A Beautiful Dark

in frustration. “You are impossible! Look, I haven’t heard anything from the Rebellion camp in a while. And it makes me nervous that Raven’s still lurking down here. Someone must have sent her. There’s no way she could come on her own. She has to follow orders. She’s a Guardian, that’s what she does .”
    My heart beat more rapidly. I hadn’t heard Asher admit to being nervous before.
    “So?” I jutted out my chin.
    “So something else has to be going on. I just wish I knew what.”
    We stood there facing each other for a second or two.
    “Hey, you look really nice,” he said suddenly.
    “Really?” I said, pleased with my new favorite outfit and forgetting that I should pretend not to care what he thought.
    He leaned in as if he meant to kiss me but straightened up at the last second.
    “Sorry. Look, I’ll just stay out of your way. But I’m not leaving.” He backed away. “This is me lurking. Okay?”
    “Fine,” I said, sighing heavily. “I don’t care. Do whatever you want.”
    Eric Walsh, who sometimes deejayed on underage nights at the only club in town, hooked his iPod up to the speakers in the living room, and the keg, miraculously, didn’t run out. At one point, I couldn’t find Cassie or Dan, and Ian was busy talking to Elizabeth Seifert. I was glad for him. He deserved someone who could appreciate him. I grabbed my jacket from a hook by the door and made my way to the sliding door that led onto the deck. But I never made it outside. Asher’s frame was silhouetted by the moon as he leaned against the railing. He didn’t see me through the glass doors behind him. He was looking up at the stars, watching the sky.
    Instead of joining him like I had done on my birthday, I took off my coat and headed back to the kitchen for another beer. I wasn’t going to hide from my party this time.

Chapter 32

    R ed plastic cups rolled across the kitchen floor like tumbleweed. Instead of cleaning, Cassie and I were sitting on the counter in the kitchen, finishing what was left of the food. The last stragglers had just left, and it was something like two in the morning.
    “I have to go home,” she declared, jumping off the counter. “Brunch tomorrow? Someplace greasy?”
    “Are you sure you’re okay to drive?” I asked. “Are you done sobering up yet?”
    “I haven’t had anything to drink for like two hours. I’ve been busy,” she added with a cryptic smile.
    “You’re really going to make me wait until tomorrow morning for this story, aren’t you?” I asked, following her out to her car.
    “Mm-hmm!” She hummed as she got in.
    “Fine!” I slapped the roof and backed up. “Call me for brunch.”
    Cassie turned the key in the ignition, but nothing happened. She tried again, but all we heard was a sick-sounding hum coming from under the hood. “Uh-oh,” she said, getting out again. “Well, eff my life.”
    “Hooray!” I breathed a sigh of relief. “Now come inside like a smart person, sleep over, and in the morning, I’ll drive you to the gas station to get a tow truck, okay?”
    “Greasy eggs before the tow truck, though?” Cassie asked hopefully.
    “Of course,” I said. “It will be just like old times.”
    “That’s what we should have done after your birthday,” she said as we walked back toward the house. “Stupid boiler.”
    In my room, we pulled pillows and blankets down to the floor, just like we used to.
    “Skye?”
    “Mmm?”
    “Dan and I kissed.”
    “I knew it!” I cried.
    “I’m really happy,” Cassie said sleepily. “Promise it won’t change anything?”
    I didn’t say anything for a while, hoping that Cassie would think it was a rhetorical question. Eventually I heard the soft sound of her snoring, and I let out the breath I’d been holding. I wasn’t upset. In fact, it was completely the opposite. It’s just that I knew that things change really quickly. And you’re not always prepared for them.
    We woke at noon to the sunlight streaming through my window. A cold wind blew through my room, seeping into the spaces in our blankets.
    “What the hell is that?” Cassie groaned from under a pile of pillows.
    “I think my room became the Arctic overnight.” I yanked the blankets tighter over my head.
    “Seriously, that has to stop.”
    I shoved the blankets down a bit and peeked out. My window was wide open.
    “Close it! Close it!” Cassie shrieked. “Oh my god, why did you open it?”
    I hadn’t. But I knew who had.
    “I