A Beautiful Dark

air.
    “Protecting you. What does it look like I’m doing?”
    “No, I mean why are you here ? You just happen to be at the same place I am? The girl who believes in coincidence always ends up dead, Devin.”
    “What?” His voice faltered. “I was exploring the trails. It was . . . fate.”
    “So you’re saying it was your destiny to find me here?”
    “Is that so hard to believe?” He released his hold on me and stepped back. “I’ve explored a lot of the trails in this area since moving here, but this one is my favorite. It’s so calm here. So different from the halls at school.” Devin looked up at the gray sky, thick with clouds.
    Maybe we were more similar than I’d imagined. “I know what you mean.”
    He smiled, and his eyes seemed to change color. From crystal clear shallows to the depths of the ocean.
    We looked at each other, neither of us speaking. I was struck again by how easy it was to be with Devin. With Asher, our connection was quick, immediate—a fire flashing through my veins. When I was with Devin, the burn was a slow one. I almost didn’t realize it was happening until I felt the heat reach my cheeks.
    “How do you do that?” I asked, swallowing hard.
    “Do what?”
    “Give the impression that you’re in some sort of zenlike place. My heart is still racing, but you look like nothing happened.”
    “Nothing did happen. You’re fine, right?”
    Nothing catastrophic, but something was definitely happening.
    I walked over to a boulder closer to the trail, brushed off the snow with my mittens, and sat down. Devin stood there hesitantly.
    “Sorry,” I said. “I’m still a little shaky. Do you mind if we sit for a minute?”
    “No.” He wandered over and settled down beside me. The view was breathtaking. As silence eased in between us, I thought of what Cassie had said about Devin being tormented.
    “Did you lose someone you cared about in that school fire?”
    He seemed to hesitate, then shook his head. “No.”
    “You don’t seem as comfortable here as Asher.”
    “This place . . . it isn’t home ,” he said quietly.
    “What was home like?”
    He waved his hand out to encompass everything. “Like this. Not the snow and the cold. But the quiet. The beauty. The tranquility.”
    “In Denver?”
    “When you’re home, everything is easier. It’s all laid out for you.” A corner of his mouth inched upward. “No anger management was necessary.”
    I laughed. “So you talked to the counselor?”
    “No. It’s pointless. Asher is going to break rules . . . no matter what. Again and again. That’s who he is. And as long as he does . . . it just makes things harder for me.”
    “He’s a real rebel,” I said, smiling.
    The peacefulness in Devin’s features momentarily slipped away, and I wished I’d never brought up Asher. Finally he said, “Yeah, a real rebel.”
    He grew silent again. I could see the tranquility easing back into him. I wondered if he was chanting in his head, I will not let Asher upset me. I will not let Asher upset me.
    Of course it was also possible that he was chanting, Asher, die! But I didn’t think so. Even though they’d gotten into the fight, he hadn’t delivered the first blow. He just didn’t strike me as the type who would hurt someone or wish him ill. He was more of a dove. Asher was the hawk.
    The wind whistled through the gorge. As we sat there, the clouds were growing heavier, darker, and more twisted.
    “I think we’re going to get more snow,” I said, glad that there would be a fresh layer for the ski trip in a few days.
    “Why do you come here?” Devin asked suddenly.
    I brought my feet up to the boulder and wrapped my arms around my legs. “It makes me feel closer to my parents. They died when I was six.” I paused. It was so easy to talk to him that I felt like I could just keep going, spilling all kinds of secrets without thinking twice. “Do you promise you won’t laugh if I tell you something?”
    “Of course,” he said. His lips were serious, but his eyes were encouraging.
    “Sometimes I have this insane thought that if I concentrated hard enough I could fly to wherever they are.” I hesitated, wondering if I should have said anything. “Which I know is ridiculous, because all I’d do is fall flat on the ground below, but still. Here I just feel a sense of . . . lightness.”
    He was staring at me.
    I laughed self-consciously. “But it’s one of the reasons I like to ski. Just that