A Fractured Light (Beautiful Dark)

racing.
    The vision I’d just had haunted me. What had I meant when I thought, Which one of them did I hit ? Whose body was it? Why was I having such strange and violent visions? They swirled into one another in my head, and I couldn’t figure out how they fit together. The visions of Devin, of opening the shoe box in Aunt Jo’s closet, of trudging down the beach in a bloodstained dress—what did they all mean? Were they connected somehow? If they were, it was in ways I couldn’t fathom.
    “You look lost in thought,” Ardith said gently, her gold bangles jangling softly as she came up behind me. “Can I help?”
    “Not unless you can make sure nothing will happen to Cassie if I tell her the truth,” I replied.
    “I wish I could. I can see how badly you want to. But you know it’s too dangerous, right?”
    “Yeah,” I said. “I just miss talking to her. She’s shockingly clear-headed sometimes. She always helps me put things in perspective.”
    “You can talk to me, you know,” Ardith said warmly. “Anytime you need a friend.”
    I turned to her, unable to stop the swell of gratefulness from bubbling up within me. The orange light flickered across her face.
    “You have no idea how much I needed to hear that,” I said, breathing a sigh of relief.
    “You know you don’t need to worry about Asher or his feelings for you.” I lifted my eyes. “Asher’s a difficult creature,” Ardith continued. He has been living for much longer than you have. But I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you.”
    “You haven’t?”
    “Never.” She smiled. “I don’t know how, but you tamed him. I think he’d spend another thousand years by your side if he could.”
    I let the words sink in as the firelight cast strange shadows on the trees and across our faces.
    “I’ll let you get back to your thoughts,” she said, and before I could say anything more, she hugged me and left.
    I was so grateful to have at least one person in my life who knew exactly what I was going through.
    I wound my way back through the trees, searching for Asher, wondering if what Ardith had said was true. The flames cast shadows of branches and leaves across the people appearing and disappearing among the trees. It was hard to see who anyone was in the uneven light. As I stumbled over roots and stones back toward the bonfire, I heard two voices speaking in hushed tones on the other side of a tree. I was about to walk in the other direction when I realized one of the voices belonged to Gideon—and I stopped.
    I heard my name.
    I drew closer to the tree, making sure to stay hidden behind it.
    “I’ve just talked to her.” Ardith’s voice slipped out of the darkness. “She really does love him. I’ve told her he feels the same.”
    “I don’t know,” said Gideon. “I still think she’s a liability. You’ve seen the way she and that Guardian look at each other.”
    “They can hardly stand to be in the same room.”
    “Asher says they still talk in secret. He says she used to have feelings for him, that if she knew what we were planning, she’d never let us go through with it.”
    What?
    “Skye feels betrayed,” Gideon continued, lowering his voice. “Don’t you think he’s playing to that weakness? Killing her obviously didn’t work, and now they’re realizing you trap more flies with honey than you do by stabbing them.”
    I heard Ardith sigh. “Do you think he’s manipulating her mind?”
    “It’s possible,” said Gideon. “We need her to get those powers under control, fast. The Guardians are getting restless. They want a fight.”
    Was it possible they didn’t care about my safety at all? That they just wanted to use me?
    “Asher says to give it a little more time. He hasn’t decided what to do just yet. He’s afraid that if he goes through with it . . . she’ll never forgive him.”
    I stifled a sharp breath and stayed hidden in the shadows.
    “But how could she still even consider aligning herself with the Order?” Ardith sounded shocked.
    “Asher’s convinced Devin’s influencing how she feels. She’s not strong enough to fight him yet.”
    “You have to train her harder. Prevent that from happening. We need her on our side, Gid, and you’re the only one who can help her to prevent Devin from getting in. If the Order claims her, they’ll destroy us.”
    “I know. And if we keep her—”
    “We destroy the Order.”
    “She’s the ultimate weapon.”
    My mind was