A Beautiful Dark (26 page)

I didn’t say anything for a while, hoping that Cassie would think it was a rhetorical question. Eventually I heard the soft sound of her snoring, and I let out the breath I’d been holding. I wasn’t upset. In fact, it was completely the opposite. It’s just that I knew that things change really quickly. And you’re not always prepared for them.

We woke at noon to the sunlight streaming through my window. A cold wind blew through my room, seeping into the spaces in our blankets.

“What the hell is that?” Cassie groaned from under a pile of pillows.

“I think my room became the Arctic overnight.” I yanked the blankets tighter over my head.

“Seriously, that has to stop.”

I shoved the blankets down a bit and peeked out. My window was wide open.

“Close it! Close it!” Cassie shrieked. “Oh my god, why did you open it?”

I hadn’t. But I knew who had.

“I must have opened the window in my sleep. I’ve been getting up in the middle of the night and forgetting. It’s bad. Sorry.”

I scrambled out from under the blankets, shut the window, and dove back under again.

“The cold air is making me crave an omelet, though,” Cassie said, hopefully. “With hash browns.”

Clad in soft sweatpants and hoodies, we drove to Big Mouth’s for brunch. In the car, Cassie called her mom.

“Yeah, I slept at Skye’s after the gig. I’m sorry I didn’t call last night. Yeah, it went great! Yeah, we’re going into town for breakfast. Oh, my car died, so I have to get it towed. I don’t know, Mom. Hopefully it won’t be that much. How should I know? I’ve never had my car towed before! Look, fine. Whatever. I’ll call you later. Bye.” She hit the End button violently and huffed. “Jeez, parents are such a waste of space.” Then a look of horror washed over her. “Oh my god, Skye. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean that!”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said lightly. “Your parents are definitely annoying.” It did sting a little, though, not to have anyone to call and let know I was okay or that I was driving into town to Big Mouth’s and the gas station. Not for the first time since she’d been away, I hoped Aunt Jo would get back soon.

Brunch was greasy and delicious. Afterward I drove us to the gas station so Cassie could get a tow truck back to my house. When she went over to the attendant behind the counter, I went outside.

“Skye?”

I spun around and came face-to-face with Devin.

“Oh my god, you scared me!”

“I’m sorry,” he said, and in that second he looked like the fun Devin I’d hung out with the other night. The night I slept over at his place. It seemed like forever ago. “What are you doing here?”

I nodded toward the front of the store. “Cassie’s car is at my place. It won’t start. We need a tow truck.”

Up front we heard Cassie yell, “
How
much?”

I laughed.

“You know,” Devin said, “I’ve always been fascinated with cars, even though I don’t need them to get around. That’s probably why they intrigue me. Anyway, they’re kind of a hobby. I’ve done enough tinkering on them over the years so I have a pretty good grasp of engine repair. I could come over and take a look.”

“Really?” I asked incredulously. “You’d really do that? It would be a huge help. Cassie can’t afford much right now and her parents are pretty strict when it comes to money.”

“It would be my pleasure. Why don’t I go there right now and have a look? You two go off and do something fun for the afternoon. I’ll be done before you know it.”

“Wow, Devin, that is so nice of you. Thank you.” I smiled. He smiled back, the same smile that had been so endearing the other night.

“Don’t mention it, please.”

“Okay, see you later! Cassie!” I called, bounding up to the front counter.

As we turned to leave the store, Devin smiled at us and waved. I thought it was weird that he hadn’t said a single thing about working on my powers that day but decided not to overthink it. Instead, Cassie and I drove to the mall.

It was the best twenty-four hours I’d had in a long time. The gig at the Bean, the party, the sleepover, brunch, and then a full afternoon at the mall. Cassie made me buy this amazing winter white sweaterdress that was clingy in all the right places. She instructed me to wear it with tights and boots like I’d done the night before. I couldn’t wait to see Asher’s face when he saw me in it at school.

Maybe it was thinking about him that caused him to appear while Cassie was in the changing room with no fewer than a dozen outfits. I was wandering nearby, trying to find something else that might interest me when suddenly he was standing in front of me.

“Don’t look so surprised,” he said. “You gave me permission to lurk.”

“At the party. Not when I’m shopping.”

“I don’t think you specified.”

“What are you doing here?” I asked impatiently.

“Lurking.”

“Seriously.”

He lifted a shoulder, sighed. “I thought maybe we could do something together, something that has nothing at all to do with your powers. Maybe go to the Bean. Shoot some pool.”

“You mean, like a date?”

“Sure, why not?”

“Asher, I don’t like these games.”

“It’s not a game, Skye. I know I should avoid you, but all I can think about is being with you. I know the Elders won’t be pleased—”

“But they should expect it, right? You’re a Rebel.”

He flashed a dazzling smile. “They might expect it, but they will definitely not like it. Anyway, I don’t care. Not anymore. I want to be with you. We can go skiing. Or just sit outside. I don’t care. Let’s just go do something.”

It sounded so appealing, but . . .

“I can’t. Not right now. Cassie is with me. At least until Devin is finished working on her car.”

“Devin is working on her car?” he repeated, his smile vanishing.

“Yeah, the engine died. She doesn’t have the money for the repairs, and he offered to fix it for her.”

He furrowed his brow. “Why would he do that?”

“Because he’s being nice?”

He shook his head. “No. It doesn’t work that way. He has no free will. He can do only what the Order tells him to.”

Not true!
I’d wanted to shout. He’d let me sleep in his bed. That was him, not the Order, who wanted me there.

“You can’t trust him, Skye. If he’s messing with her car—”

“He’s not messing with it. He’s fixing it.”

“Not unless the Order told him to. And why would they do that?”

“Maybe they want him on my good side. To influence me to choose them? I don’t know. He’s doing us a favor.”

“You just don’t get it. Something’s not right about this. I need to find out what’s going on.”

“I think you’re overreacting. You’re just trying to make him out to be the bad guy.”

“I hope you’re right.”

With a final look at me, he walked away. My heart sank. Why couldn’t things just be normal between us, for once?

“Okay,” Cassie said, coming up behind me. “Since I don’t have to pay for car repairs, I’m buying two new tops and springing for frozen yogurt.”

As we sat at a small table in the food court, I could almost pretend that we were back in the pre-angel days, when everything was so much simpler.

On our way to the car, swinging our bags, that’s when it happened to me for the first time.

The clouds swept in so suddenly, covering the parking lot in darkness even though it was still early evening. I wavered and then pitched forward, falling hard against the concrete. “Skye?” I heard Cassie calling as if from far, far away. “Skye!”

And then I couldn’t hear her anymore. It was so black that I couldn’t see a thing. The wind howled and the ground moved underneath me as if it was liquid. And then it all stopped.

I wasn’t in the parking lot. I was on the ground still, but nowhere near where I’d been only minutes before. The clouds had dissolved into a cold blue sky, and I lay on my back, staring at the lush, green leaves on the soaring trees above and the verdant forest surrounding me. I wasn’t in Colorado anymore. That was the first thing I noticed.

The second thing I became aware of was a voice, calling my name from somewhere above me. “Cassie?” I tried to say, but it was like when you try to talk in a dream and you can’t make any sound come out. But it wasn’t Cassie’s voice, I soon learned. No.

It was Asher’s.

“Skye?” He was shouting. “Skye? Stay with me. . . .”

“Asher?” I tried to say, but the same thing happened to my voice again. “Asher? I want to. I want to stay with you. Please. Help me.” Nothing came out. “Help me!”

His face swam in and out of focus, and I noticed cuts and bruises that I’d never seen before. “Are you okay?” I tried to ask.

“We’re going to find help. We’ll be okay, now that we’re here. They’ll help us. They want you to live.”

Then the sun grew bright, too bright, washing out everything around me. “Asher!” I yelled. “Don’t go!” But I knew he couldn’t hear me.

And before I knew it, I was back on the blacktop of the parking lot at the mall, heaving forward as if I might be sick.

“Skye!” Cassie was kneeling beside me. “Are you okay? You just passed out, like, in the middle of the parking lot! Are you still hung over? Do you need something else to eat?”

“No,” I said, trying to move. Cassie gave me her arm, and I leaned against her as I stood. “I’m fine.” Was I fine, though? What had I just seen? What had happened to me?

“Come on,” she said soothingly. “Let’s get you home.”

Chapter 33

A
s Cassie drove, I leaned back against the leather seat and closed my eyes. I knew the past twenty-four hours had been too good to be true, too easy to forget about what was really happening to me. Had the vision been one of my powers trying to emerge? The only thing was I didn’t know what sort of power it could possibly be.

When we got to my house, we saw Cassie’s car sitting in the drive but no sign of Devin.

“Think he’s finished with it?” Cassie asked.

Either that or Asher had chased him off.

“Try it and see.”

She climbed in and turned the key, which was in the ignition. The car responded by purring to life. We cheered as she pulled it out of the driveway a little ways. She leaned her head out the open window. “Devin is a
saint
. This is amazing! I don’t think the engine has ever been this quiet.”

“Who knew he had it in him?” I had to admit, I was impressed. Sometimes he could really surprise me. Asher had painted him as a villain, but Devin had a good heart. He’d shared it with me during small moments. I made a promise to myself to find him at school on Monday and thank him.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Cassie asked. “Want me to come in with you?”

“No, really, thanks,” I said. “I just need water and sleep. I’m probably just dehydrated.”

“Okay, well, call if you need anything?”

I nodded. “Sure.”

But I knew I wasn’t as fine as I pretended. Something was happening to me, something scary.

Cassie took off, and I headed back into the house. I felt more alone than ever. A draft was blowing in from the sliding door, and I grabbed a heavy wool throw from a chair in the living room and, wrapping it around myself, walked through the sliding door onto the deck.

The sun had dropped behind the mountains, and the sky was just fading from a velvety blue to a darker, inky smudge. The moon was rising, but it wasn’t yet dark enough for it to shine as brightly as it would later. It was the in-between time.

I recognized the silhouette sitting in the Adirondack chair as soon as I stepped outside. He didn’t see me at first—he had his back to me, looking up at the first stars of the night. Watching, as he had been the night before.

I knew, suddenly, what I wanted to do. I walked over to him and climbed into his lap, wrapping the blanket around the two of us. He seemed surprised, but he smoothed my hair back with one hand as he let me tuck my head under his chin.

“Did you chase Devin off and fix Cassie’s car?”

“No. He was gone when I got here, but I did check out the engine. Appears he fixed it.”

“You sound baffled. He healed me. Why couldn’t he want to fix a car?”

“The Order just doesn’t work that way.”

We sat in silence for several long moments. I simply absorbed his nearness.

“Asher?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m scared.”

“I know. You’d be stupid not to be.”

“But what am I
becoming
?” His arms tightened around me. Protecting me from what he was about to say next.

“Your powers are sporadic and choppy so far—and none of us know how they’ll develop—if they continue to at all. Not for nothing, Skye, but I think they will.” He leaned in and whispered in my ear, “I think you’re strong.” I shivered. “All of this has been to prepare you. And if I can do anything to help prepare you for what’s to come, then I promise that I will. The Order is ruthless. They don’t care about you. They only care about the power they stand to gain—or prevent us from gaining—and that they are able to keep manipulating destiny at will.” He shifted my weight so that he looked into my eyes, and for a moment, I felt a longing so sharp, I thought I would stop breathing. “And I think the one thing both sides agree on is that you’re going to be different from anything we’ve seen before. And that we haven’t even seen half of what’s to come.”

I wanted to tell him about what had just happened in the parking lot of the mall. But something about it scared me too much. I wasn’t ready to say it out loud yet.

“So I was thinking,” he said, playing with a strand of my hair.

“Again?” I asked.

“Do you want to hear it or not?” He looked up at me.

“Amaze me.”

I could tell he was fighting not to laugh.

“Well,” Asher said slowly. “Have you ever been so close to something you’ve wanted for as long as you can remember, something you never thought you could have, and been afraid to reach out and just . . . take it?”

“Yes,” I said, my heart racing.

“The whole point of the Rebellion is so that we can live by our own rules. That’s the entire reason we jumped,” he said. “Right?”

“If my history lessons have served me correctly,” I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking, “then yes. I do believe you’re right.”