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curling my legs under me. I’d slept in this room once when we were on the run. I had no idea at the time that it was Nightshade’s bedroom. He had stayed across the hall and I hadn’t figured it out until the next morning.
    Mrs. Nightshade stepped into the closet and I heard the sound of boxes shifting. She came out and sat on the bed across from me holding a box that she placed gently on the bed between us. Her hand slid over it tracing the edges slowly.
    “This is what they brought to me afterwards. When they finally sent an extraction team, they recovered James’ car and a few personal items.” She patted the box lovingly, as if some piece of him was in there.
    “I didn’t know that.” Dad had never told me that they sent anyone in. Then again I wasn’t exactly in any condition to be aware of anything in the days that had followed his death.
    “It was kept quiet, since they didn’t want to concern anyone any further with it and they were still trying to keep the truces, which now seems silly.” She sighed and I wasn’t surprised that she was aware of how badly relations with the Old Kind had gotten.
    I stared at the box, my mind racing as to just what they may have recovered. It’s not as if we had brought a bunch of stuff with us. We had been too busy running crazy trying to rescue Val. I so wanted there to be something in the box that I could hold onto that would link Nightshade and me, something that would prove it all real. But it was a fool’s thought and why did I need it. I had those last few moments with him to forever hold in my heart and mind. Maybe it wasn’t enough; maybe I needed more or hungered for more. I missed him so much.
    Mrs. Nightshade lifted the top off and placed it to the side. She reached in and pulled out James’ leather jacket. It seemed so out of place neatly folded instead of resting comfortably on him. She took out the keys to his Hudson Hornet and placed them beside the jacket and then pulled out a long silver chain with a round pendant that twirled in a circle hanging from it.
    My breath caught as I recognized the symbol of the Polymorphs, the very thing that had made me realize—that like me—James was not only a Guilder but also a Polymorph.
    “May I?” I reached out and Mrs. Nightshade handed it to me. I slid it along my palm letting it rest there and stared at the intricate symbol, my fingers tracing it gently.
    “Here it is.” Mrs. Nightshade pulled out a cell phone and tapped its surface.
     I recognized Nightshade’s phone, though was surprised that it was what she had been looking for, I turned back to the necklace and squeezed it tightly. “We fought all the time. I can only remember a handful of times that we didn’t.” I chuckled at the memory.
    “With great love comes great anger.” The phone dinged in her hand and I glanced over to see her smiling as she looked at it. “This is what I was looking for.”
    “What?”
    “Look for yourself.” She stretched her arm out handing me the phone.
     I reluctantly placed the necklace on the bed and took the phone from her. The screen displayed a picture of Jess and me sitting at the Beanery laughing. I didn’t recall him taking that picture, though we were obviously having fun. I slid my finger across the screen advancing the picture. The next picture was of Edgar and me near my locker in school and so were the next two. The last one was of me sitting alone, my head slightly turned with a faraway look in my eyes. I wasn’t even sure where or when it had been taken.
    Why hadn’t he ever told me how he felt? Stupid question, Chloe. You never gave him the chance, not to mention that Slade was always around. Nightshade had been so much like me—broken—maybe that’s why he always understood me better than anyone, even Slade. He knew when I was lying or hiding something; he knew me like no one else. Yet I didn’t even know he cared about me, God I’m an idiot.
    “He loved you too.”
    “I told him I