A Fractured Light (Beautiful Dark)

people. Even killers.
    I got to the front door and stopped short.
    A tiny purple alpine flower from the field out back was tied around the doorknob with the same string I’d used to tie it to Devin’s door. Was it an extended olive branch? Some acknowledgment? Of what? I remembered the Devin who’d been my teacher, who’d first told me about my parents. Who’d hugged me awkwardly in the parking lot at school when it had all seemed too overwhelming.
    Was it too much to hope that he was proud of me for figuring it all out? What a long way I’d come from the parking lot that night.
    What if that was all this flower was: not a threat or a message but a simple, thoughtful gesture? Even though he was controlled by higher powers, Devin had found a secret way to let me know the truth.
    I untied the flower and took the stairs two at a time to my room.
    Happiness, compounded by the race and the pizza and the afternoon with friends made me lightheaded. Where was Asher? I wanted to share my excitement. Maybe I wasn’t scared to be with him anymore. I could control my powers. I could keep it together around him now. Maybe I was ready.
    No , I thought. I am ready. I know I am.
    In a fit of joy, I opened the window wide and summoned the air with all my strength. With my hands, I controlled the flow of a gust of wind as it picked up the flower, floating it high in the air. Without losing concentration, I summoned a stronger gust of wind from out in the field. It blew through my open window, and with it, carried hundreds of tiny purple flowers like the one borne above my head. They caught the light in their translucent petals and cast a purple glow across my room.
    Behind me, I heard a gentle knock, and before I could stop the flowers from fluttering above me like a hundred purple butterflies, the door swung open.
    “Oh my god, Skye,” Cassie’s voice echoed loudly throughout every square inch of the house. “What are you doing ?”

Chapter 26
    I let the gust of wind die, and all the flowers fell to the floor simultaneously. Cassie stared at me open-mouthed.
    “God, Cassie, don’t you knock?” I said sharply.
    “Uh, yeah, Skye, actually I did. Maybe if you hadn’t been too busy playing the Sorcerer’s Apprentice with flying purple flowers, you might have heard me.” She held up my shoulder bag. “You left this at the pizza place.”
    “Uh, first of all, you didn’t knock that loud, and second of all—”
    “ First of all,” she said, throwing her purse down and charging toward me, “did you forget that we were supposed to go out tonight? Or were you planning to ditch me for your boy friend again?” She snorted and paused for breath. “And second of all”—she pointed down at the heap of flowers—“what was that ?”
    “I can explain,” I said again. But then I didn’t. I just stood there, my arms at my sides, completely at a loss for any lie that could explain away what had just happened. And I was so tired of trying to think of one. I had been lying to Cassie from the very moment I turned seventeen. It had been months. I couldn’t do it anymore. She was my best friend, and she didn’t deserve it. I’d find a way to protect her. I was stronger now. But if I kept it up, the mental and physical exertion of lying to my best friend would drain me of all my powers, light and dark.
    “Good explanation,” Cassie said. “Very thorough. I totally get it now.”
    “Okay.” I exhaled slowly. “Here goes. Cassie, I—”
    “Stop, I can’t take it,” she blurted. “Whatever the reason you’re mad at me, I’m sorry! Is it—”
    “Cass,” I interrupted. “I’m not mad at you.”
    “Just tell me why,” she said. “Why aren’t we best friends anymore? You’ve totally changed, Skye. You never used to keep things from me. What did I do to make you go away?”
    “Oh, Cassie,” I said, the guilt finally overcoming me. “You didn’t make me go away.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her over to sit with me on my bed. “I just felt so guilty. Because it was my fault. Your whole accident was my fault.”
    “How could it have been your fault?” she asked, perplexed. “Did you cut the brakes?”
    “No,” I said, my heart beginning to pound. “But I know who did. And it was because I almost told you what I’m about to tell you now. The truth. About everything.”
    “Skye, you’re not making sense.” Cassie shook her head. “The truth about what?”
    “Hold on.” I moved to the window