Page 46 of Shadow & Stars
I flinched as I thought of my bestie. “A rat?” My grief jabbed at my insides with icy shards.
“Scored an own goal with magic. I tried helping him, but he wouldn’t have it. Don’t blame him, really.” A second sigh followed. “I seriously screwed up.”
This couldn’t be right. What were the chances of stumbling upon someone who knew my bestie? An ex-boyfriend at that. Darcy never mentioned an ex to me. He lamented his past a lot, discussed the things he missed. But he always gave the impression that he slept around, a free spirit jumping in and out of the beds of various men and women.
I guess he didn’t want to share this part of his past with me.
“You’re Darcy Carey’s ex?” I asked for confirmation.
“Yep. You know him?”
“He lives with me.”
Did. Before I?—
“He does?” The guy came down a couple of steps. “He’s okay?”
No.“Yeah.” I swallowed, the sensation like liquid barbed wire.
“Where is he?”
“I…” God, should I just shut the fuck up or tell him the truth?
The former. For now.
“You don’t have to tell me,” the man said. “I’m just glad he found somewhere to live that ain’t the gutter. You don’t live in a gutter, do you?”
“No. A nice flat in London.”
Once upon a time…
“What are you doing in Luton?”
That answered the geographical question. Luton was north of London, not too far away by train or car.
“It’s a long story.”
He came down the stairs, clicking on a battery-powered lantern to cast some light on the situation.
A skinny guy with light copper skin and scraggly brown hair stood before me. He was a warlock—the glowing white symbol of an incomplete circle with a tiny star at the center on his forehead.
“I’m Jaz,” he said, holding out a hand wrapped in a fingerless glove.
His clothes were grimy and tatty, layered on to fight the cold.
Forgetting my current status, I went to take his hand, my palm passing through his.
“Shit. Sorry. I forgot.”
Jaz didn’t run for the hills. Instead, he took me in with his blue eyes. “Ghost, eh?”
“Kind of.”
“What’s with that?” He gestured to the misfortune in my chest.
“Again, it’s a long story.”
He didn’t press me on it. “You can stay here, even if you are a witch.” He nodded at the symbol on my forehead—a red triangle with a star at the center.
