Page 8 of Until the Stars Fall

His muscled stomach stuck out the bottom of his shirt, and I instinctively followed the dark trail of hair from his belly button to where it disappeared in his jeans. I snapped my eyes up to his face, my insides twisting.

He tapped the side of his head. “But it’s okay. It’s all in here.”

My stomach and my jaw dropped. “What if something happens to you?”

He shrugged, coming down from his reach and settling on the stool again. “What’s gonna happen to me on the ship?”

“You might irritate someone to the point of violence, and then where would we be?”

Whatever he saw on my face seemed to reassure him that I was over halfway joking. His eyes crinkled slightly. “Well, not just me. The five of us worked on all the spells together, so between us all, we’ve got this.”

“That’s not good enough!” I blurted “Somebody needs to— You know what? I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna gather it all up, write out the components of your”—I paused, not wanting to say the word, but unable to find a suitable replacement—“spells down. What if they fail again? Shouldn’t we at least try to replace as many as we can with hard science and engineering?”

“Yeah. I’ll help you.” His face was guileless, even agreeable.

I blinked in surprise. I hadn’t even been trying to get along with him.

“For one,” he continued, “I think you’re right. We have two months till Gaia, and that stuff needs to be organized. But also...” He hesitated, picking at a fingernail. “We may have enough parts around here to at least build some redundancy into our spell systems.”

“Okay. Good. We’re agreed.”

He shook his head. “You didn’t let me finish. I’ll help you, on two conditions.”

I huffed and looked sideways away from him, half expecting him to ask me out, with all this extreme eye contact. That was going to be a hard pass.

“What are they?” I asked.

“First, we have to call it…what you’re writing down? We have to call it the Interstellar Grimoire, because that sounds badass.” His eyes wanted to smile, but they couldn’t quite get his mouth on board.

I couldn’t stop a small laugh from breathing out through my nose. “And the second?”

He rubbed his beard. Wet his lips. Readjusted his legs. Narrowed his eyes and studied me for long seconds. “You want to tell me about how you lost control of your magic up there?”

CHAPTER THREE

I froze, panic flooding me. “What are you talking about?”

His eyebrows rose as he stared me down. “I’m talking about that self-defensive bubble you made that nearly took out a window. I’m willing to bet you didn’t make that on purpose.”

I shook my head, ready to lie, like the last time my magic took control of me. “I don’t—”

He sighed, frowning. “Don’t worry.” He put a hand out like he was calming a spooked horse. “I covered for you with the coven. And I promise I won’t say anything.” He shook his head. “I don’t know why you’re lying to your family about your magic. It’s not my business. But you’ve got to get it under control. You could’ve killed everyone on the ship. So my second condition is that you let me help you control that magic that you absolutely don’t have.”

My stomach tightened. I was cornered. Not by him, but by my own biology. Whatever damnable thing that made magic course through my veins. I downed the last of my soda and stood up, tossing the can into the recycle bin.

“On second thought, I’d rather work alone.” I took a few steps toward the stairs and stopped short. I was stuck on a ship with him for the next two months. I should say something to make nice, but what?

“Gemma, are you in here?”

Saved by the ringing of Hannah’s voice through the room.

“I’m over here!” I called, moving toward her voice.

She rounded the corner. “Oh good!” She was beaming. “I’m so glad you guys met!”

My back to him, I glared at her.

She glanced between us uncertainly. “I was gonna offer to help you get your things to your suite. Are you busy? I can come back if you two are getting to know each other.” She smiled broadly.

---