Page 65 of Until the Stars Fall

I crept out of his empty room. The hallways were quiet and ominous, like dawn on a stormy day. My footsteps lit only by the emergency lights along the floors, I went looking for him again.

The engine room was dark, quiet, and empty. Only my echo returned Beck’s name to me. Five candles had drowned out in their own wax, and worry prickled up my spine. He’d never let them go out. I fixed them and went on with my search.

Everything by the hammock was untouched from last night, cold coffee in his mug, its handle still pointing toward the top right corner of the journal.

Summer’s voice on the intercom broke through my sadness.

“Beck, could you please call in? I need an update on the electricity, please. Some auxiliary systems are back up, but the drive’s not giving me the readings I was expecting, and why are the lights still out?”

I went through the console for the information and called her back. “I can’t find him, but you’re right. The electrical system isn’t recalibrating like it’s supposed to. I’m not sure if the systems’ll shift over, and I’m not sure what to do about it. I’m worried something went wrong with the spell.”

“Okay, can you get with Beck and see if you can fix it?”

“Yeah, I’ll keep looking for him. Y’all haven’t seen him?”

“No,” she answered. “No one’s seen him since he was on the bridge with us last night, and I don’t see him on the CCs. It isn’t like him to sleep in, but maybe he had a rough night?”

“I’ll find him.”

I started on B2, going through every storage room, calling his name. No Beck.

I called up to the bridge, my unease increasing. It was never this hard to find him.

“Have y’all found Beck yet? He’s nowhere on B2.”

“No,” Zola answered back, “and I don’t like it. He has to be on the ship somewhere, right? Hannah, will you go get the 1st floor keys and check the other rooms on Beck’s floor? Eyre, you take the Star Deck and mezzanine. Gemma, you take B1. I’ll take lobby level.”

Cold fear seared through me, and I couldn’t place it. I remembered what he said to me the day we met. What could happen to me on the ship?

I hurried upstairs to B1, stuck my head in the gym and called his name, but he wasn’t there. I rushed through all the rooms of the med bay, and no sign of him. I went through the brig and security office. Nothing.

I dashed into the unnatural night in the forest, let my eyes adjust to the fauxglow moon high above the trees. “Beck!” I called out. Nothing but the sounds of startled birds, the breeze through the trees, and the gurgling of the lagoon.

I searched through the garden shed, jogged around the back of the lagoon. Thought of the day that we played hide and seek among the trees, when we’d almost kissed. My magic was queuing up inside me again, rising with a cold dread I couldn't name.

Jogging through the trees, I saw him lying there in the darkness. “Beck! Oh my God there you are! We’ve been so worried about you. Didn’t you hear us calling you?”

But he didn’t move or answer me. He was lying on his back, eyes closed. Asleep? Oby was on his chest. He turned and meowed at me loudly, jumping up and rubbing his body through my legs.

“Beck,” I said, kneeling beside him, placing my hands on his arm and shoulder. “Beck, wake up. Since when are you such a heavy sleeper?”

I pushed and prodded at him, but nothing woke him up. Flashing back to the spacewalk, I pressed my ear to his chest. He was breathing unencumbered, and his heart was steady and slow.

“Beck, please wake up! I’m sorry.”

No response. Adrenaline and magic flooded my body. I laid my palms against his chest and poured my magic into him, seeking for something to fix, but there was nothing to be done. And his magic didn’t rise to meet mine.

Tears streaming down my face, I ran to the intercom near the door and threw out an all call. “He’s in the forest! Zola, he’s nonresponsive!” I sobbed. “Zola, hurry!”

I ran back to him, smoothing the hair from his face, kissing his brow. “Beck, Beck, please come back to me. I’m so sorry I hurt you.” My hands on his face and heart, I reached out again to his magic with mine—nothing.

I laid my head on his chest. “I’m so sorry,” I sobbed. “I should never have pushed you away.” I sat up and looked at his face, his beautiful face that I loved so much.

I loved him, and he was gone.

“I love you, Beck,” I sobbed. “I love you. Please come back to me.”

The forest door opened, and many sets of feet ran in my direction.

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