A Beautiful Dark

sound mysterious.”
    I couldn’t argue. How many times had Cassie and I stayed up all night composing the perfect text message? Probably seven out of ten had ellipses at the end to cultivate an air of mystique.
    “So when are the Ellipses playing?” I asked.
    “The Mysterious Ellipses,” Cassie corrected.
    “Do I have to say the full name every time?”
    “Yes,” Cassie said. “Otherwise it makes no sense. Anyway, you have to come. It’s going to be awesome.”
    “Of course,” I said. “How could I miss the Mysterious Ellipses’ first show?”
    “See?” Cassie beamed. “You’re catching on.”
    I nodded, an awkward silence settling between us. It was hopeless. I couldn’t make conversation with my thoughts so far away. And Cassie looked distracted, too. She kept looking over my shoulder every time someone walked past, but I was too tired to think about what was bothering her. I yawned again.
    “Where’s Dan?”
    “What?” Cassie’s head snapped back to me. “Why?”
    “Um, no reason. Just wondering where he is.”
    “Who knows what that boy does with his free time,” she grumbled.
    I wished I could tell Cassie about the conversation I’d overheard between Raven and Devin. Things kept getting stranger, more confusing, harder to believe. I had to talk to Asher. I knew that he would tell me the truth.
    Just as I was loading my backpack with books to take home at the end of the day, they cornered me: Asher at my left elbow and Devin at my right.
    “Come on,” Asher said. “Let’s walk down the hall while we have a secret conversation.”
    “Another one?” I smirked, trying to maintain some semblance of cool. But inside my stomach was sinking. I wasn’t sure how much more secret information I could take.
    “There’s more you need to know,” Devin said. “It will help you in all this.”
    “All what , exactly?” My voice was getting louder. “What do you mean by ‘all this’?”
    “Calm down.” Asher was cocky as ever. “There’s more to the story than we told you yesterday. Maybe if you didn’t have such a weak stomach, we wouldn’t have had to schedule a Part Two. But you were all, ‘nooo, to be continued’ . . .”
    “You’re a real pain, Asher,” I pointed out.
    “And don’t I know it.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “Anyway, don’t look so panicked. We’re here to help you.”
    “It sure doesn’t—”
    “I know, I know, it sure doesn’t seem like it. But trust me. We don’t want to hurt you. And you’re going to want to hear what we have to say.”
    We were at the front doors to the school at that point, and the sharp sunlight hurt my exhausted eyes. I lifted a hand to shield them.
    “Where are we going?” I asked.
    “To practice,” Devin said gruffly.
    “Practice? Practice what?”
    “Your po—” Asher started to say, but Devin’s head whipped around, and he gave Asher a stern glare. Asher looked sheepish. “Stuff,” he said.
    “Great,” I mumbled under my breath. “My ‘stuff’ was getting rusty, anyway.”
    “Come on,” Devin said, putting on sunglasses. “You’re driving.” He headed toward the parking lot.
    “Skye.” Asher turned to me when Devin was a few feet ahead of us. The after-school crowd swarmed around us, and he leaned in close so that he didn’t have to raise his voice. “I know this is all a shock to you, and you have every right to be wary and freaked out. But I want you to do me a favor. Trust me. Can you do that?”
    “I don’t know,” I said, instantly thinking about Ellie—and Jordan. I didn’t know if I could trust Asher, not yet. What did I really know about him?
    He looked a little offended. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, and walked down the steps.
    After a pause, I followed.
    We drove a few miles outside of town, to a field where Devin was convinced no one would see us. He led the way as we crunched across the icy grass. I walked behind him, and Asher held up the rear. None of us said much. I didn’t know about the two of them, but I was too nervous to string words together coherently.
    The light was bleak, the field colorless and anemic. As we approached the start of a path where it forged ahead into the woods, a winter bird perched on a nearby tree alighted in a flap of wings. The noise echoed across the empty field.
    Devin stopped and faced me.
    “Seems as deserted a spot as any,” Asher said under his breath as he scanned the empty clearing.
    “Before we explain anything