Jenny looked at Tom watery eyed. Julian's presence had taken a toile on the entire group. But Jenny knew she had changed the most.
She looked at Tom, whose eyes pleaded for her to stay with him. It wasn't that she didn't want to, she did. It was that she wasn't the same girl anymore. She wasn't the same little girl who had fallen in love with Tom. She had always been his other half, and some part of her still was.
But that part was shadowed by a new Jenny. She was her own person for the first time in her life. And she was finally able to understand how to do that.
And without Tom she had to make her own future.
What did she like? She thought. Swimming. Computers. Cats. Helping people. Kids. Flowers.
She didn't know how she was going to put all those together-she'd half to find a way.
Because she was Jenny Thornton, her only master.
Julian wasn't evil, Jenny was sure. He just didn't understand all it meant to be human. Julian had taught her well, though. He taught her being her own person. It was one of the things that would keep him alive forever to her.
She finally met Tom's gaze. It was laced with sadness. But his gaze also held understanding. Jenny knew Tom had changed a lot too.
As she looked up at the sky, which was bluer than in California, she swore she saw Julian's mischievous grin hidden in the clouds, watching over her. Wherever he was, she wished him well.