A Beautiful Dark

is changing. And all they know, little Skye, is that it has something to do with you.”
    “I don’t know how to stop it.” My next words surprised me. “I won’t stop it. I have to see it through.”
    “Then make everyone’s job easier. The Order is waiting for you. They will find you. There will be no place on Earth where you can hide.”
    When I didn’t answer her, she hissed, “I will always be watching you, Skye.”
    Her wings beat wildly, the cacophony of feathers deafening.
    I shut my eyes tight, wishing that would block out the noise, block out everything.
    When I opened them moments later, I was alone.
    I lay in bed, wide awake, willing sleep to come. Raven had accused me of changing Devin, but my hair smelled of Asher: spicy, earthy, dark. It made my heart pound to remember our kiss, his hands warm against my neck, fingers entwined in the strands of my hair.
    “I’ve wanted you,” he’d murmured, his lips barely touching mine, “for so long.”
    Energy rose off my skin in waves. Euphoric.
    I couldn’t get comfortable. I rolled over onto my stomach, buried my face in my pillow, and laughed and laughed until I didn’t know if I was laughing or screaming.
    If I did what Raven said and joined the Order, I’d never see Asher again.
    As I drifted off, Raven’s words echoed in my head: They’re just little pawns in the game . The last thing I consciously remember thinking of was the wounded look in Devin’s eyes as Asher scooped me up in his arms and we left him standing there on the school roof to repair the damage.
    And then the morning breeze rustled my curtains, sweeping a feather along the floorboards. It must have fallen when Asher had been in my room earlier. I watched as the wind blew it here and there, leaping, lightly touching down. Dark, like the night, like Asher’s eyes.

Chapter 26

    A s I pulled into the parking lot Tuesday morning, I was surprised to see Cassie’s green Volvo come to a jerking stop a few spaces over from mine. I got out and walked over to see her slam the driver’s-side door and kick her wheels in frustration.
    “Cass!” I called, waving as I approached. “Are you okay?”
    She gave me a cold look but didn’t refuse my help as I bent to inspect the tire. “It’s not the tire,” she said. “It’s something with the engine. It’s been giving me trouble the past few days.” She looked away. “Not that you’d know.”
    Instantly I felt bad that we hadn’t talked much lately, but I was now too tired and preoccupied to engage her in an argument. Time had been flowing really weirdly, in stop-start patterns, lurching forward and then dragging on for millennia. Besides, we didn’t have a rule that we had to spend every waking minute together, did we?
    She locked the car, and we walked to homeroom together. We kept talking, even though it was clear that there was some tension between us that we weren’t mentioning. The fact that she was mad at me annoyed me. The world always revolved around her, and the minute I had some major drama in my life, she couldn’t deal with the fact that I wasn’t focused on her.
    “It’s so frustrating,” Cassie said as we found our seats. “I just got a tune-up at the beginning of the year. My dad makes me get them, otherwise there’s no way I’d remember. I don’t know what could already be wrong with the engine. It just keeps stalling for no reason.”
    “I don’t know, Cass,” I said, aware that Devin was watching us as we sat down, and that Asher caught my eye before glancing away. “Can you take it in again?”
    “No way. I totally don’t have the money right now. Ugh, I hate my life.”
    “Don’t worry,” I said, determined now to make up for any lost points in the best-friend book so that Cassie would stop being mad at me. “We’ll figure something out.”
    The rest of homeroom seemed to last forever. Asher sat behind me, and his nearness sent tiny shivers down my neck, made my heart beat too fast. Devin sat next to him, and I couldn’t stop trying to figure out what was really going on. Could I trust either of them? My mind kept replaying my encounter with Raven the night before.
    You’re the reason he’s changing.
    I couldn’t understand it.
    In the hall after class, Asher caught up with me. “Hey,” he said. We stood there, facing each other.
    “What’s up?” I asked, smiling up at him.
    “How are you?”
    “Good,” I said, though it was an effort to think of the right words to say