A Fractured Light (Beautiful Dark)

there.” She paused. “Someday I am determined to make it up to him and prove that I am as devoted to him as he is to me.” She took a deep breath. “But it’s so hard, Skye. That’s the kind of test you hope you never have to face. I could never love anyone else while Gideon is still alive.”
    We pulled into a parking space, and Ardith cut the engine. I didn’t want to get out of the car.
    “That’s why we need him,” I said quietly. “He’s the only Rebel who knows how to fight their mental influence.”
    Ardith turned to me and nodded. “Not even Oriax could.”
    “You’ll find a way to show you love him,” I said, putting my hand on hers. “I know it.”
    She looked into my eyes, and her smiled was tinged with sadness. “You are going to save all of us,” she said. “You’re going to destroy the Order. You’ll make them pay.”
    Ardith got out of the car, and I followed. I wanted to be the heroine that they thought I could be. But I felt so far from being ready to fight.
    Ardith tossed me back my keys and started for the front archway.
    “Asher thinks it’s his fault, you know,” she said, turning around. “That he let Devin hurt you. He let something like that happen once before. He can’t believe he let it happen again.”
    “That’s why he’s so intense about protecting me.” It made sense now. The worried looks. The fierce insistence that I join the Rebellion. The white feather, crumpled in his fist.
    Ardith nodded. “Just so you know where he’s coming from. How serious he is.”
    A lump formed in my throat. I needed to find a way to let him know it wasn’t his fault. I was grateful for the Rebellion’s protection. But I needed to protect myself.
     
    Homeroom was tense. Devin didn’t look at me, and Asher’s arm around my shoulders was tighter than it had been the day before. Now I understood why. I couldn’t help but look at him in a new way.
    When the bell rang, Ms. Manning pulled me aside to let me know I could meet my new tutor after lunch in the library. I glanced over to where Devin had been sitting, but he was already gone. Rather than the twinge of sadness I might have felt the day before, I just felt anger. The Order were monsters if they were willing to use torture to win a war. And the Guardians were just their mindless, soulless puppets. That’s all Devin was. If I hadn’t understood it before, I did now.
    When I walked into the library later that afternoon, another blond kid was sitting in his place. I’d seen him before, with the group of Guardians. My pulse sped up, but I had to remind myself what Asher had said: They’d never do anything out in the open. School is the safest place to be. No matter that Raven had implied otherwise.
    I walked toward him.
    “Hi,” he said. “Skye? Ms. Manning said you needed someone to catch you up on your homework?”
    “Yes,” I said, sitting down. “Thanks.” He opened his notebook, and we started with English. I glanced at him over my textbook. He didn’t seem like a Guardian. He seemed normal. Nice, even. And he was really smart.
    I was so confused.
    It’s only a matter of time , the notebook had said.
    What were they planning?
    My body ached to run. To get better, stronger. Protect myself. It was all I could think about.
     
    After school, I was loading books into my locker, fantasizing about the run I was about to take, when Cassie hobbled over to me. Ian wasn’t far behind, carrying her books.
    “So,” she said, “I’m thinking Bean. I’m thinking free chai lattes courtesy of everyone’s favorite barista. I’m thinking disaster-movie marathon, your place. Thoughts? Comments? Questions?”
    “Still grounded.” I shrugged. “But Friday night, it’s on. Okay?”
    Cassie pouted. “Fine. Man, Aunt Jo is really taking this hard, isn’t she?”
    I thought about her coldness toward Asher and the general mood around the house.
    “Yeah,” I said. “She’s not happy.”
    “Well, give it time,” Cassie said. “She loves you. She’s just glad you’re back, that’s all.”
    I hoped that was it.
     
    As soon as I was home, it was school clothes off, running clothes on. I was itching to get out and pound through the trails. The morning’s storm had cleared up with my mood, and the air was fresh and clean.
    I raced up a different trail this time, feeling the earth crunch beneath my feet, the wind whip at my face. The remaining raindrops on the branches twinkled around me, scattering with each