Chapter 258 What Comes After

• Amval
• I lay on my side, sucking in mouthfuls of beach air and twirling my wrist lazily to suction the sand out before it reaches my lungs. Violets and ink fight the salt spray for attention. Someday, I’ll figure out how to play the way they smell together. Constraint and wildness, light and dark, the lush purple and the deep green. I’ve never written my own songs before, but she makes me want to try.
• For the first time since I woke up in the cart, my head doesn’t hurt, and neither does my mark.