A Fractured Light (Beautiful Dark)

shoulder. “He said you only care about what you want. That you’re too wrapped up in yourself to care about anybody else.”
    Could that possibly have been true? Would Ian say something like that?
    But then it hit me: the change I’d seen in him the night I got home. Maybe Ellie had given him that confidence. On the one hand, I was happy for him. But my stomach dropped as I thought about him saying such cruel things. Is that how he really felt about me? That I was selfish and didn’t care who I hurt as long as I got what I wanted?
    “You’re one to talk,” I shot back without pausing to think. “You’re always taking what’s mine.”
    “Or what you think is yours,” she snapped. “Ian’s not your property. And you’re not taking captain from me, either. I worked too hard for this. It clearly doesn’t mean as much to you, seeing as you were ready to just throw it away.”
    My cheeks burned, but I couldn’t think of any kind of retort that didn’t make me sound like the worst person on the planet. I fell back in my seat.
    When the bus pulled up at school, Ian was sitting on the front steps. I saw him smile as Ellie wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. He glanced up, and our eyes met through the bus window. His smiled faltered, but only for a second. Then he took her hand, and the two of them walked toward the parking lot.
    By the time I got off the bus, most of the girls on the team had left.
    “Awesome job today, Parker,” Coach said, coming around the side of the bus. “You keep that up and you’ll make captain for sure.”
    “Thanks,” I said, watching Ellie and Ian getting smaller in the distance.
     
    Gideon and Ardith were sitting on the hood of my car, and Asher stood, leaning against the driver’s side with his arms crossed. The collar of his jacket was pulled up against the wind. When they saw me approaching, Asher got up quickly. “We were waiting for you,” he said. “How did it go?”
    I smiled. “Coach thinks I could make captain.”
    Asher looked at me intently. “And did you—feel, anything?”
    I nodded, squeezing his hand. “It felt amazing,” I said.
    A smile lit up his face. Behind him, from the hood of the car, Gideon watched me intently. Was he still trying to make up his mind? Maybe this would prove to him that I was ready.
    “I knew you could do this,” Asher said. “Actually, it makes total sense. You don’t let anyone boss you around. Your powers were never going to emerge with Devin and me yelling at you.”
    I was about to say that yes, it was true—I’d needed to do it on my own. But the parking lot began to fade around me. Still feeling strong from the race, I was ready this time for the vision. I closed my eyes and tried to stay standing.
    When I opened them again, I was in the upstairs hallway of my house. Strange , I thought. I glanced to my right, at the door to my bedroom, which was slightly ajar. Light spilled out into the dark hallway, and a pair of scuffed-up boots were just visible at the foot of the bed. Asher’s? To my left was the bathroom. The door was open and the lights were off. I peeked over the railing, down the stairs. The whole house was dark and silent. Where was Aunt Jo?
    Directly ahead of me was her bedroom. I walked toward it, almost like gravity was a force inside, pulling me along. I ran my hands along the walls to guide me in the semidarkness. The door to Aunt Jo’s bedroom wasn’t closed all the way. I pushed it open and turned on the light.
    Her room was empty. The bed was unmade. Clothes were draped over the chair in the corner. She wasn’t home yet. I turned toward the closet, and slowly, slowly reached my hand out to open it.
    What was I looking for?
    Rows of Aunt Jo’s familiar sweaters hung in a faded rainbow. Her jeans and work pants were folded haphazardly on a tower of shelves, poking out and flopping over the edge like she went to pull out several pairs each morning before deciding on the right one. I ran my hands over the soft fabric of her coats, lingered on the laces of a pair of hiking boots. These were familiar to me, comforting. The shapes and images, colors and fabrics that populated my childhood.
    In the corner of the closet was a stepladder, and I climbed onto it, peering at the upper shelves. That’s where I spotted it. A nondescript, plain, unmarked shoe box. As if time were moving in slow motion, I opened the lid. . . .
    The parking lot came rushing back. Asher, Gideon, and Ardith were