A Need So Beautiful (A Need So Beautiful #1)(55)
Author: Suzanne Young

“They want me to go,” I say. “They say I have to leave.”

“Leave? No.” He looks so devastated at the thought that I’m not sure I’m strong enough. I don’t think I can leave him. “To go where?” he asks, glancing between me and Monroe. Monroe shakes his head and wraps his arms tight around himself, like he can’t handle this part.

“I’m not sure.”

“I don’t understand,” Harlin says. “I don’t understand what’s going on. Come down from there, let’s go. Maybe there’s a doctor or someone who can help you.”

“No!” Monroe shouts. “Do not get down, Charlotte. You’ll be bound. You do what you’re supposed to do.”

“What?” Harlin spins around to glare at him. “Are you telling her to jump off the damn bridge? What have you done?”

In the distance sirens cut the sound of the rain. Monroe swears. “They’re coming for you, Charlotte!” he yells. “They think you’re trying to commit suicide. They’ll pull you down.”

“Good,” Harlin says, and then turns back to me. “Whatever Monroe is telling you, don’t listen, Charlotte. You don’t have to go. You can stay with me.”

“Wow,” Onika says. “Maybe he’s right. You should listen to him.”

“Baby,” Harlin continues, “I promised I’d take care of you. That first time you got on the back of my bike two years ago, I promised you that. I meant it then and I mean it now. I won’t—”

The night stops. I hold up my hand to him. “You remember that bike ride?” I ask him. It can’t be.

He nods. “Yeah.”

“Do you remember our first kiss?” My heart is pounding beneath my jacket.

“In the hall. You were covered with green paint.” He pauses, looking lost in the memory. “I ruined your white uniform shirt.”

“You did.” I burst out with a cry, but it’s one of disbelief. I look past him to Monroe, who’s standing there looking stunned.

“He’s a Seer,” he says. “That’s why you’re my last, Charlotte. Because now Harlin will take over.” Monroe stumbles back, like he can’t believe he’s free. Free of the Forgotten.

“Another Seer,” Onika says. “Didn’t anticipate that one. Well.” She slaps her hands together. “Glad we cleared that up. Now let’s get out of here before the police show and you end up on the nine o’clock news.”

“No. Leave me alone,” I say to her.

She grins. “Say it again and I will.”

The sirens are getting louder. When I look at Monroe, he smiles at me compassionately. “Jump, honey. It’s okay to jump now.”

Harlin tells him to shut up, and then holds his hand out to me, begging me to get down. He doesn’t understand any of this yet, but I know that Monroe will teach him. Give him the journals.

But even with that, I still stand there, my heart breaking because I don’t want to leave. I’m holding on to the cable, my body free of pain except for a faraway ache.

Then, the Need hits. Not the same way. Not like all the others. Over Onika’s power a wind blows through me. It’s love. It’s calm. It’s beyond me. My eyes set on Harlin’s and when they do, his expression changes. “What is it?” he asks.

I put my glove between my teeth and pull it off before reaching my golden hand to him.

“No!” Monroe yells, his voice cracking with the force of it. Onika laughs next to me.

But when Harlin steps forward to take my hand, I only bend down to get closer to him. I stay on the railing. His face is near mine as he examines me, his expression amazed.

“Everyone will forget I existed,” I whisper, taking my hand from his to touch his cheek. He closes his eyes and I feel all of my emotions, my love, fear, sadness, rush out of me and through him. He sees the Need. Everything I’ve done. And when I feel the last bit of me drain out, I let go. So relieved to be rid of it. So relieved to let him know.

My hand drops and he smiles through streaming tears. “You’re an angel.”

I shake my head. “I don’t know what I am. I just know that I love you. And that I don’t want to leave you.”

The sky is lighting up with flashing blue and red and I see the police cars turn onto the bridge, heading toward us.

“It’s time, Charlotte!” Monroe screams. “Go!”

But I stay, staring at Harlin. We watch each other, ignoring the rain, the sirens, my golden skin.

“Step down and no one will ever forget you,” Onika says, sounding a million miles away. Just then I reach into my pocket and my fingers touch something smooth. I smile, pulling out the guardian angel that Harlin had given me.

I squeeze my eyes shut as I put it to my lips and kiss it. Then I hold it out for Harlin to take. “And now I’ll watch over you,” I say.

“Charlotte Cassidy,” he whispers softly, taking the figurine from me. “I can promise one thing.” His voice cracks. “I remember every word I’ve ever told you, every second I’ve ever spent with you. And I will never, ever forget you.”

I don’t hide the choke of tears that come out. “I’m going to miss you so much,” I try to say. “I just love you so much.”

“I will keep you forever, Charlotte. I will never let you go.”

We look at each other one last second before he steps back from me, staring deep into my eyes with a love for me that only he can have. The love that tells me we are so much more than here and now. We are forever. We are complete.

Knowledge surges through me. Acceptance. The end. “Onika,” I say, but don’t bother looking at her.

“Yes, darling?”

“I think I understand the Need now. The purpose of the Forgotten.”

“Really?” She laughs, the noise cutting through the sound of the rain. “Well then, by all means, educate me.”

I look sideways at her. “The Forgotten are the only way the light can touch people. By being among them we can spread love and hope. We dodge the Shadows so that the light can shine.”

“Wow, Charlotte. That’s truly inspiring.”

“But that’s not all,” I say. “I’ve realized something else.”

“Which is?”

“That maybe I’m also here to stop you.”

Onika’s lips curve into a wicked grin. “That’s almost sweet. But I’ll be honest, love. You’re not nearly strong enough to take me out.”