moment forced an eight-year-old boy to comprehend what dying meant. That there was no next year. There were no chances later in life. Because there was no life.
Koda had held Luca’s hand as they walked from the line, and he’d promised Luca he’d not only have next year, he’d have forever. And two years later when Luca was in remission, they took a trip to Disneyland, and he rode the ride. From then on, Luca believed anything Koda told him. And Koda never told him anything that wasn’t true.
Everything broke apart in Luca’s vision. His knees buckled, and the last of his strength fled his muscles, leaving him slumped on the ground.
The man scooped him up and carried him back to the road where the pickup straddled the shoulder with the passenger door hanging open. He set Luca down. Rain squished up around his thighs.
The stranger pulled the seatbelt over Luca’s shoulder and snapped it in place. Then the man shut the door and went around to the driver’s side. Luca closed his eyes until the truck moved back onto the road.
“How?” Luca’s swallowed against the ache in his throat.
“What?”
“How did you know Koda?”
“He was….” The man winced. “I knew him. That’s all I can tell you right now.”
And that was impossible. Luca had gone to the funeral. He’d watched his parents place Koda’s urn in the mausoleum.
The one person Luca wanted to grow up and be like—gone forever. The one person who understood him, believed in him, holding his hand through the worst of his illness.
Even when Luca’s parents gave up hope, Koda never did. And because of him, Luca had fought all that much harder.
But Koda was gone. Torn from this world five years ago all because some punk wanted money he didn’t have and stabbed him when his pockets were empty.
The perfect brother. The perfect son. A young man who everyone met and loved: always smiling, laughing, kind. Every day, Luca missed him.
Every damn day.
The stranger clicked on the headlights.
“You said you could see in the dark.” At the time it seemed ludicrous. Not anymore.
“I can. But we’re getting close to the highway, and other people can’t.”
“I thought you didn’t know how to get there?”