Page 93 of Shadow & Stars
Thunder boomed overhead, scaring the shit out of me. It shook the house, a mouse scurrying out from a dark corner in panic.
“What was that?” Teen Me called from upstairs.
I ran to the front door, passing through it to see. “Oh my God.”
There were pixels in the sky. That whole broken TV look from the desert level of the demon realm. They spread quickly, a flash of golden lightning forking across the night.
Queen Margarite’s people whisked her away from the house, back to the waiting convoy of black cars. They bundled her inside, slamming the door.
Her window slid down, showing me the face of a queen long gone. The car sped away without a single word from her.
Thank God for that. One less complication to deal with.
The door behind me tore open and Xavier stepped out onto the porch with me. “She’s gone?”
“Yeah.”
“Good.” I watched him look up at the sky. “The sky is falling again.” He sounded so cool about it.
“Great.”
“Now we move.”
“Agreed.”
Here goes nothing…
Teen Me’s footsteps hurried down the stairs. As usual, the dagger went wild. I steeled myself against the pain as best I could. Hands balled into fists, biting down on my lip so hard I drew blood. But when the boy jumped off the last step, the agony buckled my knees, sending me to the floor.
“Pull it!” I yelled.
With wide, terrified eyes, the younger me sprung into action, wrapped his hands around the handle and pulled. For fleeting moments, I considered the possibility of this not working, of thedagger never come out. Doomed to be by Xavier’s side without ever getting to touch him again. A fake ghost until I became a real one.
But the dagger came free, a pop going off as it left me. Instantly, the pain vanished, my body becoming solid again with several punches of confirmation to my chest. They knocked the air right out of my lungs. I fell forward onto my hands, panting, recalibrating. My glittery skin returned, the device whirring back to life.
It worked. It actually worked.
But something had changed…
Xavier’s hand connected to my spine. His touch sent ferocious pulses of electricity across my epidermis, tears brimming in my eyes.
“Oh my God…” I breathed. “I can feel you…”
He was touching me, stroking my back, right there and solid and awaiting my body to join with his.
“Can you stand?” he asked.
“Y-Yeah.”
Thunder shook the house again.
The stupid tears dried up, my inner strength slapping me into action. I got to my feet, stretching out, ready to take on the world.
No wishing. No wishing. No wishing.
“I’m ready,” I said.
“Here.” Darcy shoved a half-empty bottle of water in my face. “Drink.”
